Lamentation
Idol year 20 | week 3
Sin-Eater

x-x-x-x-x

Your fault, he always says,
If you hadn’t done that
If you would just
Why can’t you ever—

His unceasing sins lie
Written in cuts, in
Bruises and broken bones,
Across her fragile body.

There, they wait to be
Absorbed— absolved—
Like a curse that
She never agreed to carry.

--/--

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HalfshellHusband had surgery late Friday night on his broken leg, and got very, very lucky.

First, the genius surgeon who did two hip replacements and a knee replacement for him made himself available. And second, the metal above-knee component turned out to be fully compatible with the below-knee hardware from the earlier knee surgery 4 years ago.

The risk was that if the pieces were incompatible, the surgeon would have to replace the piece leading to the shin bone as well as adding a new piece for the thigh. With HSH's osteoporosis, removing the shin piece could have caused the shin to shatter as well, in which case they might not have been able to secure a metal replacement leading into that bone. If THAT didn't work out, it could have cascaded into a future above-knee amputation.

I can't tell you how terrified we were of that possibility. HSH has a chronic neurological condition that makes his muscles perpetually tight and weak, and he has balance issues. The chances of him being able to walk on an artificial limb he couldn't feel would be extremely low.

Fortunately, the surgeon was able to go with the simplest scenario. We're SO relieved. And removing all those bone fragments from the thigh and making a clean cut for attaching the metal has REALLY reduced HSH's pain. It was absolutely excruciating before the surgery. Now it's a level he can get through using his impossibly high levels of grit and determination.

Thanks for all of the well wishes everyone sent his way! We both appreciate it very much.

Update on HalfshellHusband: He fell in the middle of the night while getting up to use the bathroom, and broke his leg. It was a bad one—all the way across the femur. He's scheduled for surgery on Saturday, where they will attach a socket-like metal piece to substitute for the lower part of the bone that leads into his artificial knee. Metal plates and screws won't be sufficient.

This means next week's foot surgery will have to be postponed. This is like last time— surgery to rebuild a foot was imminent, but he fell and broke his leg beforehand and the recuperation time doubled. Talk about irony. Last time, it was the left foot and right knee. This time, it's the opposite.

We were concerned about the needed root canal, since his leg is splinted out in front of him and he's in no condition to go in for oral surgery. Plus, the infection delays the ability to operate on his leg. But the hospital is giving him ultra-strong IV antibiotics to kill the infection so it'll stop spreading and they can operate on his leg. The only silver lining here is that the surgeon who previously did both hips and his left knee wants to do this surgery, and he's really good.

So, this is unfortunate news all around. And as I've mentioned before, pain meds don't really work for HSH. He has another medication he needs to take every day that blocks the receptors that pain meds use. Every recuperation is agonizing for him. I just feel so bad for him. It's going to be a long 5-6 months. :(