Man of steel

After a few days of hanging out with my external fixator and wound vacuum, it was time to work on the bones. In a 5 ½ hour-long surgery, a team of surgeons re-set my bones using two metal plates and 16 screws. Working from a plan they based on the CAT scan and other factors, they managed to get me back together pretty darn well. I imagine that this surgery involved as many clamps, power drills and extension cords as scalpels and scissors. They tell me that the tourniquet was around my upper thigh for several hours, apparently the limit for such things, and I had a dent in my thigh for a few weeks after the surgery. The good news is that I did not tear any ligaments. That said, the piece of bone into which the ACL inserts was apparently smashed such that the ACL had to be sutured back into position. Waking up from this latest surgery I was free of my towel bar, but the wound vac was still with me. Great, so I am fixed, how long until I get out of the hospital? Well, that all depends on how long it takes to get the swelling down enough to close up the gaping hole beneath the wound vac…