Thank you for all of the support

My family and I wanted to extend our gratitude to all of you throughout this whole ordeal. We truly could not have made it without all of your prayers and support. As we sit back and reflect on these last few months we have a greater understanding of the meaning of true friends. We are so grateful to have all of you in our lives. All of the cards, care packages, words of encouragement, strength and support have meant the world to us. These things have been especially important to my dad, who says the same thing "couldn't have done it without all of you". So, thank you. During this time of giving and receiving, it is so clear to our family that we are just very thankful for what we have. The entire Ferraro Family would like to send all of you the warmest of holiday wishes. With lots of love, we hope that 2008 brings everybody many fond memories with family and friends.

The reality of the blog is that it was bound to start tapering off a bit...but that is a good thing. At this point we do not have as much to report on a daily basis. The one thing that the doctors continue to track closely is the infection in the toe. They are holding off on starting my dad on the strong antibiotics because of the possible kidney and cell damage. They continue to treat it topically to see if they can dry it up from the outside. The last time they cultured it the results showed that it was negative for one infection but still positive for staph. That doesn't necessarily mean that the other infection is completely gone, though. With that situation we just keep our fingers crossed and hope that eventually the infections clear up.

On a more positive note, my dad continues to make great strides with his rehab. They evaluated him last week and said that he is leaps and bounds from where he started. For his around the house routine he has ditched the walker!! Yippee!! While working with the therapists he tried using one of those 4 pronged canes and it worked quite well. It took a lot of the pressure off his arms and shoulders which have developed tendinitis from all of the weight he has been putting on them using the walker. So when they asked his doctor to write a prescription for one of those canes he said, "no", that he didn't need one of those canes..."those are for grannies". This is the funny orthopedic doctor, whom we respect greatly. He said in all honesty that he thinks my dad is strong enough to walk using a regular cane. I guess it took a few days for him to get used to it but now he is managing quite well with it! Who woulda' thunk it? I mean it was just four months ago that his accident occurred. This really is a miracle!

I know that my dad is pleased with the progress that he is making, just like the rest of us. He and my mom still have high hopes to get down to Florida for a few months, but there are a lot of things to consider. First, they have to wait to get the infections under control. As the doctors have said, "he is still not out of the woods yet". The next, and probably most important, thing is his therapy. He is doing so well now with the therapists he has, my parents aren't willing to just change therapists and take a gamble that they might get some that are just as good. The truth of the matter is that we have been blessed with two extremely good therapists and we want to hold onto them until we feel like my dad doesn't need them as much anymore. We are confident that day will come where he will be more independent. Until then, we need the help of these great therapists..and of course, my mom...and Robb, too! It's been great for everyone that Robb has had some time to spend with my parents over this past month (even more than when we were taking shifts at the hospital and rehab facility). He's been a huge help to my dad and mom. Thanks Bro!

So, if all of you Gator Trace/Florida friends don't see them down there this season, you can bet on it for next year! Thanks again for all of your support!

Enjoy this holiday season with family and friends.
Love, Stacy and The Ferraros

Joe and Cindi's address

Hi Everybody. Sorry for the delay in getting my parents address for posted for all of you. I know that it is wonderful for both of them to hear from all of their friends and family.

Joe and Cindi Ferraro
161 Holm Rd.
Hillsdale, NY 12529

We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season.

Dana

An exciting day

Today was a very exciting one for Popo...he got to take a shower. A real shower! He has been sponge bathing over the last several months but there is nothing like a real shower, especially after 110 days. He said, " It was like heaven!" He was thrilled to wash his hair and really feel clean.

He continues to do his excercises daily. He is happy to be home on the weekends and looks forward to his rehab during the week, which is making him visibly stronger each time I see him. He is up and moving around throughout the day, but will need to continue to increase the amount of time he spends on his feet in order to rebuild his strength.

The infection on the toe has been identified as staph and something else called acinetobacter. They are currently treating it with a topical cream and will check it out in another week. They are waiting to see if they'll need to start antibiotics again because the one that they are thinking about using next has some irreversible side effects, the most serious being kidney problems The two infections are resistent to antibiotics. We feel confident in the doctors that are currently treating Popo, but he could still use all of your prayers.

As always, thank you for the strength, good wishes, positive thoughts, cards, care packages, and everything else that your kind hearts have been sending his way. Love to you all and wishes for a safe and happy holiday!

-Stacy

DISCHARGED!

So, Joe has finally been discharged from Sunny View! It happened after the toenail was removed and the infection was cultured. We will have to wait another day or two to get the results of the culture at which point they will have to figure out how they are going to treat that infection.

My dad was thrilled to be at home...for a few days at least. He will be spending the majority of his time at The Fisher House with my mom so that he can do his outpatient therapy in Albany. Today he is scheduled to begin his hand and shoulder therapy. His shoulders have developed some tendinitis from all the weight he has been bearing on them. I believe once the shoulders get added to his therapy it will involve some ultra sound on them, which he said feels really good. In fact, while he was in Sunny View he had it done a couple of times. One of the really great Occupational Therapists snuck him into the therapy room and gave him an extra treatment when nobody was around.

Along with the hand and shoulder therapy he will be doing his physical therapy in Albany as well. He and my mom will probably be in Albany during the week, go home on Friday nights and stay there thru the weekend. My parents were both surprised at how he is managing around the house. He was able to get into his own bed with the help of his grand kids foot stool. He is able to use the ramps that his brother put in for him. Over the weekend he got himself up each hour and shuffled around the house with is walker. He will need to wait on taking a shower as we still try to work out how many handrails we will have to put in and where they should be placed. Overall, everyone is thrilled with the way he is managing for now. Of course, my mother is exhausted because although he is able to do so much it all requires her help and then there are all of the things that need to be done around the house.

On the day of his arrival home his brother, Billy came for a visit. He always comes on Saturdays whether it's to the hospital, rehab, and now HOME! So, Billy, my mom and dad had a little welcome home party for him with pizza and salad around a nice fire. My dad would like to be home more than a few days a week, but for now he'll take it.

I'm hoping that my mom didn't have to shovel to much snow this morning to get him out the door. That would be a whole new challenge, huh? Just learning to walk a few weeks ago and now throwing snow into the mix! If anyone can handle these challenges my parents can. All of this hard work will pay off in the end. Love you guys!

-Stacy

Day 100

Today was almost discharge day. They are ready to get my dad out of rehab. The average stay at Sunny View for an orthopedic patient is something like 8.2 days. So as you can imagine my dad is not doing much for their numbers. Although he is not your average ortho patient with a joint replacement. Anyway, I will attempt to give you the facts of the day without muddling it too much with my emotions (this is my third try so I can't promise you anything). It is all very frustrating since from the beginning of this whole ordeal my mom has been on people to "just do their job". Well, people don't always "just do their job".

The big toe that was broken in the accident has become infected down to the bone and nobody seemed to "notice" even though we discuss it with every nurse on duty. Today, when they were ready to sweep my dad right out the front door the Infectious Disease Doctor put a stop to everything. Ultimately, it was my mom who forced him to take a look and give her some answers. Once he x-rayed it he determined it is infected down to the bone. The nail needs to be removed and cultured to find out what type of infection it is so they can begin treating it.

We knew the nail needed to come off about a week ago when my dad starting visiting some of his surgeons for follow-up appointments. Both the ortho and plastic surgeons recommended having a podiatrist look at it and remove the nail. The doctor wrote an order for this which was ignored by the nurses at the rehab facility. The nurses told my mom that they can not do that here and handed the order back to her. This was on Monday. Now almost 5 days have gone by with the infection having time to worsen! Let's hope that they are able to clear up this infection and that it is not more staph. If people had "just done there job" in the beginning the toe could already have begun the healing process. Today when Dr. Leibers told the nurse to call and make the appt. she jumped and got one right away for later this afternoon.

It has been a roller coaster of a day, and I did not even mention the fact that there was NO discharge plan written for him, the podiatrist appt. finally scheduled for today was changed 3 times and he did not make any of them, the X-ray tech dragged and dropped the walker on his lower left leg where the plate is and may have damaged it, and my parents sat around for 5 hours before anyone bothered to say that they were probably not going home today! Ahhh, it's so crazy. As my mom said, "You can't make this stuff up, people wouldn't believe it!"

As always, we have to be thankful for how far my dad has come. It really is a miracle and a tribute to the unbelielvably strong man that he is. We are also so thankful to have friends and family like you and for all of your prayers, kind words, strength and positive thoughts. It helps us tremendously to get through these tough times.

Good night for now,
Stacy

The latest news...

Okay, so there is a lot of news to report since it has been well over a week since the last blog...a lot of good and some not so good.

The not so good: the staph infection has returned, or more likely was never completely cleared up in the first place. They have been treating that orally with a very strong antibiotic and we are all hoping that it will finally be gone soon. We are not sure how long he will have to be on this dose of antibiotic. He has a good infectious disease doctor who sees him at Sunnyview and we are thankful for that. We feel confident that he will continue to monitor this situation closely.

