I arrived at Columbia Presbyterian at 7AM on March 14th. After being admitted I was told to wait to be brought to x-ray. Eventually someone came, led me to x-ray, films were taken, and I was brought to the pre-op area. A couple nurses and doctors came in and thoroughly went through my medical history, making sure no surprises were waiting for them in the OR.

I was then moved to another holding area closer to the OR. I met the anesthesiology team who asked me lots of questions about how I react to anesthesia, and how my family reacts to it. Afterwards, my surgeon and his team came in, he put his initials on my bad leg (NY state law), and walked us through the surgery one last time.

At 8:45AM my parents were asked to leave. A doctor inserted an IV, and I was told I’d be waiting until the they were ready for me. About 45 minutes later, I was finally wheeled into the huge OR. It was the most impressive OR I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite a few. I was given oxygen, and they began positioning me on the table. Apparently, my height caused some logistical issues, but eventually they worked things out. I was told that they were ready to go and that was the last thing I remember.

The first hour of being unconscious was spent padding, positioning, and preparing the leg for surgery. Next, the lower leg was opened up, muscles were disconnected, and using a saw, an 8″ section of fibula was removed. It was thinned down and prepared to be inserted into the hip.
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In one month I will at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in NYC. I’m more excited than I am nervous.

Two weeks ago something happened and my leg got a whole lot worse. It began hurting all the time again. I can’t go a day without taking some Motrin, and I can’t sleep much at all without taking some Percocet. I’m glad the surgery has been scheduled and that theoretically in a few months after this next surgery I could be relatively pain free.

At the same time I’m nervous.

Not nervous about the surgery itself, but nervous that I’ll find out in a year that the surgery didn’t work and that I’ll need to have a total hip replacement. I don’t mind surgery. I don’t mind the pain and sleepless nights that goes along with them. What I do mind is how, for those huge chunks of time, my life is at a stand-still again, and I am unable to move forward and continue living.

But the only thing I can do now is hope. Hope that this will be the last surgery, hope that I’ll be pain-free the rest of my life, and hope that I can return to doing the things I love one day.

Hope that I’ll be happy.

Two months from today I will be at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in NYC having my free vascularized fibular graft surgery.

I’ve been trying to take advantage of being able to walk as often as I can. Thanks to the snow and ice on the ground it’s a little more painful than normal, but I manage to get a mile or two in every day.

Knowing about this surgery so far in advance almost makes things worse. Being on crutches is tough, but it’s the little things that really make it hard: getting groceries, carrying meals from the kitchen to the couch, going up and down my building’s front steps, getting in and out of cars, opening doors, just to name a few. Every day I am one day closer to losing the ability to do all those small things. Read more…

Mark your calendars, I have scheduled my surgery for February 19th at Columbia Presbyterian. I’ll be in there for almost a week, so I expect all of my NJ/NY friends to come visit and cause a ruckus in my hospital room.

As expected, I am not looking forward to having another surgery. Even worse than being on crutches for another 6 months, is Read more…

My doctor’s appointment at Columbia University (New York Presbyterian Hospital) went as expected yesterday. Dr. R. thinks that an FVFG is the best route to take. Surgery is long, usually lasting 6-8 hours. They need to graft a section of my fibula, drill a hole in my hip, insert the graft, and Read more…