Dan's Downfall!

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

So I'm writing this as a different blog since it is a much different issue... let me fill you in our some past events!

When Dan was probably 18 - 19 years old he was on his jet ski, jumping wakes, behind a boat. Well, he jumped a really high wake and fell into the water with the jet ski crashing down on his leg. He had broken his femur, the biggest bone in your body. A nearby boat saw what had happened and pulled him out of the water. His leg was huge and Dan was in great pain. They rushed him to the hospital! To make a long story short he had a long metal rod inserted into the inside of his femur to hold it together, as well and a screw in his hip and 2 more in his knee.

Well, two nights ago... Dan was playing with Remington on the floor. He did not notice again strange. But the next morning he wakes up and says to me... "Kendra my knee is killing me..." I reach down to feel it and it is the size of a grapefruit it is that swollen. We rushed to the doctor and the doctor drained his knee. It was full of blood so they sent it to the lab to get checked for infection... there was none THANKFULLY! But we still don't know what has caused it... they did an MRI to check the tendons and stuff but we haven't found out the results of that yet... but a surgery is scheduled for Tuesday to remove some screws that have been causing him a lot of pain! What a week!

[Debbie and Thomas]

My husband had a very bad accident and his (I think it is called tibia) broke in 4 places and was pretty much crushed. This is the bone(two of them) which go from the knee to the ankle. He was rushed to the hospital in shock and they had to put in a steel plate onto his shin bone that is 12 inches long and has 12 rivets(screws) that are attached to the remaing bone. He was in the hospital for two weeks!! They were so afraid of infection. To this day-if he bangs his shin on his bad leg, his ankle swells up like a grapefruit. The doctors say that the circulation in the traumatized limb will never be the same. With my husband it is his anlke that swells, with Dan it is his knee -the joint below the injury in both cases. Also-re the removal of the screws-with my husbands injury, they had planned on removing the 12 inch plate and screws, but when he went to see the doctor a year later, they decided to leave everything in tact. If they removed all of this sheet metal, he would have had to walk with a cast and a cane for three months or more until the bone filled in again. It is fun at the airport though, when his leg sets off all the alarms going thru security!!