From The Desk Of William “Smitty” Smith, Retired SAPD
First let me say "I have sorely missed you, and am very glad to be back home". The past month of confinement to a hospital bed has been a voyage like nothing I have ever experienced....with the greatest blessing being back home sweet home, the center of everything important in my life. I'll keep this story kinda short, since I was never able to inform this awesome group what the heck was happening, a huge frustration that I sincerely apologize for.
On May 26th, I elected to have hip replacement surgery after an MRI confirmed that both of my hip rotators were kaput. The initial outpatient surgery to my left hip went very well, even surviving my rolling out of bed. Suddenly, ten days later, I began bleeding profusely from the hip incision and Brother Joe Kokal, without discussion, immediately transported me to the North Central Baptist Hospital ER, where total kidney failure and Potassium level issues soon followed. It felt like a heart attack, and they said that one more hour of delay could have led to a drastic outcome...Thank you Joe.
Over the next several days, I went from the ER to the ICU to Progressive care, was temporarily discharged, then had to go back in to continue dealing with an infection to the hip incision. I was then transferred to the North East Methodist (where my hip surgeon had privileges), and he immediately reopened the incision, cleaned out any potentially infected tissue surrounding the artificial hip device, and repaired a torn tendon. This ended up being a more invasive surgery than the original hip replacement and added several more days to my hospitalization, physical therapy, and recuperation. I cannot give enough praise to the entire staff of the NE Methodist...they were simply an awesome team.
Finally, I was sent home with 3 new close "friends" to depend on: a walker, a foley, and an infusion machine. Hopefully, I can eliminate these devices one step at a time and get back to an untethered lifestyle, God willing. I do want to sincerely thank those who dropped by and were able to connect via phone/texting/individual emails, and again apologize for the technical limitations that prevented me from keeping this amazing family connected.
Thanks to everyone for hanging in there.
Praise God...Blessings abound!
Smitty
William C. Smith
San Antonio, Texas 78260
First let me say "I have sorely missed you, and am very glad to be back home". The past month of confinement to a hospital bed has been a voyage like nothing I have ever experienced....with the greatest blessing being back home sweet home, the center of everything important in my life. I'll keep this story kinda short, since I was never able to inform this awesome group what the heck was happening, a huge frustration that I sincerely apologize for.
On May 26th, I elected to have hip replacement surgery after an MRI confirmed that both of my hip rotators were kaput. The initial outpatient surgery to my left hip went very well, even surviving my rolling out of bed. Suddenly, ten days later, I began bleeding profusely from the hip incision and Brother Joe Kokal, without discussion, immediately transported me to the North Central Baptist Hospital ER, where total kidney failure and Potassium level issues soon followed. It felt like a heart attack, and they said that one more hour of delay could have led to a drastic outcome...Thank you Joe.
Over the next several days, I went from the ER to the ICU to Progressive care, was temporarily discharged, then had to go back in to continue dealing with an infection to the hip incision. I was then transferred to the North East Methodist (where my hip surgeon had privileges), and he immediately reopened the incision, cleaned out any potentially infected tissue surrounding the artificial hip device, and repaired a torn tendon. This ended up being a more invasive surgery than the original hip replacement and added several more days to my hospitalization, physical therapy, and recuperation. I cannot give enough praise to the entire staff of the NE Methodist...they were simply an awesome team.
Finally, I was sent home with 3 new close "friends" to depend on: a walker, a foley, and an infusion machine. Hopefully, I can eliminate these devices one step at a time and get back to an untethered lifestyle, God willing. I do want to sincerely thank those who dropped by and were able to connect via phone/texting/individual emails, and again apologize for the technical limitations that prevented me from keeping this amazing family connected.
Thanks to everyone for hanging in there.
Praise God...Blessings abound!
Smitty
William C. Smith
San Antonio, Texas 78260