Well, for those of you who are interested, we spent another 5 1/2 hours in the hospital yesterday. Matt had an appointment at the fracture clinic at 9:05 a.m. and
that was fairly quickly over, maybe half an hour to 45 minutes. The surgeon said he would perform a Kyphoplasty on the fractured vertebra – basically this means they insert a needle with a balloon which is inflated to lift up the vertebra and then they inject bone cement to hold it in the proper position. This will take place on Wednesday next. However, he then had to go for blood work, pre surgery consultation, chest X ray and a conference with the anesthetist. As the whole thing was an “add on” this all took forever and we didn’t get out of there til about 2:30. We were not happy campers about this. We have so much paperwork I had to ask for something to put it in. Oh, and by the way, the also want to give him a bone density scan which takes place a week later as they appear to think he may have osteoporosis (thought that was a female thing). I guess if you’ve got bones you can have osteoporosis. That’s maybe more than you wanted to learn but that’s what’s happening in our lives. A couple of nurses assured us that Dr. Moammer was the best which is very reassuring.
I came across an article about the new Canadian polymer bills. The one shown
was for $20. There is a video which describes all the security features. The main picture is of the memorial at Vimy Ridge in France, people think it is the twin towers, and then people also say they can see naked women. Damned if I can, maybe you would like to have a look at the video and see if you are able to. They are talking about the bills being too pornographic. Seems like a load of nonsense to me. I do think the design around the Queen’s head is a bit odd. There’s a bit of trivia for you, in England I would talk of a pound note, but here it’s a dollar bill.
Hanging around hospitals for hours makes me extremely tired. So I think I will call it quits for now.
Someone commented about asparagus risotto the other day, that has always been one of my favourites. I always add a little white wine to mine as it gives it a delicious flavour.
Asparagus Risotto
1/2 cup white onion, small diced
6 crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 Tbs olive oil
8 asparagus, blanched and cut into 1/4 inch lengths
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups chicken stock (kept warm in a pan)
To taste salt and pepper
1/2 cup parsley, flat-leaf chopped
1 small piece parmesan reggiano cheese
1. In a sauté pan, sweat the onions and mushrooms with the olive oil Add the asparagus Add the rice and slightly sauté Add 1/3 of the chicken stock and continuously stir until the liquid is absorbed
2. Add another 1/3 of stock and stir til absorbed
3. Add the remainder of the chicken stock and continue to stir until it is absorbed. Add white wine if needed.
4. Season the risotto and stir in the parsley
5. Spoon the risotto on each plate
6. Shave the chunk of parmesan cheese with a peeler over each risotto to finish
Servings: 4
Have a great weekend
It's amazing what progress medicine (science) has made. I hope all will go well for Matt.
ReplyDeleteYes isn't it? When I had my last angioplasty it was totally different from the one before. I was surprised they could do anything for Matt, they have a tendency to say "you're too old", but not this time.
DeleteGood luck on the kyphoplasty. I am a doctor, but this shouldn't be construed as praciticing medicine, etc--just a couple of pointers as I perform hundreds of these each year in Oklahoma.
ReplyDeleteSome may have incisional pain that lasts a couple of days, but usually it's nothing compared to the pain of the unfixed fracture. Therefore, most patients will feel like the pain is gone afterwards.
Make sure that your doctor checks a vitamin D level and DXA (bone density test). 90% of patients with vertebral fractures that don't get better on their own have low vitamin D. Also, in our clinic, we usually start patients on teraparitide (Forteo). Once a patient has a fracture, my opinion is they should NOT be on bisphosphonates (aledronate, etc) because this slows bone healing.
Lastly, I'll presume Matt is a male. We usually don't see men with osteoporotic fractures until 70+. In my clinic, we always check a testosterone level in these guys because it is also common. Both low vitamin D and low testosterone slow down the rate at which our bodies heal bone.
Just a few tips because there ARE a lot of docs that do kyphoplasty but NOT many that also treat the osteoporosis. The fact that your doctor diagnosed the fracture and is treating it is a great sign.
Best wishes!
JW
PS you don't have to publish this to your blog, I just wanted to pass along helpful information for you.
Thank you so much for the information. In fact he is having a bone density test next week. He is already on Vitamin D. He is 77 by the way. I will inquire about the other points you raised. I very much appreciate your input here. These things are, of course, always a worry.
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