Joe has been pretty nauseous in the last few days. There is a possibility that this has been caused by the antibiotics. They are going to do some very specific blood work (which they have been doing for the last 10 days anyway) tomorrow to make sure they are not overlooking something more serious. There is a chance that being on these strong antibodies for a long period of time could cause damage to the liver or pancreas.

The good: My dad continues to do great with all of his therapy. He has walked more and more everyday. He is beginning to bring the left foot a little bit in front of the right instead of just shuffling it up to meet the other. He has become very proficient with the walker and getting himself in and out of the wheelchair. He has done the stairs a few more times and even mastered some ramps with his walker! He continues to make us all very proud!

His last few doctor visits were really good. He saw his orthopedic surgeon who is thrilled with the way all of his bones look and the way he is progressing. He did say somewhere down the line they will have to go in and do a hip replacement on the right leg. They did the best they could with what they had to work with, but the "hip" he has now will not have a full range of motion.

The plastic surgeon said they will probably be able to cut away some of the incision at the same time as the hip replacement. I am not sure if this means they will be able to remove part of the "football" that is now part of his hip. The "football" is what Robb has named the new hip. It looks like he has a big bandage under his clothes on that right hip bet it is just the hip with some new calcified tissue. Yes, my dad has declared he is O.K. with his new "bubble butt".

In general, the plastic surgeon is very pleased with all of his surgical sites as well. He is not overly concerned with the fluid that has built up in one of the elbows. They are doing a lot of work right now trying to "walk" the old guy around right now. He would like my dad to get started right away on some hand therapy. The right hand may not regain as much strength or feeling as the left. However, he did say he thinks that they will be able to restore the left hand to 80% of what it was before. Yes, he said he believes that my dad will be able to swing the golf club again! That will not be for some time, but it is encouraging none the less.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at Sunnyview with the entire family. We did not have the traditional meal, but that was not really the point this year. We obviously were all thankful for having the time to spend with each other and the second chance my dad has been given. We are also thankful to have friends and family like you who have been so supportive through your prayers, strength, and well wishes.

Happy and Safe Holidays,
Stacy

Keep up the great work!

Rehab has been an amazing chapter in this whole crazy ordeal. It is great to see the excitement and enthusiasm my dad puts in to all of his therapy. He is really anxious to move forward with building his muscles and getting stronger so that he can resume some sense of normalcy. The other day before I left he had walked 174 feet...what an accomplishment! He wanted me to make sure that I told people he is not walking, but the truth of the matter is that he is! Of course he uses a walker and they are little itsy bitsy steps. He doesn't consider that walking because most of the weight is on his arms. It was very impressive and the rest of us are considering it walking! He also went up and down 4 steps which took every single ounce of energy that he had in his body. He said it was like climbing Mount Everest. After that he took a 2 hour nap. He has gained about 10 pounds in 10 days and he is starting to look like himself again. His legs now have some muscle tone to them. He still think his arms look like "tomato poles", but he really is getting stronger everyday. We have been told that he probably will be discharged the week after next and will have to do home therapy for a while before he can start outpatient therapy. It will be too aggressive for him to do the outpatient stuff at first, so we will have to have a physical therapist come to the house.

DAY 80 - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Cannot believe we are at Day 80 and are beginning to see some remarkable changes. I do have to say that the transfer to Sunnyview hasn't been easy, but we are making forward progress now. Apparently, my children seem to think I am going into hysteria after 80 days of hospital life (who could not love that kind of luxury?), but that is really not the case. Let me go back just a little bit. The day he was transferred to Sunnyview came as almost a complete surprise to us, although we'd had a little bit of warning bec. the evaluator had been to monitor his chart at AMC. The interesting thing about evaluating a patient is that they never even look at THE PATIENT. The only thing that is evaluated is the chart, which is fine if all the notes and records are accurate. Unfortunately, we found that with so many doctors and teams involved, it is truly impossible to keep really accurate records. For us, we only had one patient with which to concern ourselves, and all the doctors have many, many patients. Thus, here's how the transfer went. One day, the chart indicated that Joe could be 50% weight-bearing on his legs and non-weight bearing on his arms and left hand. The next day the chart indicated that he was non weight-bearing on his legs and non weight-bearing on his arms and left hand. The next day, he was 50% weight-bearing on the legs and weight-bearing as tolerated on the arms and hand. The next day, he was weight bearing as tolerated on the legs and non weight-bearing and the arms. The next day, he was weight bearing as tolerated on both arms and legs. The next day, he was non weight-bearing on both arms and legs!! You get the picture. Utter chaos. Thus, very hard to decipher and figure out exactly what the weight-bearing status of all the extremities really was. So, surprise, we took it upon ourselves to speak with each attending to try to get the info right from the horse's mouth. So, on the morning that we asked the plastic surgeons about weight-bearing status on the arms and hand, we were told that weight bearing should be as tolerated at 4 weeks from surgery. We were at 1 week, so we confirmed that there should be no weight bearing for 3 more weeks. O.K., so then the orthopedists said that there could be weight bearing as tolerated, but wrote on the chart that he was to be non weight-bearing on the legs. Holy crow!! Needless to say, we had a hard time trying to figure it all out and the evaluator found it impossible. However, after several phone calls and some arm-twisting, they at least got the most inexperienced of the residents to say he could weight-bear as tolerated on all four extremities. I'm not sure how you can get from non weight-bearing to weight-bearing as tolerated in one hour, but aparently it can be done. So Joe was moved from 24-hour observation to a private room, where he slept peacefully for one night. The next day, he was supposed to actually be brought down to the physical therapy department in a wheel chair and truly have his status on all 4 extremities evaluated before he was transferred. They came from physical therapy to bring him down and we were speaking with the doctors. They said they would come back later. In the meantime, I was running back and forth to my car with his medical things and our personal things from the room to start to get ready for the transfer. The case worker arrived saying the ambulance would be there shortly to take Joe, but said we could wait for another hour. We told her we were supposed to go to physical therapy before he left for an evaluation. She told us we didn't need that bec. they would evaluate him at Sunnyview. The next thing we knew, the ambulance crew was there, said they were Ambulance 24 and they would wait for me to get the last of the "stuff" in my car and for me to get my car to them and I would follow them to Sunnyview. Well, by the time I did all that, drove all around the hospital several times, got security involved in finding Ambulance 24 and finally went back up the the Trauma floor to try to find out where they were. They were halfway there without me! Unfortunately, no one there on the 4th floor really knew how to get there. Everyone knew sort of where it was, but not really. So they tried to get the ambulance driver to get back and get me. No dice. Called the ambulance company to try to send someone else to help me get there. No dice. So armed with some very bad MapQuest directions and some verbal directions and a guide, I stumbled my way from AMC to Sunnyview. Now that I have done it several times, it is a piece of cake, but when you're not from around any of these parts, it is all a huge maze and you've got to love those MapQuest directions. It is a way to see every nook and cranny of a strange town.

So, finally we are both at Sunnyview (one of our nurses at AMC, Eileen, said this could have only happened to us). It is comical when you think about it. I was a little frenzied when he disappeared, but we both eventually ended up at the same place. When he was being evaluated, he actually had a seizure when he tried to stand. My children like to tease me and pretend that he fainted, which is what the nurses have convinced Joe of what happened. He didn't want anyone to know that he fainted. Well, thanks to technology, it is all over the internet now. With some medical intervention and an IV and observation, he came through it just fine. It was a warning that things needed to progress just

a bit slower. For those of my family who did not witness the seizure, please understand ... he didn't faint. So, with the help of an abdominal binder and Teds (full length anti-emboli stockings with their very own garter belt - quite the fashion statement), true to form, Joe has bounced back.

Life in therapy has not been without its ups and downs, but we have come a long way from the first day. Joe is working tremendously hard and every bit of movement takes a herculean effort, whether using the large muscles or the small muscles. Even sitting in the wheelchair for a couple of hours is exhausting. Joe wanted to send his blog out to everyone because he is so grateful for everyone's caring and support, but his small muscles are not yet working well enough to use a computer, nor is he strong enough to sit up in that position and hold a computer on his lap for any length of time. So we improvised. Joe did his best to write it long-hand and Todd got it on the blog for him. It was kind of a group effort, but Joe felt good doing it. Every little bit helps. He has an enormously long way to go and my lowest estimation would be that it will be at least a year before he is even remotely close to back where he was. This is fine with us. We're retired, we have time.

