It's a Bagel!

Karen is out of surgery. She’s in recovery and sleepy, but she’ll be moving back into a hospital room soon.

About the surgery…

The doctor said of her pelvis, “It’s a bagel…and she got a ‘blue plate special’ surgery.”

Dr. Chip Routt was incredible in his explanation of how the surgery went and provided a lot of relief for the family. He apparently wrote the book on how to do this surgery and performs these on a regular basis.

The doctor explained the surgery using a bagel analogy (see the drawing on a pillow case at the left of the photo). Her pelvis was broken in three places and it has been repaired using more screws than a brand new deck. One of the screws, he explained, is about the size of a Sharpie pen and connects both sides of her pelvis. She also got two smaller screws to stabilize two other parts of her lower pelvis.

She also sustained a de-gloving injury where the skin and fat breaks apart from the muscle and then the space between fills with blood. He sucked that out and a handful of fat, which Karen should be happy to hear. We’ll have to be sure to exaggerate and say it was a bit more though.

He reports that she should be able to sit up this evening. If she’s up to it, she can get on crutches as soon as tomorrow. If she isn’t up to crutches, she’ll have to sit around for the next six weeks and as Dr. Routt said, “It’s like baking a cake. You just gotta sit around and watch it.”

He’s apparently into food analogies. It’s the language that we all speak and understand well.

Dr. Chip says that she will be in the hospital between 3 to 7 days, depending on when she can fulfill the 5 P's: Pee (self-explanatory), Poop (self-explanatory again), Pain (she can control her pain with medication or sheer will power), Physical therapy (pass the evaluation) and Place to go (with a family this size, self-explanatory). He said she can either go to a nursing care facility or if you're the Waltons, you can take her home. Well, Waltons, meet the O'Neils.