To try and keep things simple, Sarah suffered a torn MPFL ligament. Not one I had heard before her diagnosis, but in essence it's the ligament that holds the patella (knee cap) in line and prevents it from sliding to the outside of the knee. If you want to get a better idea yourself, try a gently push your knee cap toward the outside of the knee. It should shift over a bit then stop. With Sarah, her left knee cap could slide a good 3-4 inches further than "normal". This caused her a great deal of pain and prevented her from doing easily everyday tasks such as climbing the stairs, exercising, and walking for longer periods of time. Surgery was the only way to correct this and Sarah was more than ready after being in pain for more than 8 months.
Sarah's preoperative room. She had her own private room as we waited for the previous patients to have their surgery.
Our girl was nervous, yet ready to have her surgery. She managed to smile at just about every opportunity.
Our nursing student LOVED seeing first hand all of the things she has been studying about and wanted me to take photos of several things. Her vitals screen- all showing a healthy 20 year old female.
Outside of her room this waited to go with Sarah to surgery. Cryo Cuff. I hadn't heard about it until the day of surgery, but it after coming to find out the function of this device I thought this was pure genius! More to come on the Cryo Cuff in a future post.
Sarah had to get a femoral block before going back for surgery. These were the magical drugs that helped sedate her for the procedure. John and I went to another room while it was performed.
When we came back this was the goofy expression Sarah greeted us with. Doped up and all smiles. During this time, Sarah would go from telling us various nursing things she had watched, discussions with nurses on staff, asking us the same questions multiple times, and dozing for a few minutes. It was quite comical to watch.
We still had a good while to wait until it was Sarah's turn, so we took some Mom and daughter photos after she perked up a bit.
Daddy and daughter time.
Moments before being wheeled back to surgery. We gave lots of hugs, kisses, and prayed over Sarah. Still all smiles.
John and waited in the hallway as they wheeled Sarah back to surgery. The nurses paused for a moment and waved. Sarah said as they pushed her back they thought that was really cool that we did that and got a kick out of being included in the photo.
The hospital had this cool surgery update screen in the waiting room. Sarah had been assigned a number and on the screen it updates where in the process the patient is. It was reassuring to see as Sarah progressed through surgery and the 2 recovery rooms before we were called back.
We did have a brief visit from the surgeon after Sarah was finished. He had photos showing just how misaligned Sarah's patella was and how her MPFL was gone prior to being reconstructed with a donor graft. Everything went perfectly and no other damage was found within her knee.
Sarah's first sip of water and bite of food in nearly 22 hours! She was SO thrilled to have these simple things.
After chowing down the crackers, the nurses brought her some orange sherbet. Stilly girl wanted to do a duckface for me as she enjoyed her treat.
Horribly blurry, but this was Sarah and her post-op nurse as she was being wheeled to the car to go home.
Sarah was anxious to take a peek at her incision sites a day after the surgery. She has 2 small cuts below her knee from the scope/tools, the lager incisions are from where I believe the new ligament was attached to her patella and femur.
In typical Apedaile6 fashion, the other kids wrote a Get Well message and JT drew a picture of Sarah on our chalkboard wall to help welcome her home.
Sarah is now currently 7 days post op and doing remarkably well. I will make a post about some of her recovery early next week after Sarah has her first post op visit with the Dr. We appreciate the kind words, thoughts, and prayers our friends and family have sent to Sarah.
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