Each new day brings a new challenge in both physical and occupational therapy. He had a speech evaluation because since the jaw was broken and then repaired with manipulation and wiring, his bite is different than it was. He keeps saying that they fixed it straighter than it was, but the fact is, it is just different than he has been used to for 65 years. The result of that is that he doesn't always know where his tongue is and sometimes it is in the wrong place, so that his words are slurred or just don't come out of his mouth correctly. The speech therapist understands the difficulty and gave him some exercises to help correct that, but said he is way too good to fit into their profile for their program. So for now, that is what we'll do. He also is suffering from a bit of aphasia and short term memory loss, which has been evaluated and again is not to the point where it should hinder him in every day life. The therapist also gave him some hints on how to cope with that. He doesn't seem bothered, but then he doesn't remember. Fortunately, he doesn't have to run a large operation anymore. He just has to remember his golf score ... or maybe he'll make a couple of extra dollars if his golf score slips his mind. Now, that would make him happy! We're hoping that the aphasia and memory loss are perhaps a temporary result of a combination of the trauma, the amount of general anesthesia he has had and the amount of narcotics that had to be administered. If not, it is certainly something that he can live with and function just fine.

We have had some real milestones. Yesterday, we went down to another physical therapy unit, where they had the front part of (driver and passenger seat) an old truck where Joe practiced once getting from his wheelchair into the passenger seat. He enjoyed that and Stacy took lots of pictures of him. The day before, while Stacy was drying the bottom of his feet, he actually flinched his right foot. Stacy asked if she had hurt him and he said "No, that tickled." It was weird for him bec. that is the first real feeling, besides pain, that he has had in that foot since the accident. A RED LETTER DAY!

Now, some of you may remember The Case of the Big Toe. Well, the Big Toe has reared its ugly head again. Now that Joe has started to stand and try to shuffle a bit with the walker and the wheel chair, the darn big toe (which looks exactly the same as it did right after the accident) has kicked up again and started to ooze. Hence, the arrival of epsom salt soaks. These actually seem to be helping to clean up the poor thing a little bit and making it feel a little better. Nothing like some good old-time remedies mixed in with the new technology. Still don't know what will happen with this thing. We may be visiting Dr. Unger after all.
So, here's where we stand. All things considered, we feel incredibly lucky and blessed. Do we still have a long, long road ahead? That is a truism without question. Are there still obstacles ahead? Without a doubt. The last words the Orthopedic surgeon said to us were, "Now don't go throwing a clot on me". It wasn't really the last thing we needed to hear from his mouth. I'll remind him of that when we see him next week for X-Rays. Do I think we'll make it? An unequivocal, YES!!
Again, our family cannot thank everyone enough for all the prayers, good wishes and concern. It has all helped tremendously. Please continue the good and positive thoughts and prayers. The battle is not won yet. From our family to yours, Love, Cindi
P.S. We will do our best to continue to blog. It is just getting a bit more challenging, as we do not have access at Sunnyview, which is where we spend all of our time. On the rare occasions that someone is not at the hospital, most of us are too tired to blog. And, unfortunately, we now have one computer in for repair, so equipment is at a shortage. So, please bear with us.

Wednesday, November 7

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lapse in time between blogs. Sunnyview does not have an internet connection and we have had some problems connecting at the Fisher House, as well. I know everyone is anxious for updates and we will try to post as often as we can. My mom has lots and lots of info for you all but I will just give you a brief update.

My dad has settled into room 320 at Sunnyview. He has a nice big window with a nice look at the changing leaves on the trees across the street. He had a very scary first day at sunnyview after he stood up with the help of a therapist and all of the blood quickly rushed from his upper body to his feet. He "pancaked" pretty quickly. I think it scared my mom more than anything. They called for help from the hospital next door and got an IV started and my dad did recover. I do not think my mom has recovered yet, but my dad is moving on b/c he does not remember the incident. After that they stepped backwards and put my dad on a "tilt" board which is a table that my dad lies on and gets strapped to. Then they slowly bring the table up a few degrees at time. It gives his body time to acclimate to being upright again after lying flat for so long. He did that for several days and today (with help from a therapist) he got into a wheelchair for a few hours. He is skin and bones and has very little strength and is still recovering from all the trauma so things are very slow going. The only thing that nasty old tractor did not crush was his spirit which has never waivered. Overall he looks wonderful and we are so thrilled with his progress. He is working very hard and is enjoying the cards and well wishes from everyone, he is truly touched by all of your support.

Today he shuffled across the floor with hid walker, sounds easy right? He usually takes a little nap whenever he has a little break from therapy. His therapy starts at 9:30 till 12:00 then lunch then therapy again until about 4:30. He works very hard all day.

Here is Joe's address: He really does love hearing from everybody. Thanks.

Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital Room 320
1270 Belmont Ave.
Schenectady, N.Y. 12308

Dana

Day 70! He is out!

Joe has escaped. He is out of Albany Med and in to a rehab facility. We are sorry for the abrupt notice, but like many of the things that have happened at the hospital this was a very quick, short notice event.

An evaluator came from Sunnyview Rehab Facility in Schenectady N.Y.(about 25 min NW from Albany) to ask Dad some questions and check to see if he would be a good candidate for Sunnyview. Sunnyview is a very intensive and very good rehab facility. Mom and Dad were not sure if he was ready to leave the hospital and start a very intense form of rehab.

The evaluator made some calls and came back with the news that he was a good candidate and there was a bed open. So, with a cloud of dust and papers flying, Dad was put in an ambulance and moved to Sunnyview.

Sunnyview is very nice and Dad seems to be happy about the move.

He is starting down a very long, tough road, but he is speeding down that road with no hesitation. It is very exciting for all of us that he is out of the hospital and on to the next stage in his recovery.

I am sure my mother will give you all a much more detailed account of everything as soon as she gets the chance. For

DAY 72!!!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

I think some of you have probably heard by now that I was transferred from Albany Medical Center on "Day 70". I was evaluated and then offered a bed at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Center in Schenectady, N.Y.

Sunnyview is a top level, first class rehab facility. I have been told that if any place can get me walking again, Sunnyview is the place, and after being here for a day I believe it.

I am eager and excited with each new day to meet and exceed the goals that are set for me. All the good wishes, prayers and love from all of you got me through 70 days at Albany Med and I am confident, even though the road is going to be challenging, that with all of you behind me I will walk out of Sunnyview on my own two legs soon.

I am eternally grateful and indebted to each and every one you who have taken the time and care to check in on me over the last 10 weeks. Thank you all very much!



GETTING STRONGER EVERY DAY!



JOE



AKA> Popo, Dad, Uncle Joe, Joey, Joseph, Joe Pie, Little Joe, Mr. Ferraro,

Mr. F, Tractor Man, Miracle Man, The Tank.

Or any other name you may know me by.

DAY 68 - OCTOBER 29

Yes, another month is almost over. I thought I would be unable to blog bec. I would be without a computer, but Robb was nice enough to leave his with us until he came back. Joe has had another good day of progress. Last night, the last of the antibiotics for his infections was administered. This morning, Infectious Diseases and Infection Control were in and swabbed and deemed that the infections were, indeed, under control. Thus, the last line (placed in his big saphenous vein in his foot) was removed this morning. That's right. Absolutely no more tubes or needles poking into or out of anywhere. It is a very freeing feeling. So, shortly after that, the OT and PT girls were in, dragged him up into a sitting position (again, not so easy. Since he's had to be inactive since the last 2 surgeries, he had lost a lot of ground that he had made. He will have to work hard to get back where he was and then move forward.) and had him dangle his feet over the side of the bed. This was enough to almost make him pass out - dizzy, light-headed and nauseous again - the usual. But they managed. They were a little disturbed by the situation of the muscles in his back and left arm. All in kind of rough shape. They are thinking that the position he must have had to be in for the surgery on his arms has gotten things out of shape. Unfortunately, being totally immobile for so long has caused a lot of muscle deterioration, as well as other things, to say nothing of all the muscle and tissue that had to be removed in different surgeries. He will have lots of rehab to do, but is anxious to get started. Dana and I had done some investigating the last time she, my sister and Stacy were here and had pretty much decided on an acute rehab hospital in this area, mostly bec. his doctors are in this area. It seems like the most practical thing to do at this point. This afternoon, someone came from the 8th floor (they do have a rehab floor here, but we felt that Joe would be better served at this other hospital, since Rehab is what they do there, as well as being a hospital. We are waiting for the results of the X-Rays that they took Friday night for his main orthopedic doctor to make a decision on his weight bearing status. His rehab is hinging on that, but because he is also non-weight bearing on his upper body also bec. of the surgery on the elbows, he will need to start rebuilding his upper body so that he will have the strength to move his own body, use crutches or a walker. He has lots and lots or work to do. He also needs to continue to rehab his jaw and mouth and possibly a little speech therapy, bec. we have noticed a little bit of trouble speaking now and then anda teensy bit of aphasia. I think this is all minor and should be addressed fairly quickly. At any rate, when the Case Worker came to discuss a Discharge Plan, she said he could be transferred to the 8th floor and we told her where we wanted him to go and she told us he could go right to the 8th floor and we told her again where we wanted to go and she gave us some song and dance again about the 8th floor and we told her again where we wanted to go. I think she finally got the message. I asked if I had to call the facility myself and she said she would call them tomorrow and have someone come over and evaluate Joe. Now we have to hope that he gets accepted and that they will have a bed. We may be moving into our next phase sooner than we had even hoped. Joe knows he is very weak, depleted and has lost a lot of weight, but I don't think he realizes just how much he has deteriorated. It will be a rude awakening, but he is excited to at least get the process of rebuilding started. If he is able to get in, my plan is to stay here at the Fisher House at least until he gets settled in and we have a time frame and a schedule. For now, we are so lucky to have been the recipients of all of your prayers and good wishes. We think of all of you and know how lucky we are. Will keep everyone posted. For now, JUST MANY, MANY THANKS !! Love, Cindi

