My Life With Niall - The Long Recovery

Meetings and Major Complications

(Jacob's Point of View)

When I went to check up on Niall when I woke up this morning something was off about his knee. I looked at the drain and it had nothing in it which was really strange because usually it had lots of fluid and needs to be emptied, I then carefully removed the ice wrap, brace, bandages, compression stocking and gauze and noticed his knee is more puffy and swollen than usual, so I was starting to worry about the fact that there was no fluid in the drain, I checked to make sure everything was connected and it was, but there was no fluid in the drain which was now really concerning me. I wrapped his leg back up and covered it back up with a blanket and then I called Dr. Cook to express my concern about the absence of drainage considering he was more swollen than usual. He told me to bring Niall in today around 13:00 I said I would. He said to try to keep him connected to all the medication and drains throughout the day to keep him comfortable and to up the dosage of antibiotics. I walk into the kitchen to find Suri standing at the stove cooking eggs for herself, she asks if I want some and I say sure. I then tell her about Niall and my new discovery.

(Suri's Point of View)

I am super worried about Niall's knee after listening to Jacob, I agree that something is wrong but I don't know what to do, Niall had surgery about a four and a half weeks ago and he is still having sever problems with his leg, which I would have expected to go away after about 2 -3 weeks. I am scared that there is a much larger problem then we realize but I am no medical professional so I figure we will just wait to hear whats going on later when Jacob takes him in. By the time Jacob and I finish breakfast it is about 09:00 and I need to get Niall up for the meeting with management. Jacob has decided not to scare Niall by telling him about his knee so we walk into his room to wake him up just like normal. Niall really does not want to get up but finally he does and he asks to be unplugged from his machines so that he can use the restroom and get ready, so Jacob unhooks them so that Niall can get ready. Jacob helps Niall get off the bed and use his crutches to get to the restroom, when he is done in the restroom Niall comes back to the bed so that I can help him get dressed. Jacob leaves the room so that he can prep stuff for today's outing since Niall will need to stay hooked up to the machines. Niall says he wants a pair of sweats, a MOFOS shirt and his leopard print vans, so I help him get dressed. Once he is dressed Jacob brings over his wheelchair, and the travel machines, which really confuses Niall.

(Niall's Point of View)

Just as we are getting ready to leave for the meeting with management, Jacob brings in the travel monitors the doctor gave us yesterday. I don't know why he wants to bring them considering he never looked at my knee this morning. So I decided to ask, he just tells me that it would be a safe option, so I agree. He helps me into my wheel chair and elevates my knee on some pillows and then he hooks me to the travel monitors and the IV and he transfers me to the travel ice machine. Once everything is connected I am loaded up into the car. When we arrive at the building Suri pushes me into the room where the meeting is going to be held. Once everyone has arrived we begin. We first discuss the upcoming tour and we talk about how the stage is going to be really large, which means we need to all be constantly moving. Then we discuss rehearsals and when they will be beginning, we are told they will begin the first week of March, then everyone turns to me to inquire about how my knee is coming along. Thankfully Jacob is there to explain what is going on, he explains that my knee is still healing but the soonest I can begin physical therapy is the first week of March, assuming there are no more complications. Everyone begins to worry that I will not be ready for tour and I am now beginning to get worried about tour, because I can't even get out of bed let alone put ANY weight on my leg so this is somewhat concerning. Jacob then explains that it is going to take lots of physical therapy to get me back to being able to move around normally because I have not been able to bare weight since the first couple weeks of January. Paul then goes to say we will begin vocal rehearsals the first day of March and by the beginning of April we will start working on choreography and at that point we can asses my knee and see how I am doing and hopefully by then I can at least bare weight. Lastly we discuss the BRIT awards. We discuss that we will all wear our usual black and we will get together that morning to get read, Paul then asks Jacob if I will be ready for the BRITS and he says "Niall will defiantly be attending but will need to be on crutches because he will still not be able to weight bare." Finally the meeting is over and it is about 12:45. Jacob explains that he is concerned about my knee and has scheduled me another appointment with Dr. Cook today. On the way to the hospital Jacob explains that he is concerned because my knee is more swollen than usual however the drain has been empty since yesterday which is really strange. When we arrive at the hospital there are fans everywhere. Jacob carefully gets me out of the car and all these girls are screaming "Niall, Niall, Niall." Before you now it my phone beings to ding so I quickly silence it. Finally we reach the inside of the hospital and we catch the elevator up to the 4th floor. Dr. Cook meets us when we arrive and he brings us to a room. He quickly unbandages my knee and takes a look at it. He feels around the and notices the unusual swelling. He quickly takes me to a MRI scan and X Ray. Once it is done he brings me back to my room and he puts the X Ray on the light board which reveals nothing just like the MRI. So he decides to take a blood sample and he sends it over to the lab, which comes back as everything looks fine which rules out a life threatening infection. Next he decides to see if he can drain my knee manually. When he begins to drain it the syringe fills up with thick white pus, which is a sign that something is really wrong. He quickly decides that I must be rushed to surgery, and he quickly hands me sign some papers so that they can do some exploratory surgery. Since Jacob is a doctor he asks if Jacob wants to scrub in so he does. They quickly get me changed into a gown and they head for the OR. Before I know if I am put under anaesthesia.