Darling Dustan

On Wednesday of this week, Dustan was walking in towards the house and he turned the corner. His body continued, but his leg did not. It put him on the ground with an injured knee. He hobbled around for an hour or so and then elevated it with ice. Later that afternoon he looked at it, and it was swollen to double its' size. By the night he was in a lot of pain and couldn't move his leg at all without cringing and lifting it with his hands. It was a long, painful night for the both of us.

The next afternoon he got in to see the doctor and the doc wasn't happy with what he saw. He sent him to get X-rays and to see a specialist, which is where we went today. After a horrible experience with finding the place, we finally met the specialist- an hour and a half late... but at least he slipped us in.

He looked at the X-rays and decided that there might be a hairline fracture in the tibia- or not. He thought there was a possibility that it might just be X-ray 'noise' instead. Wasn't sure. He said that the only sure way to know about a fracture and if there was torn cartilidge was to do an MRI.

So, he then drained off 133cc of blood from his knee, and then we could finally see his kneecap again. He got Dustan a hinged knee brace to keep the knee from swelling, but allowing bending motion. We got an MRI scheduled for the earliest appt available-- which isn't until Wednesday. And then we can't get in to see the doctor until next Friday morning to read the MRI and to get recommendations as to what to do next. It could be surgery and/ or a cast. Easily 6 weeks of reduced activities- at the bare minimum he is to put no weight on it at all until they know what's wrong with it.

Regardless, since it is his right knee, this poses a problem with driving. And you all know he has an hour and a half commute one way each day to Baltimore. He is also on a 6 month probation period in which he has not sick leave nor vacation time off. So, he is currently working from home, but we have no idea how this will work long-term. Please pray that this won't pose a huge problem for him at work.

On the upside, he is feeling a lot better since the knee was drained and he has vicadin in him for the pain. Now he just has to deal with the new blister on his hands from the crutches, and doing stairs everyday to go to bed. Ah, well, if it's not one thing it's ALWAYS another, isn't it. *sigh* There's still a lot to be thankful for!