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28

O.K., so it wasn't that it was too early this a.m. - anyone who has been in a hospital knows that 8:00 a.m. is not early - you've already been awakened several times since about 4:00 a.m. - I think I've just been here too long !! Apologies for the blank blog. Will try to make more progress this time. Going back a little bit in time, the week before his plastic surgery, Joe accidentally pulled out his feeding tube. This happened right after his triple lumen pick accidentally got pulled out by the physical therapist trying to get him into the wheel chair. Both created some discussions and problem solving. The pick was the thing that has been used to administer one of the antibiotics, Vancomycin, for the Staph infection. The other antibiotic, that is being used to treat the other gram negative infection, had been crushed and flushed through the feeding tube while he had his jaws wired. And the feeding tube was used at night to administer the "Crucial" feed to him while he was unable to eat and in the hopes of building him up from his malnourished state to help prepare him, the skin and the surgical sites for the plastic surgery. The nutritionist had insisted on it. So, on the Saturday night that it was discovered that the feeding tube had been pulled out of place, the great family discussion began. Joe had decided he didn't want it anymore and I was pretty determined that he needed it and it should be continued. So, the whole family and the nurses and the residents were in on the discussion. Back and forth, pros and cons, not getting anywhere. Finally, the head nurse sent everyone out, closed the curtain and left just the two of us to come to some decision. This was not easy, but I did have to remind the patient that the decisions that had been made by us so far had been good ones and he was making good forward progress and it would be foolish to not continue in that direction. Joe did finally defer to me, though he was not happy about it. I hate to tell him I told you so, but this did turn out to be an excellent decision. After his plastic surgery, the doctor did tell us that with the injuries that Joe had , they only get these good results in about 2 out of 10 cases. We feel very lucky, but I really think that the combination of everything - the extra nutrition, which he would not have without the feeding tube, the Integra, the wound Vacs and the excellent work of some very fine surgeons. The other thing that we think has really helped, in conjunction with the traditional and high tech Western medicine, has been the wonderful work of the people from Healing Touch and Reiki. We are very grateful from all of them. The IV line turned out to be a bit of a puzzle. They decided not to put another pick in, since he only had about another 8 days of antibiotics and thought they could just put an IV line in. Well, that turned out to be easier said than done. First of all, he hardly has any usable veins, so whenever they could find a little one, put in an IV, start trying to run the Vancomycin, they would blow the vein out. We've learned that that antibiotic is very hard on the veins. So after a few doses of that, they called the pick unit in again. They decided not to put another one in and put in a peripheral line instead. All well and good, but the only vein should could find was right above the elbow, so he couldn't move his arm without pushing the needle in further into the vein. Very painful and totally impractical. Well, that lasted a day before he went in for his nerve sugery and they had to pull that out to make the incision for that surgery. Pretty silly, but at least during surgery, the surgeon put a new line into his left foot and a back-up into his right hand. Well, the one in the right hand lasted one day and blew out before it was even used. Useless. Fortunately, the one in the left foot has held out and everyone is treating it very tenderly and carefully and at this point, it only has to last for one more day and a half. So, all is well with Joe. They continue now to change all the dressings daily and everything looks good and is progressing well. Plastics is thinking they will continue that plan for another week and we are waiting now for the results of the X-Rays taken on Friday night to determine when he will be able to begin to bear weight. At that point, some plan will begin to be formed for post-hospital. On another note, Robb has been involved in about 12 hours of very stressful situations. Last night, the husband of the patient next to us had a complete melt-down. At this particular time, the other 2 patients in the unit had been transferred out to other rooms and Joe and I had gone down to X-Ray for more pictures. Robb was waiting in the room for us and was alone with the 2 nurses, the other patient and her husband, who came to the Nurse's station and said he was sure his wife was going to die that night and he had bought a rope and he was going to hang himself, because she was all he had. He continued to go on and on. His wife's nurse just explained to him that his wife was NOT dying. He left and everything sprung into action. Security, police, administration, etc. Robb was asked for a statement and he gave one. Then he was asked to confirm and sign. He worried that the poor 80 year old man was going to be arrested. As it has turned out, all seems to be O.K. He is still here, and much subdued, and she is still here. However, all the rest of us were shaken. This was more stressful than all of the prisoners, police officers, State Troopers and Tribal Police that have been in and out of this Unit. The next morning, Robb was out having a cigarette break and he got punched in the head. Yes, assaulted on the grounds of Albany Med. None of this gives us a very secure feeling and I, for one, am starting to really look forward to our next stage of recovery, which, hopefully will be sooner, rather than later. Please keep up all of your wonderful good wishes and prayers. Joe still has a long road to recovery. Robb will be taking his computer, so I don't know when I'll get to blog again, but we'll do our best. Stacy is in New Orleans for VooDoo Fest and Scott is headed to Las Vegas this week, so until Robb comes back later this week Over and Out from Albany Med. Love, Cindi

OCTOBER 27 = 2 DAYS POST SCOTT'S BIRTHDAY

Hello, friends and family. Things are going well from AMC, but once again our skeleton crew has been plagued with technical difficulties. It would be helpful for us if we were more technically savvy, but that's not the case. So we do what we can. Part of our technical problems were not even ours, but we spent a long time trying to figure things out only to find out the problem was actually the internal system here at AMC. At any rate, we tried really hard to get a blog on for October 25th, as it was our precious first born's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to SCOTT. We miss you and have cherished your trips, as we do for Todd, Dana, Stacy and Robb's. We have been so lucky and blessed to have our wonderful family be so dedicated to Joe's recovery, my sister included. We've had several family birthdays pass by as we have been here recovering and now that our first born son has just had his birthday (he is in Louisville at this time and headed to Las Vegas next week), it is time for our first born grandson, Turner Makana Sorge, to have his 6th birthday. That will be on Nov. 16. We are hoping to, possibly, at least be out of the hospital by then. But back to real time, belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO SCOTT !! Love from us here at Albany Med. And now, the medical journal. Surgery to release the ulnar nerves in both arms and the median release on the left went very well. It was the 13th surgery on the 9th week date from the accident and I think we might be done with surgery, at least for now. The plastic surgeons also took down and redressed all of the other wounds from the plastic surgery last week, so both lower legs and both thighs and both upper arms and elbows, as well as the left wrist and hand, are all heavily bandaged. He looks like what he is ... an accident victim!! However, the good news is that after all of the fol de rol and nonsense and foot dragging, the day after the surgery, he had already noticed some increase in the sensation in the hands and fingers. We are thrilled and relieved. He knows that it will continue to take a long time and lots of rehab to get strength and the use of the hands back, but he is very encouraged and very glad that we kept after the doctors to get something done. So far, the result has been well worth the effort. Out for now. More later. Most importantly, Joe came through the surgery just great and is now resting comfortably. Love, Cindi

