Yesterday Jesse went in for surgery again. This time it was to go back into his left elbow to try to help him regain some range of motion. Between the traumatic orthopedic injury he received to his left elbow and the traumatic brain injury he suffered, his body created lots of extra bone in the healing process. When the surgeons (two elbow experts) went back in they found that Jesse's ulnar nerve (that's the funny bone nerve) was involved with the earlier scar tissue. If they didn't move it they would not be able to remove that extra (heterotrophic) bone with out damaging it. So that was the first thing they did. Then they removed the two plates on the humerous, but they needed to leave the plate on the ulna as it still looked too weak. One other thing that they found was that the ligament holding the joint together on the inside of Jesse's elbow was damaged, so they needed to repair that too. They were then able to remove the bone which was interferring with Jesse's range of motion.
After the surgery the surgeon told me that it went well. Jesse even has full range of motion right now! But, because of the repair to the ligament Jesse will have to approach rehab more carefully. He is on anti-inflamitory medications to help with the recovery and to help his body not recreate that bone. He is in the hospital right now. We'll find out soon if he needs to stay another night or whether he can come home today.
We thank our Lord every day for returning Jesse to us and we marvel at His grace in Jesse's life. I suppose it is too soon to tell if Jesse will retain full motion in his left arm, but we are very please nevertheless. Thank you Jesus!
