From Wendy:

Thank you for your CaringBridge comments and prayers! God was merciful!

The surgery went well. The hospital staff was very accommodating of his brain injury. Unfortunately, due to COVID, only one of us was permitted at the hospital. Thankfully, they allowed me to stay with him most of the pre and post op time.  Before surgery, the anesthesiologist gave him a low dose of Versed before administering a nerve block to his knee. The Versed lowered his blood pressure and heart rate which alarmed the monitors. I wasn’t expecting the emotional challenges of his lowered stats or hearing all the beeping, as this brought back painful memories of him in the hospital after the crash. But the nurses were attentive and it eventually evened out. It was difficult; especially since Dan wasn’t with us.

The doctor successfully removed the pins, screws and wires, “the hardware”, from his knee in about 1 ½ hours. He also performed an arthroscopy which is a procedure where the doctor pokes small holes into the knee area to look at the surface of the bone and cartilage. The procedure revealed some significantly bad cartilage on the backside of the kneecap, but the good news is the inside looks ok. The doctor also biopsied the cartilage in case Levi needs future surgery. He trimmed some of the bad cartilage; hoping it will make a difference. Time will tell.

Levi is able to bear weight on his knee as tolerated and has no limit to motion.  Yesterday he was fairly active, but today, not so much.

He is using a water cooler apparatus called a Cryo/Cuff to help relieve pain and swelling. Its effect is similar to an ice pack.

His follow up appointment is next week which will give us more information as to how the knee is healing and whether he will need additional physical therapy. 

PRAYERS:

*Levi’s complete healing

*Our faith increases day by day

_____________________

Blessings,

Laura (Levi's Aunt)