DAY 62 - OCTOBER 23

Hi, everyone! It has been a long time since I have blogged, but I'm going to see if I can catch up. There seems to never be a dull moment here at Albany Med. I had planned to go back to last week, to the day of the unwiring, which was a great day, but things have been moving very fast in another direction, so I will try to catch up and go back for details at another time, if at all possible. It's hard to keep the brain cells working.
So, I'm going to skip right to the EMG that Joe had on Wednesday. Yes, very, very painful and miserable but Joe and I have been trying to convey to everyone who would listen, and some who wouldn't listen, that his last 2 1/2 to 3 fingers on both hands have been numb since the accident. It was the very first thing he began to complain about when he first became aware that he was alive and continued to tell every single team about it for about 7 - 8 weeks now. We have talked to the physical and occupational therapist about it and Hallelujah!!, finally someone began to pay attention and then everyone got in on the bandwagon. So, the results of the EMG showed that he had bilateral ulnar nerve damage, resulting in essentially carpal tunnel injury in both hands and median nerve damage on the left side. Everyone has been asking him how he thinks this might have happened. We cannot exactly figure out why we have to come up with a scenario for them - the man was run over and dragged by a tractor, for God's sake. Can't anyone figure out how these nerves might have been injured? Anyway, after the test, we were told we just had to wait for someone to read the results of the test and then they would come up with a plan - either surgery or occupational therapy or a combination of both. So, we waited and waited, and Joe vented to everyone wearing a white coat, or anyone even remotely looking like a medical person about getting the results and how long we had already waited for some kind of any answer and how his left arm and hand, in particular, just continued to get worse and weaker. This was getting to be the big concern, because now we are starting to think about serious physical therapy and Joe will need strength in his arms and hands to help negotiate the wheelchair until he is able to bear weight and start to learn to walk again. Well, he finally got to Dr. Shallett, a plastic surgery resident, whom we call Gentle Ben, because his name is Ben and he is gentle and sweet. Gentle Ben was in checking on the skin grafting that was just done and was horrified to hear PoPo's Tale of the Hands over the last 7 or 8 weeks and wanted to know who was following the case. Well, Joe said No One, scaring Ben even more, who then said that from now on, Plastics would be covering him and that by Monday, we would have an answer. Sure enough, Monday, late, Dr. Koumanis, the plastic surgeon who has done all of Joe's plastic surgery arrived, did an exam, asked some questions and explained to us, very simply, what has happened and why. After ruling out the other possibilities, he said that very often, when the body as had a severe trauma, it will swell excessively (which was certainly the case - when we first saw Joe, he was at least twice his size with the swelling - the kids said if they did not know it was their father, they would not have recognized him - even his face and head were twice their size), thereby entrapping some of the nerves that travel through tunnels, like the ulnar nerve travelling through the cubital tunnel, due to the swelling. He explained that if surgery was necessary, he would have 2 small incisions at the wrists, and an incision under the left elbow and the nerves would be freed up a bit and then hopefully some relief.. As it has turned out, it was decided that since the nerves were getting worse and not better, that surgery was indicated. Thus, tomorrow, Joe will head back for what we think is his 13th surgery to hopefully free up the nerves. We are thrilled to finally have some answers about this injury that has been plaguing him for 9 weeks. So, once again, please keep Joe in your prayers. We know that it will be a very long rehab, but we have high hopes. He feels very encouraged and I would have hounded everyone before I would have let him leave the hospital without getting an answer about the Hands!! It's been another Big Toe thing, which, by the way, is doing O.K. It is still sore, swollen and ugly - but it has not developed any infection. We are happy!!
Thank you again for all of your good wishes and prayers. Love, Cindi

We are still here!

Hi All, sorry we have been out of touch. Did you all think that my dad got up and discharged himself from Albany Medical Center? Not yet, but he is getting a little squirmy at times. We have had computer troubles so bear with us.

My dad finally had his plastic surgery on friday. They took skin from his left thigh and used it on his right thigh and both lower legs. The plastic surgeons are engouraged about how things went. Everything will remain bandaged until wednesday when the doctors will uncover the wounds and see how things look. In the mean time my dad is taking a little vacation from all of his leg exercises (per the doctors orders) and letting the skin grafts heal. They did not have to do any muscle grafting on my dads legs. Everybody keep your fingers crossed that the skin grafts look good on wednesday.

The numbness in his fingers (that he has been feeling since almost right after his accident) is still present and getting worse. He is losing a lot of strength in his left hand and some in his right. We are finally getting some questions answered about that. My dad had a painful EMG which he compared to Bruce Willis getting electrical cables put on him and then having a wet sponge thrown at him. I think the man has been watching to many action movies. In all honesty it was a long and painful procedure that did involve eletrical currents. The doctors will decide on thursday or friday if they will need to do another surgery to correct the nerve damage or if they will try therapy first and maybe surgery in the future.

My dad is very, very happy to have all of the hardware out of his mouth. Dr. D. (the ENT surgeon) is pretty happy with the way my dad's jaw is looking considering how long he had to wait to try to fix it. His jaw is still sore but he is doing his exercises and can open it a little wider and it is getting easier to eat cheezits and lots of other foods. His feeding tube is out and he is now able to try to eat what he wants and is definately filling out a little more. He is really starting to look and act more like his old self.

He has about 6 more days left of the antibiotics he is taking to treat the staph infection.

My mom has a lot more detail on all of the above that she will blog when she can. The coming week will be busy and lots of doctors will be in so my mom (aka Dr. Ferraro) will probably be at the hospital and not on the computer.

However, we still need the strength and positive energy of everyone around us. So, please stay with us on this unbelievable journey. My dad is doing a remarkable job so far but we all know the road ahead is long and we have no doubt that my dad is going to forge ahead stronger than ever. All of your thoughts and wishes continue to carry us and my dad forward, so thank you all.

Dana

Pizza!

The title of this blog can't help but bring up great memories of when it used to be pizza day at school! The best lunch in the cafeteria. I spent the last few days with my dad and it was an amazing time, as always. Me, Stacy, mom, and Robb ordered pizza and wings on Wednesday and we asked dad if he would like a slice, since his wires have been removed and he is able to eat solid foods. He is supposed to be sticking to soft foods with little chewing so it was determined he would give the pizza a whirl, possibly minus the bread and crust since it would require some chewing. Stacy, Robb, and mom were enjoying their dinner in the waiting room and I decided to see if dad wanted his slice. I asked him if he wanted it cut and he said no - he wanted to be able to hold it. So, in comes the slice of cheese and away he went. That slice lasted about two minutes, crust and all. He didn't seem to have any problem at all finishing every little crumb...well almost every crumb, we did find one or two under him later when we adjusted him for bed. He finished it so fast that his nurse Michelle stepped away for a few minutes and came back and asked where the pizza went? We all laughed and we asked dad if he wanted another. He said he was having a tough time deciding between another piece or Cheez-its and some ice cream. A difficult choice indeed. Stacy convinced him that the Cheez-its and ice cream would be there tomorrow and that he better take advantage of the pizza while there was some left - no pizza leftovers last long around the Ferraro clan. So, he opted for another slice! Regardless of how old you are, pizza day is still the best day in the cafeteria!

Thanks to all for your continued love and support of our family! The support hasn't subsided since day one, which is truly amazing!

Thanks,

Scott

The end of week 8

Today marks the last day of the eighth week. Wow! It is hard to believe how far Joe has come over the last few months. It really is amazing! He is sitting on the edge of his bed, usually with assistance. He has even started doing some exercises in that position, too. He's laughing, talking, and eating up a storm. His story has proved to be inspirational to his new "neighbors" who have just arrived and whose families are a little down in the dumps. They have saught us out (including my dad) to voice some of their concerns and ask questions. I guess as they say "misery loves company".
Today was a busy and painful day for Joe. A few days ago he had a neurology consult and it was determined that he should have some testing done using electronic probes to assess the damage to his fingers. From the beginning, when he "woke up" a few days after the accident he could not feel the last few fingers on each hand. Today they tested him using different voltages of electricity to see if there was any blockage or if the nerves had started to reattach themselves. He said it was brutally painful, and there were times when he thought it was really bad and the doctors would say they were going to turn it up a little. The doctors have figured that there is some blockage in each arm and different degrees of damage to the ulnar and median nerves on both arms. The good news is that they have pinpointed the problem(s). Now it is a waiting game to see if they will begin to repair themselves or if he will have to have more surgery down the line.
He is starting to sleep a little bit longer each night and is grateful for that. We are awaiting Friday's surgery for the skin/muscle grafts and to remove the rest of the hardware in his mouth. Hoping this will be the last surgery for awhile...
Thanks as always for all of the love and strength,
Stacy

Wheelin' Around...

Today was another step closer to Joe's recovery. The physical therapists came by and got him in the wheelchair again today. He's able to help a lot now and it gets easier for him with each try. After he was in the chair the girls made him go for a spin. He really did not want to (he is happy just to sit) but they are great about pushing him to the limit. So, with each therapist carrying a wound vac he rolled himself down the hallway with me, mom and Scott in tow. We were snapping pictures for his "long road to recovery scrapbook". It was kind of like a mini- parade with Joe as the Homecoming Queen. All of the nurses, whom we know pretty well by now, were coming out with all sorts of comments "hey now, look at you!", and "wait a minute, what's this your wedding are you coming for your bride?" (referring to a young, cute nurse waiting at the end of the hallway. Needless to say, everyone was impressed with this big step that my dad has made. He continues to amaze us. Keep up the great work, Popes! We love you!
Love,
Stac

A little chatty...

I was thrilled upon my arrival today to find my dad talking up a storm, pretty much to anyone who would listen. He showed me how he could open his mouth a little bit and told me all of the things that he has had to eat since they "freed" the jaw. It has mostly been soft foods but it has all made him very happy. He keeps asking for Cheez-Its. I don't know...Dr. Ferraro (aka Cindi/Mom) seems to think he should wait until Friday when he gets clearance from Dr. Da Fatta.. However, I personally know that one of my brothers (who happens to be tall, loves pizza & wings, and is married to someone named Arlene) smuggled in some chocolate chip cookies for him. I think they had to be crumbled into really small pieces but he still enjoyed them. So I'm not going to tell you which bro that was (I wouldn't want to get him in trouble with Dr. Ferraro), just know that he had good intentions. My dad is just craving real food, especially chips and snacks right now. It's about 10 PM and we're watching TV, and if he were home he would definitely be snacking on something...I guess if he had his way it would be Cheez-Its.

