Currently on hold with Zack’s hematologist gives me the perfect time to write a quick update.

I’d been warned about the orthopedic dr’s bedside manner (how lacking it was) and I was pleasantly surprised! He listened to Zack describe his ski fall, he explained what he saw on Zack’s mri images, he showed Zack what he was talking about with a little plastic model and let me answer questions about blood thinners. So that was good. His staff was also quite nice and polite. A much better start than the mri imaging place.

Here are the notes I took during the visit:

Although Zack tells everyone that he is not in pain, he circled 2 (on a scale of 1-10) and persistent, dull and several times a day on the intake paperwork. During the knee exam, he expressed that he felt pain at the ‘mcl origin’, straightened his knee out as much as he could (the dr could fit his flat hand underneath), and bent to a bit smaller than 90 degrees.

About the meniscus cartilage tear, Dr. said it could possibly healed with stitches or it might need to be cleaned out – to take out the piece that tore if it won’t heal. They’ll know more when they’re in there doing the acl. about which he said that donor tissue is the easiest to heal. (I don’t know anything about anything but heard about using tendons from your own hamstring. Any thoughts out there?)

Before the surgery, Zack is to have at least 1 PT appointment to increase his range of motion. His office manager, Stephanie, performed miracles and got us 2 appointments for tomorrow to choose from while I was on hold with his hematologist to figure out how many days prior to the surgery is safe to go off the blood thinner.

Surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. Sorry, kindergarteners. On the upside, Zack has been working on saying acronyms and has added ufo, acl, (the notorious) RBG and PT to his long list recently.