Date: 2010-03-17
From: Northern Virginia

To: Northern Virginia
Miles today: 0.0

I assume everything worked out ok overnight since I heard no loud thumps, bumps, or anguished screams from the Lizard's area. We got him down stairs and had breakfast. The neighbors brought muffins, still hot.I had decided I needed to go back to Colorado and get some new problems fixed and asked Bill when is the best time, and which is the best airport to use so as to impact everybody the least. We considered rush hour traffic and ease of getting to the airport during the discussion. We included Jane in the discussion as a courtesy since she would be doing the driving. Tomorrow, mid day any airport as long as she could be back before rush hour kicked in in the afternoon. I was able to get a reasonably priced ticket at 1:00 PM out of Baltimore for the next day. Confirmed with Jane before hitting the buy button. Yup, everything good.Right after buying the ticket, Bill got on the phone and was able to get an 11:00 appointment for this morning with the doctors at FT. Belvoir (retired Military). Jane had errands to run and I volunteered to take him to the appointment. So off we went at 10:30 to see the Army medical staff.I had a good seat in the waiting room and Bill was seen almost immediately. Good thing there was a lot to read. A nurse came for me at 2:00 and I was allowed to join him for the rest of the day. He still had Xrays to do and then the final consult with the doctor. He had already been to several different offices and had the question and answer session with each, been poked and prodded again and asked can he do this, and can he do that. The line for radiology was extra long. I knew I was hungary, and Bill hadn't eaten either. Remembering back to the previous time two days earlier and not wanting to see him on the floor again, I went and got us something to eat and some water to stave off dehydration. Bill was glad to have it as he was hungary too.Finally into radiology. I was in the waiting room. The technician looked at Bill, looked at the chart and apologized to him up front for the pain that was to come. I told her that if I didn't hear him scream from the waiting area she wasn't doing her job correctly. She laughed and the tension was broken. There must have been a lot of pictures because he was in there quite a while. He looked like it had not been very pleasant just as the technician had intimated.4:00 Jane was on the phone wondering where the heck we were. Still at the hospital but we should be leaving soon.Wow, 4:30 and we have been here since 11:00. Only thing left to do was see the doctor who was primary for Bill's visit. He only asked Bill to do one thing, raise his leg (still wearing the brace). He was unable to do that. He then asked Bill if he had had anything to eat or drink. Bill said he had had food and water two hours earlier. That was not the answer the doctor wanted to hear. Bill would have been on his way to surgery right then if he had not eaten. There was a room available and the surgeon, who we were talking to, had a cancelation. The doctor then proceeded to explain that Bill had torn the quadraceps tendons and that the success rate for that surgery decreased with time. They were still in an acceptable time frame and could he be there at 10:00 the next morning for surgery. Why yes he can. I told the doctor he was in for a rough time with Bill's wife if we had called her to tell her Bill was not getting home until late in the evening due to surgery. I'm pretty sure she would have wanted to be there for that.Say there Bill, do you have a friend or neighbor that can drive me to the airport tomorrow at 10:00? I finally got Bill home at 6:00 and we explained to Jane that Bill was having surgery the next day and that he almost had had it tonight. She said she would not have been a happy camper if that had happened. The way she said it, I had the feeling none of us would have been happy about it.Jane had bought steaks for dinner and I was cooking them on the grill. No problem there. Jane made some phone calls while I was outside and got me a ride to Baltimore for the next morning.Bill couldn't eat or drink after 10:00 or thereabouts, so I poured him a stiff one. I may have had one too, I don't remember all the details.I packed up my box of unflyables and put it in the garage for the next time I go to Pearisburg and chatted with Bill and Jane the rest of the evening. I am compelled to call him Bill because we are no longer on the trail. You can refer to him as Privy Lizard and I won't be offended.The next day we all left the house about the same time. Bill and Jane to the hospital and me with a friend to the airport.Bill did not have arthroscopic surgery. They laid open his leg from the knee half way up his thigh. It turns out that all the tendons on the front of his leg were completely separated from the knee. They reattached all and sent him home. I called him from home the next day but he was still loopy and I had to get the details from Jane.My trip home was uneventful.Bill has had the staples and stitches removed and is already in therapy although still wearing a brace. The surgery was determined to be successful and it will take a full year before the leg feels normal again. He will be able to walk normally before then though. Bill won't be hiking for a while. Bummer.See you on the trail.John