ALMOST DAY 54, SUNDAY EVENING

O.K., so it is just me again. Sometimes I get on a roll and there's no stopping me. But back to the day that we were feeling pretty confident again, only to be brought back to reality pretty quickly. Robb was giving Joe's sideburns a trim. It is a good sign that Joe is beginning to think about his own body and starting to try to take care of it himself. He is able to help out somewhat with the daily sponge bath and can shave himself with an electric razor. He's been doing this without a mirror and just recently he saw his reflection for the first time. He didn't recognize himself, but we think he is looking wonderful. But, when Robb was doing Joe's sideburns, apparently he inhaled some hair into his trach, and began coughing and choking and unable to catch his breath. His nurse began heading for the wire clippers that have been hanging above his bed in an event such as this. She had them ready to cut the wires holding his jaws shut if he began to vomit or was unable to catch his breath. We managed to get to some deep breathing and then back to some normal breathing and things got back to normal. It was only after a few minutes that Joe admitted that he had actually spit up a little bit, but managed to swallow it back down the right tube so that it did not enter the lungs. It terrified the family and rattled his nurse, but it did serve as a reminder that we are not home free yet. It left us feeling grateful that we had a boring weekend ahead of us. We have learned that little or nothing happens in the hospital over the weekend.
So, in the meantime, I had called Dr. DeFatta, his Reconstructive Facial Plastic & ENT doctor, to see whether his next surgery might be planned in conjunction with the Plastic Surgery planned for next Friday, in the hopes of possibly saving one surgery. He was not in the office on Thursday afternoon, and then in surgery on Friday, but it did not worry me, as I thought I would have time to call again on Monday. Well, lo and behold, Saturday morning Dr. DeFatta showed up in the hospital room, pulled out the wire clippers and started cutting. We were so excited, Dana was snapping pictures for the family photo album. Joe was so surprised, he did not know what to make of it. And then, TA DA, the jaws were free!! Very stiff and painful, but free. Dr. DeFatta explained that the plan was to unlock the jaws and see what happened. He admitted later that he feared that the jaw would slack back into the former position, but it did not. He was surprised and thrilled. He said that he couldn't have hoped for a better result and certainly didn't expect it. He already had Plan B and Plan C in mind. But so far, so good. Now comes the work of rehabbing the jaw. It is very tight, but open a little bit - enough to put soft food into the cavity. Joe couldn't wait. He's also excited about yawning with his mouth open (you try yawning with your mouth clamped shut - it's miserable) and being able to sneeze. Very small pleasures. Dr. DeFatta made his own little manual CPM machine for the mouth by stacking tongue depressors at an angle and taping them together. His first job is to slowly force the mouth open one tongue depressor at a time. When he reaches the top of the stack, he will be at about 2.5 cm. He will need to work up to 4 cm. So he has plenty of work to do, but he is excited about it and feels like he is making progress. It was a Red Letter Day. The plan right now is that on the 19th, the arch supports on the roof and floor of the mouth and the screws holding them in place will be removed and bands put in place to hopefully hold the jaws in place. Very encouraging.
I'm headed back to the hospital. Todd is with Joe now - I think they were into the Patriots/Dallas game when I left. Dana left early this afternoon and by now Robb is probably back in Greenwich. Todd will be leaving tomorrow a.m. for a business meeting in Scranton and Stacy and Scott will arrive on Tuesday, I believe.
It will be a busy week with the Wound Vac girls in on Monday & Wednesday, and physical and occupational therapy in every day and lots of exercising in bed and with the "2" CPM machines. We will do as much as we can these next 4 days, as the plastic surgery will temporarily put a halt to the leg exercises for a while. So we are excited and anxious going into this week.
Thank you again for all of the prayers and good wishes. They are definitely helping all of us.
Love, Cindi

DAY 53 - ROBB'S BIRTHDAY

Hello, everyone! It has been a long time since I have had a chance to blog. Many, many thanks to my children and sister for keeping up with it. Not only does it keep our friends updated, it gives us some sort of order and foundation, because somehow these last 53 days have disappeared and I don't know where. We are busy all the time. Now that Joe's life and death vitals and wounds have pretty much stabilized, we are busy concentrating on the next phases of recovery. However, every time we are feeling confident, we have a little wake-up call that reminds us that there are still many dangers. Of course, the first problem being the infections in the right thigh. He is now on day 32 of the first 42 day regimen of the very strong antibiotics to control the infection. And while his tests show that he appears to be doing well, the continued danger of the infection being so close to the metal rod in the femur and the metal in the hip remains. If the infection should reach the metal, it would all have to be removed. So, the longer we go giving the bones a chance to set, the better, just in case they should have to remove any or all of the metal that is holding Joe together. So far, so good. My girlfriend, Lorraine, a registered nurse by trade, reminded me long ago about re-introducing good flora into the body when you have had to be on long-term antibiotics. It had honestly slipped my mind, with so many other things going on at all times. In the meantime, someone I had met here at the hospital who had a loved one on the SICU, had told me about the fact that they had a small holistic office here and tried to explain to me where it was located. One quiet Sunday morning, while running down to the cafeteria for coffee, I was creeping around the deserted hallways trying to find this office when a very nice man asked if he could help me. I did say no, and then did ask him if he knew where the office might be. He said that he did not, but had just received a brochure on it. He very nicely took me all the way back to his office, found the folder and gave me the information. So nice. The very next day, I found the office (yes, it is small and housed in with the very small patient info cancer library). The serendipitous part about this whole incident is that, while I have passed this office hundreds of times, I have never before or since, seen the door open. This is the only time that I have ever seen this door open. Anyway, I went in and investigated. There was information on Reiki, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, Massage Therapy and yes, lactobacillus (adding good flora back into the system). While I was at it, got the ball rolling on all of the above. Now, Joe, who always thought all of this was kind of mumbo-jumbo nonsense, is now benefitting from all of these services and loving them. He calls one of them his "sleep lady", another "the healing lady" and "relaxation lady". They are all doing a marvelous job and we were not happy to hear that they all have so many new requests, bec. we were enjoying those days when there weren't so many people who needed their services. Joe now sees the great healing benefit of blending the new, very high tech, kind of medicine with the more natural holistic approach. They are both helping him to become a new man in more ways than one. So, back to our old friend, lactobacillus. I'm hoping that the addition of this will help to avoid further immune problems down the line, because the length of time on these very strong antibiotics, while hopefully killing all of the infection, will also be killing all of the good bacteria in the body, making Joe susceptible to other infections. It continues to be a balancing act. And there is the possibility of being on another round of antibiotics after this first round is complete. We will keep our fingers crossed. For now, we continue to take one day at a time. This, in itself, is progress, because we have gone from taking one minute at a time, to one hour at a time, to one day at a time. We are feeling very encouraged.
Again, the gratitude we feel for the continued outpouring of prayers and caring from our friends and family is boundless. We cannot thank everyone enough and it really helps to keep our spirits up when, sometimes, the load seems to heavy for us to carry alone. Thanking you just seems very insignificant, but many, many thanks to everyone.
Love, Cindi
And, not to be forgotten, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our "Last but not Least" (as my mother called him) and "Fifth from the Top" (as he refers to himself), baby, ROBB. We Love You, My Darling! Happy Hunting! (Robb is bow-hunting deer today). Love, M and Dad

special delivery!

Hi everybody, my dad continues to do great! We all love to see him get stronger. I had the important job of transporting a very special parcel for my dad. It was made with love and packaged carefully and finally buckled safely into my car and driven 8 hours to Albany Med. What is this mystery package? It is the world's best homemade ice cream made by none other than my in-laws, Tim and Joanne. They own a family fun center (Swings-N-Things) in Cleveland, where we live and they make their own ice cream there. They made a fresh batch of coffee ice cream for my dad and put it in dry ice and off I went. The ice cream and I both arrived in safely. My dad's eyes got huge and his grin very wide when I told him what I had brought for him. He has already been enjoying it and sends a big THANK YOU to Tim and Joanne. Oh, and my siblings and mom can't wait to dip into the extra flavors you sent along for them. Thanks again. The wound vac girls have arrived to change my dad's wound vacs. I'll try to report again later. Dana

Good TV

Today was another busy day for my dad. He got into the wheelchair again for awhile. He is getting pretty good at helping the therapists, by using some strength in his arms. It will take a long time to build up the muscles again but he is working hard! Once in the chair he asked us a few times why this was good for him, in a funny way of course. It definatley is good for him to move or be moved. However, it is still very painful because he has this wound on his right butt cheek that is trying to heal itself, but is still quite large and deep. Unfortunately, he watched the clock for most of the time he spent in the chair. The good news is he was in it for a 1/2 hour longer than he was the last time!

