I don’t have a whole lot of good to say, so I will make this short and to the point. (I also don’t have a lot of pictures, since my phone died. Sorry.)
2nd McFarland Bypass
(Surgery Date 12.2.2019)
2 months Post-Op AP View
This x-ray looks re-markedly similar to the last one 6 weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting something shockingly different, so it’s similarity didn’t bother me. I also took note of the fact that it still looked “spiderweb-like” in the keyhole, but thought that maybe it just didn’t have time to really harden into bone.
But Dr. Frick’s words felt like a punch in the gut.
He told me that her body looked like it was reabsorbing the graft. On the positive side, he saw a really strong union on the bone at the top and bottom of the graft. He said that he felt comfortable calling it a successful Classic McFarland. But I know someone else who had a successful McFarland (in the 70s?) who is now an amputee.
Her leg is reabsorbing the graft.
Why the hell did we even do surgery? Did I make a wrong choice? I have so many feelings, and I can’t process them. Will she be better? Will she back in a wheelchair in the fall? So many questions, and not enough answers.
Maybe we should have found a way to see Dr. Paley.
I look at Dr. Frick, and I throw a Hail Mary pass. “Is this it? Or is is possible that she can still have side-by-side union?” He was silent for a moment, and said that anything was possible, and that we should come back in 4 months and see where we stand.
Next appointment is 6/22/20. It’s going to be a LONG 4 months…
