Glen's Leg

Early this summer, Glen had an unlucky fall at an evening soccer game with his mates (a tumble he had while performing an amazing goalie save, he would insist I add, if he knew I was writing about this). The fall was "no big deal". He finished his game, went for beers, and biked home.

An hour later, at home with an apres-the-apres beverage, screaming in agony, Glen called me from our bed to check out his ever expanding knee. While talking to the emergency nurse on the phone, he was also dragging himself commando soldier style across the living room, out the front door, across the driveway and into the minivan. He knew this wasn't a normal sprain.

Still in pjs, I rushed Glen to Emergency. Initially unsure if it was just a tipsy Scottish dude with a sore knee that would self resolve, the doctor watched the knee continue to expand before him, and ordered a CT scan. The scan showed a burst artery.

A vascular surgeon was called out of bed and the artery was immediately repaired, literally an hour after the burst was found.

The nurse who took his pulse the next morning, Glen would also insist I add, found he was alive and well, and said, "Wow, 38 beats per minute. You must be an athlete." (We are becoming more and more desperate for such praise, we find, as we get closer and closer to 50!)

Three days later, Glen was back in the hospital to have all the dried blood scraped out of his knee by a plastic surgeon. There was so much of it, they felt the body would never be able to take care of it itself. Leaving the congealed blood would likely reduce mobility and cause pain for the rest of Glen's days.

Dob emerged looking like this:

Six weeks later, Dob was given the clear to start moving ahead, and 8 weeks later,  last Thursday, we went for a ride at Mount Tzouhalem. Glen was a bit out of shape (heart pounding - hello nurse, take his heart rate now, please!?!) but his leg felt as good as new.

Thanks, Team Z, for the celebratory cupcakes!

And Canada, THANK YOU to the nurses and doctors and the entire national health care system. 

The system is of course not perfect, but our total bill for a life saving surgery, a leg saving follow up operation, and and all the post-op care: $0.

The ego boosting compliment from the nurser: Priceless. 

Amazing. So grateful.