On a separate note altogether my dad got some pretty good TV in his room. One of his energy healers suggested that he try watching the relaxation channel late at night, when he usually has trouble sleeping. After investigation, we realized he did not get that channel, so they called the technicians to come and put a new one in. When this woman was here my dad told her that it would be great if he could also get the Golf Channel. He has heard the guy on the other side of the curtain (his neighbor to the left) watching this and he would really appreciate it if should could work that out for him because he was not able to find it on his TV. So the kind soul that she is, came back four different times to try and program his new TV. She was using a remote and finally was successful! This made my dad very excited and appreciative, but there was one more thing...if she could just leave that remote with him. He actually asked her to do this and she apologized and told him she needed to take if with her. Now, mind you the TV is on this arm that stretches out from the wall and he usually puts it about 6 inches from his face. So, I'm not sure what he would need the remote for. I guess some things never change, the guy does love his clicker.
Out for now,
Stacy

A busy day

Today was a busy one for Joe. He started off by heading down to X-rays which he dreads for two reasons: one, it's a pain in the butt to move him onto the stretcher (as Jason and Omer know all too well!) and it makes him kind of nauseous. Two, he tells us the technician thinks he's a woman. Of course we laughed when he told us this, I mean she is x-raying pretty much the entire lower half of his body! He told us that she calls him "dolly", which drives him crazy. We tried to convince him that she probably calls everyone that, but he's not buying into it. After he got back he told us it wasn't that bad, "he had two professionals working with him this time." Those of you that know him know that he is hilarious and this whole hospital stay has not put a dent in his sense of humor!
The wound vac girls came today and my dad decided to play a practical joke on one of them since she was away for a few days. He made a little mini barber shop pole along with a little shave kit and note for her signed "lovingly his right leg, and the left one too", since she is the one that always does the shaving before the vacs go on. The other ones are not very good at it or skip it all together which Joe doesn't really like because when they skip it, he now knows what it feels like to have his legs waxed...not fun for him!!
He was due to get back in the wheelchair today but when the PTs came by he was sleeping and they decided to let him rest. That was for the best since he really was exhausted. All of these things still tire him completely but they do get easier with each time they do them.

DAY 48!

Wow, we (my mom, dad and myself) just had to count on our fingers and the calendar to see how many days it has been since this whole thing has started. O.K., so we figured out it has been 48 days. Today my dad sat in a wheelchair for about an hour and a half. We will work on actually having him go somewhere in it sometime soon. For now, it is definitely great progress just to be in that seated position for any length of time.
He is doing so well with his exercises I can hardly believe the improvement from last week. He is mostly doing everything on his own now with just a little support under each ankle. The other thing he needs help with is bending the right knee, but he is so determined...he really has us push him to the limit.
They have scheduled the plastic surgery for next Friday, the 19th. They hope to do the muscle/skin grafts in all three places; the two lower legs and the incision on the right thigh. They are talking about possible not needing to do the thigh because it is being pulled together nicely by the wound vac. Time will tell with that, I guess.
I know people are really chomping at the bit to get here and visit with my dad. For now, he is still in the Step-Down Trauma Unit and is really only allowed to have 2 family members in with him at a time. When he is permitted to have more visitors we will post it on the blog.
Thanks for your enthusiasm, prayers, well wishes, strength, hope, love and all of the other great things that you have been sending to my dad and our family. I continue to be amazed and inspired by my dad and my mom's strength and courage and love for one another and our family. I feel truly blessed to have been raised as part of this family.
-Stacy
P.S. Apologies from Albany Med...bloggers here were having technical difficulties, hence, the lack of information in the last few days.

More Good News!

Joe continues to recover miraculously. His stamina, will and good physical health are pushing him to full recovery. His spirits are good. He appreciates all the well wishers and bloggers who are following his progress. Your prayers and good thoughts are making a huge difference! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Cindi is helping Joe do exercises right now. He is really showing off! He is very energetic and disciplined about executing hand, arm, and leg maneuvers. He is able to lift his legs several inches off the bed, bend his knee, ankle rolls excellent! Cindi is the Doctor on Duty and on call 24/7. As she just said, "Joe is going to be in better shape than we are" (doing his exercises). She is very skilled at working with the doctors in getting their attention to new issues that arise. Joe has asked his primary ortho doc for a doctor's white coat with Dr. Ferraro written on it for Cindi. Cinid is continuing to develop her natural talent for intuitive medical diagnosis and is getting the right doctor's attention to the problem. Joe looks great and has great energy and spirit. Miracles are happening every day! Continue to send those prayers and positive thoughts Joe's way, it means everything to him and his family. Thank you is inadequate for the tremendous gratitude the Ferraro-King family feel for your love and support. Signing off, Bev King, Joe's sister-in-law At Albany Medical Center

A wound vac day

Well, the wound vac girls were in again today to take them down and looked things over. Ortho and plastics both came to take a look. For the most part, they are pleased with the way things look. There is that one spot on the lower left leg that is suspect, though. It has been collecting fluid for some time and not really draining they way they would like it to be. They have all said that they will just be keeping a close eye on it for any change. It doesn't look much different than it did 2 days ago, which just means that is not any worse off than it was. However, everybody would be happier if it started draining or redistributing itself a little better.
Today, we are going to try some pureed potato soup and see how that goes down and maybe some apple sauce. My dad is thrilled because his brother Al has made him some homemade broth. He says "it tastes a hell of a lot better than this hospital crap". He has already made me promise to go out to the store and pick up some coffee ice cream (it's his favorite). At the rate we're going I feel like I should get a few gallons just to get us thru the next few days!
Thanks for everything, everybody!
Love, Stacy

Yankees(Wild card) vs. Indians

Lil' Joe,
The Yanks did what they had to do in order to reach the Playoffs. Their play remained above average for the last several weeks of the regular season. I am looking forward to watching the World Series with you. It will be the Yankees versus the Cubs.
On another note, I continue to be amazed at your ability to win this battle with adversity. If all the people who are following your journey could see what we see first hand, they would be shocked. It has not been ordinary at all. The way and rate you are going through this is remarkable. Our descriptions cannot do these circumstances justice. I know you will keep it up, therfore I will not even say it.
Thank you all. You have devoted so much to this family from top to bottom. As our family heart has joined to help our father/husband/brother/uncle/cousin/nephew we thank you from ONE HEART Robb

Another really good day...with lots of ice cream

Hi everyone,
Today was another really good day for my dad. One of the doctors came thru today who hasn't seen him since the SICU and told my dad he looked like a rose compared to the last time he saw him. He really did look good and had some pretty good energy. He sat up in his bed a lot, we played cards, he read some of the paper, and ate quite a bit...well sucked a lot of liquid thru a straw but you know what I mean.
He's moved on to ice cream, thinned out pudding, ice cream, still on the broth, and more ice cream. The ice cream was mostly in the shake form or melted down but this afternoon he tried these little miniscule bites right off the spoon and between his "mmmmm"'s and "ohhhhhh"'s he declared "Stac, this tastes so much better like this than when it's melted or in a shake!" He was so happy he had ice cream with every meal and then for an afternoon snack. Yesterday when he found out he will need to drink this nasty stuff called Nepro and Boost even after he gets out of the hospital he said to me, "You mean your mother is gonna make me drink this stuff when I'm at home?" I said, "Yeah, because it is really good for you. It has all of these calories and nutrients to help you heal." He looked pretty bummed out until he had this great idea. "OK", he says, "Just have her dump one in the blender with some ice cream and make me a shake out of it." The man is ecstatic he can be eating as much ice cream as he wants and nobody can say anything about it.
I think it's been a few days since I have thanked everyone for the prayers and well wishes. I hope that you all realize how much my family appreciates the power and strength it has brought to my dad, Popo, and for this we are eternally grateful. He is making amazing progress and blows me away with each step of this incredible journey. I always new that he was strong but this recovery is beyond anything I could have ever comprehended until I had to witness it with my own eyes. Dad, I love you! Keep up the GREAT work.
-Stacy

October 1st-Rabbit Day

I actually saw a rabbit tonight when I arrived at the Fisher House for a quick bite to eat...I will take that as a sign of good luck for the week to come! My dad looked great when I saw him today after being gone for a few days. A couple of the nurses were looking at the pictures of our family we have hanging in his room and commented on how different he looks after losing so much weight. I was just thinking that he is starting to look like himself again. He has definitely put a few pounds of that weight he lost back on again. His face is filling out a little bit, but that is an improvement from last week. Best thing of all today his spirits were really good! They have been a lot in the last few weeks but it is always great to see him fighting the battle with as little pain and nausea as possible. Side note-when I asked if he wanted anything for the nausea he said "no, I'd rather wait until we are done with my exercises 'cause you are just going to make me sick as it is!" As you can see his humor is still in tact.
Out for now-Stacy

A breath of fresh air!

