Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Story Of The Patella Tendon


Eric’s surgery was today.  

He was wheeled into recovery at 10:02 am this morning. 

 

Oh yeah, if you are reading this and have no idea what I am talking about, then you have not heard “The Story Of The Patella Tendon”….

Patella tendon: A tendon that extends down from the quadriceps muscle in the thigh to incorporate the patella (the kneecap) and attach it to the tibia (the shinbone), providing extension at the knee joint. The patella tendon is also called the patella ligament because it connects the patella to the tibia. (Ligaments connect bones while tendons connect muscles to bones.)

Once upon a time, there was an Aiden family reunion being held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.



Eric, Tracy and Sinobia Aiden arrived in town, safe and sound, on Thursday evening (Gabrielle stayed home to attend the Jay-Z and Beyonce concert). 

The family members all greeted each other, had breakfast together on Friday morning before heading off to the park to play some friendly family games and relay races.

Across the park, many could spot the men engaging in a slightly non-competitive, old man vs. young man game of basketball.  A few minutes later, Sinobia is spotted running across the field, towards her mother (that’s me).  She says, “Dad is hurt.”

Tracy runs across the field to the basketball court (yes, I really ran), where she sees a group of men hovering over Eric, who is lying on the ground.
  
                                                         
 

Eric has that dazed look in his eye.  Tracy can tell he’s either in pain or in shock.  He says he’s fine, but he can’t bend his leg. 



Someone calls the ambulance and the park police.  They both arrive at the same time to the scene.  Eric is assessed and then lifted onto the gurney and deposited into the back of the ambulance.  Tracy gets to ride in the front seat as they drive through 2 or 3 towns to the nearest emergency room, where they are greeted by a group of friendly nurses and doctors that take really good care of Eric. 


X-rays are done.  Nothing is broken, but the knee is too swollen to really tell what the damage is. 

Fast forward to Sunday morning…..Eric can’t drive, so Tracy has to drive them home (Tracy hates to drive).  After 2 hours of traffic, rain and flash flood warnings in the mountains, they arrive home 11 hours later, safe and sound. 


Eric visits the orthopedic surgeon upon his return home.  He is given the diagnosis; a torn patella tendon.  Surgery is scheduled to happen in four days!

 


Well four days later, here we are.  Sitting in the surgical center waiting room, drinking up their free coffee, watching movies on our computers, trying to purchase 5 seconds of Summer “pre-sale” tickets with the not so fast internet they are offering and blogging about our late summer/July/patella adventure.  All went well and Gabrielle, Sinobia and I are headed home to nurse Eric back to health. 

Not "The End" of this story….to be continued.



Never a dull moment in the Aiden House.



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