Friday, July 13, 2007

Rods Trimmed, Sac Drained, Rachel Heads Home

Rachel Smiles and Heals

Rachel was standing next to her bed when I got to the hospital this morning. I mean, she still had her IV in and everything, but she was standing there, her same old self except with a big old bandage and no weird lump.

The surgery went off just fine. As it turns out, Rachel's rods were sticking out far enough that her body formed a giant bursa around the ends. Bursa are fluid-filled sacs formed where muscle or tendon slides across bone -- or titanium, in this case. Her bursa was pretty enormous and filled with all kinds of revolting bacterial goop. It grew steadily over the years as the rods moved away from her spine, according to Rachel's mom.

Extrapolating mentally, I envisioned Rachel at 55 with a hunched back full of gnarly pustulent poison. If that nasty sac detonated under pressure, like on a roller coaster or something, it would have killed Rachel immediately and probably anyone within its blast radius.

But now it's over, the rods are clipped and the sac is drained.

Pardon me with an aside here, but: is the word sac nasty or what? It's so strange -- sack is just fine. Groceries come in sacks. Santa Claus carries a sack, and you can get a sack of burgers, which are delicious.

But sac. Ew. When I think of the contents of a sac, I think of pus, testicles, and spider eggs.

Rachel's fine though, barring a surgical opening that needs to heal shut. She's certainly well enough already to clown around with the medical equipment by her bed:

Naughty With the Breather-piece2

This is a real conversation that we overheard this morning between her hospital roommate, a doctor and a nurse:

Doctor: "How are you feeling this morning?"
Patient: (Replied in Spanish, which neither the Doctor or I understood.)
Nurse, in Spanish: (How are you feeling today?)
Patient: (More Spanish)
Nurse, to Doctor: "I think we can let her go this evening, she's much better."
Doctor: "Well, that does us no good, we need her bed by noon!"
Nurse, loudly to Patient: "Congratulations, pack your things, you're going home immediately!"

Luckily for Rachel and the nurses -- who were probably preparing to dump her in a grocery cart and shove it onto Fifth Avenue -- she's already home recovering. Me, I'm back down from nervous to normally neurotic and heading out to her parents' place this weekend with a bunch of Sopranos on DVD.

Thanks so much for all your concern and comments, too -- we both really appreciated it.

Rachel Healing Nicely

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3 Comments:

At 9:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brilliant news...so very very glad that all went we1l..
xoxo

 
At 3:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, Rachel! :) Glad to hear this went so well. Yes, sac is a weird word.

 
At 1:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad you are feeling better, your blog came up when I was looking for info on Payton Mannings inflamed Bursa Sac. Sounds like you had quite a bit of problem there but glad to hear you made it fine and found humor in the moment. You are so funny and cute,... keep rockin' and keep the rods where they belong.

 

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