'We've Never Seen Anything Like It'

Says the doctor. Apparently, Joe's combination of injuries is not to be found in textbooks, nor has the surgeon or any of his colleagues heard of such a combination of injuries. Way to be special babe! We all know you are;O)

This hotel, I mean, hospital, I mean, hmmm, other than the whole surgery bit & the IV in the hand it's pretty cush. When we arrived, we were escorted up to the room, then the woman took Joe's food orders for the duration of his stay. He had daily menu choices as well as an entire a la carte menu book, and a wine list to boot! Huh? Joe told me to 'stop being an Asian' because I was taking photos of literally everything upon arrival. Obviously, he has a private room with a bit of lake & mountain view, seriously people, lake view. The anesthesiologist came in both before & after the procedure and sat down both times to chat with us about pros/cons of local/general anesthesia, etc. At first, we thought he was an assistant to the
anesthesiologist because he spent so much time with us upfront. Joe's also had a few visits from the surgeon post-surgery, love him, he's a funny guy. His english is wonderful, but he questions his use of language a bit. For example, when talking about Joe's wound dressing, he said, "we'll remove the dressing, wait, is that correct, isn't that what you put on salad?" Well, yes, yes, as a matter of fact it is.

Joe opted for the local anesthesia & was able to watch the monitor the entire time throughout the operation. The doctor was able to explain to Joe what he was doing as he operated. Sounds really neat (and a little bit gross), huh?! So, the doctor was quite pleased with the operation & felt Joe's knee is in better condition than he might have thought. His main PCL band (the anterolateral PCL) is completely torn. However, his posteromedial PCL is still intact which we hear is good news. The rest of the plan is still the same, sweet USA brace for the next 6 weeks full-time & then go from there.

Yesterday on the way to the hospital we took the tram & Joe sat down next to an old man. Older people always want to speak to him about what's wrong with him, and this guy was no exception. It's so funny to struggle through explaining the accident/what the story is to people in broken German. I overheard Joe explaining a week back about how he 'meine kruezband diskutiert.' And, I said, 'you are discussing with your ligament?' Joe told me no, that means dislocated/tore & I said, I'm pretty sure it means discuss. He looked it up & sure enough, he'd been telling old people all around Zurich that he discussed his ligament. Love it! So, on the way to surgery, Joe told the guy he would be in the brace for 6 weeks & the guy said, while laughing, 'just in time for summer ending.' Yeah, thanks buddy, thanks for rubbing that in. At least everyone here says to him 'Gute Besserung!' (Get Well Soon!) I'm certainly hoping he gets well soon & know all of you are thinking of him & hoping/praying for the best as well. It's honestly been an eye-opening, positive experience. We really can't believe the level of care here. If the hospital had their way, they'd have him overnight for a second night in the hospital, whereas in the US this would most likely be an outpatient procedure. Luckily, Joe convinced the doc he was fine to go home, so we both had a good nights rest & are ready to get back at it -- I return to work tomorrow (for one week before summer holidays!) & Joe, well, he's on a work call as I type;)