Marcus and His Hard Times

Poor Marcus!  He's had a bum ankle since July.  He's been on crutches, wearing a brace, not running, going to doctor appointments, and waiting and waiting and waiting.  After the MRI results showed he needed surgery, I quickly called to schedule it and found out the surgery wouldn't happen for 6 weeks and the only option was Friday afternoon on October 30th.  I took the slot and broke the bad new to Marcus that he'd have to wait six more weeks for anything to be done.  

The day of the surgery came with much anticipation.  Marcus canceled all fun and Halloween plans with friends and we drove to the clinic, happy to finally be doing something about his ankle.  The nurse got him dressed for the OR and started his IV and then we waited.  Two hours later another nurse came in and told us his surgery was canceled.  We were shocked.  She told us we'd have to reschedule and I very calmly but very angrily told her that was not an option.  When I told her we'd already waited 2 months for the appointment she was shocked.  But she said there was no way the surgery could still happen because the doctor was held up in the OR and the staff would all be leaving as soon as he finished.  We were so mad and Marcus had been fasting all day so he was extra grumpy.  As soon as they took out his IV we left the clinic as fast as we could and went straight to Habit Burger where Marcus inhaled two burgers, chicken strips, onion rings, and a shake.  Luckily a scheduler called us shortly after that and put us on the surgery schedule for five days later, first thing in the morning.  

Take 2:  We showed up at 6:15am and got prepped for surgery.  Then we waited for more than an hour.  A nurse came in with more bad news.  They were doing a test on the generator and it failed the test and needed a part to repair it so no surgeries until it could be repaired.  We died.  Then we prayed and waited.  Finally, an hour later they came to get Marcus for his surgery and we both almost cried with relief.  The surgery went well.  Turns out his ligaments were so stretched out they were doing nothing and the doctor could pull Marcus's ankle out of socket with no effort.  He tightened the ligaments by drilling into the bone (Marcus has the hardest bones to drill into of any patient the doctor had ever worked on).  After placing a scope in to figure out what other damage was going on and cleaning things up, Marcus was done.  

HOORAY!!  Five months after the injury, Marcus is finally on the road to recovery. We came home from surgery to a big sign on the door from his seminary class and lots of treats and well-wishes from friends and family.  He took heavy drugs for a few days and ate and slept on the couch with a smooth recovery.  

We got him a grandpa scooter so he could get around school without crutches.  One of the special needs girls in his class made him a little Tesla symbol to go on the basket on the front which cracked me up.

I'm proud of my boy for being mentally tough when all the things he loves most have been taken away.  Marcus is a physical kid and is always active so to be limited for so long has been extra hard on him.  He hasn't been able to drive for two weeks and can't drive for two more weeks which is death for me too.  His splint is off and now he has a boot so he can actually stand in the shower and hobble around without crutches.  Things are starting to look up.