Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways
Before you let the surgeon cut on you, he or she has to go over a list of things that can go wrong, in order to obtain informed consent to the surgery. They often give the best current medical estimate of the probability the major bad things happening: ...and you could aspirate your own vomit and die, but that rarely happens and it's never happened to any of my patients.
Regarding reconstruction of the knee, one of the things that can go poorly is that the surgeon could cut a nerve which will not regenerate and you could lose feeling in part of your leg, forever. ...but that rarely happens--much less than in 2% of patients with surgery like yours.
Except, of course, if it does happen then there was no difference, in the end, than if it was predicted at 100%. And in my ACL reconstruction about 12 years ago now, I lost feeling in the top front of my shin. You can almost cover the place with one hand. I can feel pressure, and I believe some heat, but the area has no sense of touch. None. It's numb.
But it's not all bad. Today in my header down the stairs, the major blow was to the very spot that is numb. I know there's some pain there, but I really can't feel but a twinge as I rise from sitting. So I got that going for me.
Regarding reconstruction of the knee, one of the things that can go poorly is that the surgeon could cut a nerve which will not regenerate and you could lose feeling in part of your leg, forever. ...but that rarely happens--much less than in 2% of patients with surgery like yours.
Except, of course, if it does happen then there was no difference, in the end, than if it was predicted at 100%. And in my ACL reconstruction about 12 years ago now, I lost feeling in the top front of my shin. You can almost cover the place with one hand. I can feel pressure, and I believe some heat, but the area has no sense of touch. None. It's numb.
But it's not all bad. Today in my header down the stairs, the major blow was to the very spot that is numb. I know there's some pain there, but I really can't feel but a twinge as I rise from sitting. So I got that going for me.
Labels: personal history; informed consent; numb skin
