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5.06.2009

Those Are Where EXACTLY

Stylin' my Jackson-Pratt DrainStylin' my Jackson-Pratt Drain
The drainage bulbs for the two Jackson-Pratt drains
I emptied my Jackson-Pratt drains after about four hours, then six hours later and they had pretty much slowed down the following morning when I was to report to the office to have the drains pulled. Just as Lan was about to get me packaged in the car, I heard a dripping sound on the floor as bright red synovial-diluted blood poured down my leg onto the carpet. One of the plungers on the drain had come loose while I had arranged my pants. I slapped my thumb over it and we managed to get me cleaned up in time. Just to make sure that I knew who was boss, I stubbed my toe as I hiked myself forward on my crutches, and my knee wiped the color from my face, the words from my lips, and made sweat sprout on my forehead. At the orthopedists office, the nurse stripped down the immobilizer, athletic wrap, Kerlex, and bandages on my knee to reveal my assaulted hinge joint.
Yeah those are WAY into the joint spaceYeah those are WAY into the joint space
Two drainage ports and the staples over the area where they took the patellar tendon segment
The nurse then removed the drains, carefully and slowly. I could feel the uncoiling drain dislodge within the joint, the burn as rubber tubing moved past raw flesh, and I turned a shade of light green. With the removal of the second drain I felt much better whether it was because I intellectually knew that yet one more foreign body had been removed or the relief from the insult of having something inside my knee joint.
After getting home I worked on my rehabilitation exercises which include knee flexion and extension as well as hip extensions. Extending the knee was simple, it'd been nearly in that position with immobilizer since that day before. Knee flexion with great effort my knee crept a little above horizontal, scant degrees of horizontal. As for hip extension, I strained to failure and my leg didn't even move.
I've got a lot of work to do...

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