March 22, 2010 - 7th debridement complete

i went back and counted - this was the seventh debridement. the whole team of surgeons was present: drs. mehta, esterhai and ahn. all concur that the prospects for kristen's leg are very good. in mehta's words, "the leg has turned a corner." i guess it's somewhat rare for two faculty members (esterhai and mehta) to "scrub up" for an operation. the great attention they are paying to this case leaves me and kristen comforted. i learned dr. esterhai is a former navy seal and his gentle manner has earned him the nickname "st. john". he also appears to be a very good surgeon and i am very happy kristen is getting this care.

athey are hopeful to have her out of the hospital by the end of next week - two more debridements this week, followed by closure and graft on monday, march 22. it will take 5 days for the graft to take and heal, so the earliest possible "checkout" is march 27. none of this is guaranteed, but it's the first time we've received any sort of timeline and we are taking what we can get.

a few other details: they are considering hyberbaric chamber treatment to accelerate the wound healing (an oxygen rich tank ala diver decompression / michael jackson's bedroom); they want her up and in a wheelchair when possible and getting outside to boost her mood.

the word of the day is etiology. in kristen's case it's still unknown and folks with big brains are puzzling over how and why this has happened to her. for now we are happy that the critical phase looks to be closing.

kristen looks and sounds great and i expect she will be up for visitors and/or calls before long.