Emergency Calls

ACI is a major surgery. Significant trauma to the knee. Very intense rehab. Lots of variables impacting recovery. The road to success is an intertwined partnership amongst the surgeon, PT and me. Everybody plays a critical role. Dr. T explained all of these points before the surgery, and he repeats them at every follow-up visit. To emphasize his commitment, Dr. T gave me his personal cell phone and instructed me to call him, at any hour, if I encounter any problems. Over the past 5 ½ weeks, I’ve called him 3 times.

My first panicked phone call to Dr. T was on Day 2 when I tweaked my osteotomy. There really wasn’t anything he could do, other than tell me I screwed up by flexing my quads. I think his precise medical diagnosis was, “you’re a moron. I told you not to lift your leg on your own.” Lesson learned.

I called Dr. T again last week when I developed some sort of upper respiratory infection. My throat got extremely sore, and the lymph nodes on my right side ballooned. Normally, that’s not a big deal. With the rapid and extreme changes in weather, everybody in Dallas gets sick this time of year. Unfortunately, I’m not “allowed” to get sick. I’ve got 2 metal screws inside my leg. In medical terms, they are foreign substances in the body. If an infection reaches the screws, I could be in big trouble. When I informed Dr. T of my situation on Saturday evening, he immediately called in a Z-pack prescription. Bang. A few days later, infection gone. Disaster averted.

About a week and a half ago, I noticed what appeared to be a small, ball-shaped scab near the top of my scar. Nothing alarming. But then last night I started pecking at the “scab.” After a little bit of prodding, the scab miraculously uncoiled, revealing a 1-2 cm piece of string. Holy crap! A piece of string was growing out of my skin! It was like Jack and the Beanstalk on Jim’s thigh.

The part of the string protruding from the skin had a slight tinge of blood. I immediately stopped playing with the string and called my sister-n-law, who’s a nurse. With the clinical detachedness common to medical professionals, she quickly observed that the string was an outgrown suture. She even noted the specific type of suture, based on the type of stitching and material. She told me it wasn’t totally uncommon for a suture to poke through, but it was something I needed to address immediately. The opening was a “portal” for bacteria, she said, and it needed to be closed. I doused the suture with Neosporin, before covering the wound with 4 band aids. The following morning (Saturday), I made my third call to Dr. T. He asked if I could meet him at his office in 30 minutes. We loaded up the kids and road-tripped to the surgeon’s office.

I was a bit nervous. I’ve never had a piece of string growing out of my body before. I bet you haven't, either. But it turned out not to be a big deal (well, at least as of now). Dr. T sterilized a clamp and scissors and simply snipped the suture, leaving a microscopic hole. That was it. The rest of the suture apparently dissolved underneath the skin. Dr. T lathered some Neosporin (or similar substance) over the hole, and patched me up with a band-aid. 30 seconds later, we packed the kids back into the car for the ride home.

I hope there aren’t any more emergencies. Or if there are, they aren’t serious. But it’s nice to know I can count on Dr. T.