Big Boy BooBoos Big Time

Working on a tug boat is hard. It's hard mentally, because you are away from home and family for an extended amount of time. You are gone half the year, which means that lots of holidays, birthdays, school plays, recitals and sports events get missed. (Did I mention the Superbowl? No???? Yup. He missed it. The sheer horror.........missing the Superbowl in the deep South where football is religion!) Butch hasn't been home for Christmas in 8 years. He has missed almost that many Easters and birthdays and even (gasp) Valentine's Day and our anniversary dates. And Halloween, not that we celebrate it. Most every Saint Patrick's Day too, he is motoring up and down the river, spraying green tinted water for the drunk tourists and locals as they party it up on the day that EVERYONE in the city is Irish.

It is also hard physically. There are a lot of heavy lines to pull and lift, lots of sanding, grinding and painting. Lots of boat washing to get the salt water off and protect the paint, lots of window cleaning to ensure good clear visibility for the Captain, lots of deck work to be sure things aren't slippery when wet and lots of lines to repair when they part. Lots of work and little sleep.

So, after a few years of this, it takes it's toll on the body. Enter Butch's latest boo-boo.....a torn meniscus.

I didn't know the human body had a meniscus, much less where it was or what it did or how bad it could HURT until I saw my man crumple in pain when he moved wrong. First, we saw our family doctor who injected the knee with Kenalog and prescribed Prendisone to help healing, suspecting arthritis or just a wrong move was the culprit. When those treatments lasted only a couple of weeks, an MRI was ordered and it showed the real issue....a torn meniscus.

It was a routine procedure, done as outpatient surgery. Butch came home the night before surgery so he could rest. I shaved his knee for him (SO THANKFUL Butch isn't a furry gorilla man) and fed him well before the imposed midnight fast began.

The next day we arrived at the hospital bright and early. Notice I did NOT say bright eyes and bushy tailed. I am neither of these before noon. If you want bright eyed and bushy tailed pre-noon, I suggest you go find yourself a squirrel.

Since we happened to know the head surgical nurse, she allowed our daughter to help with the prep before surgery. (The Princess plans to go into the field of Sports Medicine)

After he was scrubbed up, he got drugged up.....

And then surgery. It went very well, and the doctor was able to do the surgery exactly as he had planned. (There was a suspicion that the tear may be worse than seen on MRI, and that some plastic hooks and screws may have to be used. Praise God, they weren't needed.)

He came home and rested fairly well that night, but the next morning......drama. He couldn't feel his foot and his knee and calf were very swollen. We went to his doctor's office where they immediately drained 58cc of blood and fluid from the knee. Ew.

My poor man :(

After that, healing was easier. He lost almost a month of work, but he is back at it now. His only restrictions are not to kneel in water and to not dig at his incisions, lest they pop open. We've been blessed by so many friends, family members and church family during his time off work.  We are hoping he can work all week and not have any difficulties, so please keep us in prayer!