Surgery Number 3

I forgot to make a post about this, for the people who keep up with us. For those of you who don't know, I will add a quick explaination.

December 11. 2007, Duane was walking the warehouse at his then job and his steel toe boots caught on a 1/2 inch bolt sticking out from the cement. He fell onto his left knee and dislocated his knee cap. After being out on Workman's Comp for 3 months, the doctor felt he was ready to return to work. After a month or two of being back, he started having severe pain in his knee. He was told to get an MRI to check and see what else could be wrong and with the waiting period for Workman's Comp to approve the MRI, then the surgery, it took another 4 months for the surgery on his torn meniscus to be approved. Duane was laid off October 2, 2008 and had his surgery November 12th. Exactly one year to the date, on December 11, 2008, Duane tripped over his grandparents blind dog and fell right on the knee, 2 weeks before he was able to bear weight on it again. Through more MRI's, he was approved for surgery number 2 to repair the damage done to the meniscus again, which happened in March of 2009, right before I had Kellan. Because I was in my 9th month and bed ridden and suffering from crippling allergies, Duane being the way that he is jumped up and started putting weight on the knee as soon as he could so that he could take care of everything around the house, from Kade to cleaning. He ended up putting himself through a lot more damage. He had another MRI which showed a torn meniscus and possible hole in the cartilege and through the cycle or waiting for approval once again, he had his surgery April 14th.

Ok, so that was kind of a long explaination. But it's been a long 2.5 years!

Going in with a lot of uncertainty for what they would find, he had the 3rd surgery and the surgeon found lots of fraying of the meniscus, an obscene amount of scar tissue(which was causing the majoity of the pain) and thankfully NO hole in the cartilege. IT was really best care scenerio for the surgery and we are really thankful for that. Now, two weeks later, he is off of the crutches and using a cane. He has been approved for phycial therapy and starts this next week, I believe. We are really hopeful for a smooth healing process and excited at the possibility of no more excruciating pain. It also comes with a concern and a lot of stress about what happens when the pain is gone and workman's compensation stops. Duane is currently going to school full time taking 16 units, so him working is something hard to consider so we are trying to figure out the next couple of months.

Very stressful, but through it all, I must say this: I have found that this injury has been a blessing is disguise in a lot of ways. If he were still doing the work he was doing, he would not have gone very far and everything that he was trained to do or ever wanted to go back to school for was very physical work. Having to look past those things and discover something that he has a true passion and talent for, being the IT field, has been so fabulous to see. He would've never found it if he hadn't been forced to. Also, he has gotten to spend a lot of time with our boys that I know they will look back on and so will we for the rest of their lives and be thankful for. Not every child gets to spend that really crucial bonding period with both of their parents. It has made us a really close knit family unit and I am so thankful for that.

Wow, this is such a rambling post, but its been that kind of event in our lives:)


Here is proof that Duane is the nicest, most helpful man alive. Hours after surgery, he is on the phone with my mom, bascially hacking into my moms computer to help her with some problem she was having. I love this man:)