I don't know where and how to start on this post. Should I explain where I left off from the last post, with all the to-ings and fro-ings or should I just cut to the chase and tell what was the latest diagnosis?
On reflection and for the sake of friends who are reading this, I shall take the longer route to explain.
Let's get to where we left off about Louis having to go for review on New Year's Eve. After the visit to CGH A&E, he was referred to the Sports Clinic of the hospital. An earlier x-ray of his knee showed that there was no bone fracture, which was supposed to be a good thing becos a bone fracture takes a longer period to recover. To determine more conclusively the extent of his injuries, there was a need for him to go through a MRI.
Unfortunately, the earliest date that he could go for a MRI was on 14 Jan, which was 2 weeks away. Another further 2 weeks was required for the report to be out. In essence, it would be a good one month before he would be able to know where the specific injuries were located.
In the meantime, he was given 1 month of medical leave from work and was expected to be using the crutches to aid his movement during the interim.
It was a rather frustrating and discouraging result for both of us. What made it most difficult was having to wait so long without knowing how serious his injuries were. And becos they could not pinpoint the seriousness of the injury, physiotherapy was also not recommended. Not knowing and the inability to take any action makes the entire situation a little difficult to bear.
Thankfully, Louis received a timely email from his boss with a recommendation to seek a second opinion with another orthopedic surgeon from Raffles Hospital. As the swelling has spread downwards from his knee to his ankle and foot, we decided to consult the outpatient clinic there on New Year's day and also request for a referral to the orthopedic surgeon, Dr Lim Lian Arn.
Therein lies the difference between a public hospital and a private one. Understandably, queues in a public hospital tend to be a little longer as it is subsidised. It's all economics.
We were able to speedily get an appointment to see Dr Lim on Fri when we called for an appointment on New Year's day. And the all important MRI that would shed light on the extent of his injury was scheduled for the same day, with the results out some 45 mins after the MRI scan.
This was what we understand of the situation -there are 4 main ligaments in the knee; the ACL, MCL , PCL and LCL (see here for pictorial diagram and explanations). In Louis' case, 3 out of the 4 main ligaments were torn. Only the LCL, the ligament that gives support to his outer knee was intact. In addition, there was another water capsule (don't exactly know what that is or its function) that had burst. The water capsule was important for some insertion of scope to aid in the surgery.
So, while he definitely requires an operation for his knee, it was not possible at this juncture to do so as we have to wait for the water capsule to repair itself, which would take 3 weeks. Between now and then, Louis would be required to go in to check with Dr Lim on a weekly basis on the condition of his knee.
For now, he should not try to do any lifting or exerting, which includes trying to stand or put weight on his left knee. We also bought a knee brace that covers from the upper top thighs to the calf.
In short, that means that Louis will be home-bound for a while to come (around 1-2 months, hopefully?). The crutches do assist him in moving around but it is not easy as he has to use his thigh muscles to lift his left leg off the ground all the time, making it rather exhausting for him to go anywhere. Even going down to the steak house just next to our block, less than 50 metres away, would require him to take 1 or 2 short intervals in between to rest his arms and leg.
In all this, we are trying very hard to see the silver lining in the whole situation, although we haven't quite figure out what it is. Nonetheless, we are thankful that at least the remaining ligament was not torn -- else, it would have meant his entire left knee was dislocated, whatever that might mean. The other being that although this injury was no small matter, at least it wasn't life-threatening.
Louis, being the positive man that he is, considers the entire situation to be one of inconvenience - to him and everyone else in the family and at work. The pessimist in me is trying hard to be an optimist, thankful and not ask rhetoric question like "why did this happen to him/us".
It is really great that we had strong support and encouragement from our family. My elder BIL was called upon 1 day after his return from a 4-month overseas job stint to help drive Louis to the hospital 3 days in a row. My elder SIL called every other day to see if I required any help or grocery shopping for our meals. My in-laws helped us to take care of Faith during the holiday break, giving us some time to breathe and take a rest. My mom, unfortunately had to take care of another important family matter that cropped up on the same day that Louis sustained his knee injury and was away until yesterday. Louis and I were very grateful when she finally came in :)
Of course, we need to share how our dear daughter has been adjusting to her beloved Papa's injury. We think she might have an inkling of what's happening. She no longer asks for Louis to carry her, although she occasionally still asks him to dance with her when she's excited about her favourite shows like Hi-5 or Elmo. Once, she brought him the plastic mat, which was actually one of her toy, which we improvised and use to catch dripping water from the cold compress.
We have also shifted back to our master bedroom. Faith now sleeps on the floor on her own for the better part of the night. I alternate between sleeping on our own bed and going down to pat or soothe her back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night - unfortunately, I'm not one of those mothers who are lucky enough to have a child that sleeps through the night.
We are taking each day as it comes, and adjusting our routine and lives to accommodate this "slight inconvenience" for as long as it takes till the day that Louis would be able to walk on his own without the aid of the crutches.
It seems like an eternity for now, but I'm sure there's a moral to be learnt of this incident. Not lest this: we always talk about taking the little things for granted - nothing brings home that message more clearly than when one comes close to losing it. For 2009, we are looking forward to the time when we can go grocery shopping in NTUC together again :)
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