Just quick note let you all know that after 39 days of being inside Albany Medical Center my dad got outside for about 5 minutes. It was a lot of moving and lifting and was uncomfortable and it makes my dad very nauseous but they got him into a chair. Then they got his wound vacs and tubes all loaded up and off we went. We got downstairs, went outside, took a few breaths of fresh air and now we are back upstairs in E401c. It was a big moment but a lot for my dad. Signing off for now, Dana

Good morning from Albany Medical Center. My dad got the magic sleeping potion last night and finally got a good nights sleep. He really needed it. He was up for awhile this morning and he is back asleep. He has had a lot on his mind and comfortable, peaceful sleep is like a gift, we are so happy. It is the little things these days. We don't have too much else to report except that one of my dad's roommates was a bit of a surprise to him. Yesterday he watched a "neighbor" shuffle by his bed to go to the bathroom. He didn't even flinch until he saw the two armed guards following behind him. My dad's eyes got wide and he said "Is that guy in jail?" Little did my dad know that was the second roommate he had that was from the correctional facility. He just laughed and we realized that everybody gets sick and hurt and that everybody needs care. I was not going to put this on the blog, however, my dad turned to me and said "Did you put that on the blog?" As you can see, we never have a dull moment here. As usual, thank you all for keeping up the fight with my dad. This is just the first few miles of the marathon, we have a long way to go. Dana

Good morning everyone, We started the morning with visits from our friends from plastic surgery, trauma and ortho. They all seem to think things are progressing in the right direction. My dad is one week in with the jaw wiring and is counting the days and weeks until the surgery to cut those wires. Hopefully it will only be three more weeks. Even with wax on the wires to protect his lips they are still pretty cut up. He is very positive and is continuing to go forward. I just hate to see his mouth like that. He just had his trach cleaned, even though it is capped, they will probably leave it in until all of the surgeries are done. One of the reasons being that it will be easier to put the anesthesia in through the trach rather than intubating him each time because that could damage the trachea and/or the epiglottis. He is shaving as we speak then he will get a little bath. My mom and I already gave him his foot massage. After that I will give him a manicure. He has already done some of his exercises. His tummy is upset so this morning so he has not had any broth this morning. He did get a few hours of rest last night, which is really good. As you can see, my dad is very busy here at Albany Medical Center. That about covers it for this morning. Thanks again for being part of Team Popo! Dana

Looking good!

Hello all, I was so happy to see my dad looking so good today, after not seeing him for a week. He is diligent about doing the exercises that O.T. and P.T. have assigned him. He has a number of different things to do for his legs/feet and also for his hands/fingers/arms. He is really good about doing them and the strength he is showing already is truly remarkable. We are so proud of the progress he is making! The wound vac girls were in today. They cleaned all of the wounds and changed the vacs (one on the upper right leg/hip, and one on each of the lower legs). The wound vacs suction any fluids and debris from the areas they are attached to. It is quite a procedure and of course my dad is a trooper through the whole thing. Those little doo-hickies are a great invention and we are glad my dad has them. A hematoma has developed on the left leg and someone from plastics had to come and incise and drain that before the wound vac could go back on. In addition to the feeding tube the poor guy is on a clear liquid diet due to his jaw being wired shut. He enjoyed some lovely chicken broth and smooshed strawberry jello for breakfast, beef broth, smashed strawberry jello and melted lemon sherbet for lunch and chicken broth, squooshed strawberry jello and melted lemon sherbet for dinner. He enjoyed them all through a straw, of course. He is pretty happy to have anything with flavor after five weeks of nothing. My dad also had a Reiki treatment today which he says is relaxing. You know us, we will take all the healing power we can get around here. Go Joe go! My mom and I also rubbed his feet with some lotion. He is really enjoying his spa treatments. We were wondering if anyone at GHCC would like to take over the foot rubs (with lotion) when he returns to the sauna? We are currently accepting applications for the job? The poor guy needs some rest. Even with meds to aid him he is not sleeping at night. He knows it is important in helping him heal so we hope this weekend will bring some much needed rest. He is very aware of this big smorgasbord involved in getting him better so he is trying like heck to stay on top of all of it. He is really fighting hard and it shows. As usual, team Popo loves the support we are getting, thank you all. please keep up whatever you are doing.

Show-Off!

Robb and I have been sitting here with dad working on his new leg exercises. A couple of the nurses have been razzing him telling him to "show us all you got", "wow, he's getting feisty now, isn't he?" He really is showing off and proving to us that his will and determination is not be touched. He continues to amaze us and everyone on the staff here at Albany Medical Center. We love you so much dad and are with you every grueling step of the way. Keep up the great work! Love, Stac One of the nurses just came in and capped the trach...which is huge for him! Now he doesn't have to try to find the hole with his finger and he can just talk. He is thrilled!

DAY 36 - THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

Greetings. I hardly know where to start, but I can't get beyond this first sentence without thanking Jason Perra and Omer for producing, directing, filming and delivering the video greeting card. Joe has watched it in sections, as everything is so tiring for him and emotions exhaust him. He absolutely loved the video and was so overwhelmed by the number of people praying for him and wishing him well. You know he would love to be playing golf and if he has his way, he will be again. He was moved to tears and for the first time in 5 weeks, actually asked to be alone for a few minutes. He, and we, can't thank Jason and Omer enough. He swears he is going to watch it every day until he gets well. That's going to be a tall order, as his days are getting busier.
Joe also has no idea about how many of our friends, old and new, have been in contact by cards, e-mails, voicemails and internet blogs. On the rare occasion when he has been able, we have read 1 or 2 cards to him. That is about all he can usually withstand at a time before exhaustion takes over. But we have saved absolutely everything for him and he will have time when he gets to a different stage in his recovery. I have Scott printing out everything on the blog so that when Joe is ready, he will see just how many people were praying for him, as we continue to do for our friends from the SICU, the Carr family (Hi, Dana and Courtney - I am praying for you) and the Kitsock family (Love to Susie & John, Todd, Chrissy & Jenny - we are praying for you) and my new friend, Jocelyn, whose Mom was hit by a car, and the Dicksons (yes, Donald was doing volunteer work for his church and fell off a ladder - now that's not fair!!).
However, back to joe's progress. The sitting in the chair thing is a bit deceiving as it kind of implies that he is in a place that he is not, at least not yet. They were supposed to use a hoist, but instead the male nurse and 5 male aides lifted him and kind of plunked him in the chair. It wasn't a very good experience, as it put Joe in a lot of pain in the healing, but still fractured, ribs and the cracked vertebrae. It also did not help the wound on the back side or the thigh that he was not pillowed or padded on the chair. So, after withstanding about 1/2 hour of that, creating more nausea and lightheadedness, which is to be expected, he was put back to bed. As Stacy explained, nausea is a huge problem for someone with their jaws wired, bec. the reason the wires would have to be cut immediately is that should vomiting occur, he would have to be suctioned immediately because all of that material would be going right into the lungs, creating a pneumonia. We don't need it. So it was decided today that he would not be getting out of bed for a while. All the moving and any physical and occupational therapy would have to be done in bed for a while.
O.K., so I have spent my day today facilitating the continued course of his well-being in lots of ways and after spending more than 5 hours of solid talking, I am feeling much more at ease and that most of us are finally on the same page. Halleluia!! We're also trying to institute a regimen of holistic therapies to work in conjunction with the medical/surgical regimens. That is starting to fall into place nicely as he is to have his first Reiki treatment this afternoon. Also in line, hopefully, will be reflexology and aromatherapy, and when he is ready, massage therapy. I've already started massaging his feet with lotion, which he says feels good. We've also getting him started on lactobaccilus, which will help replenish the good flora in the body, which will be destroyed along with the bad bacteria during the lengthy course of very strong antibiotics that he will have to be on to combat the Staph and the other infection of gram negative rods. So, this is all very positive news. However, of course, Infectious Diseases, although pleased with the progress, still says we are by no means out of the woods in that department. And, Plastics is saying the same thing. They still have quite a bit of work to do and are definitely saying they are not out of the woods yet. Unfortunately, the wound under the wound Vac on the left tibia had developed a hematoma, which they opened yesterday when they took the wound Vacs down. This is disappointing, but the same thing had happened to the right tibia earlier on. It was incised and drained and has continued to do well after that. We can only hope for the same result on the left tibia. The wound Vac gals (whom we love) will be back tomorrow and Plastics and everyone will have a look. By the way, the wound Vac nurses are the ET team. I believe that stands for Epithelial Therapy. It is very specialized. There are 3 of them and they do the whole hospital on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They are wonderful and we have welcomed them happily into the growing Family,
I have saved the best news for last. Joe's head orthopedic doctor came in and said that according to all of the exhausting X-Rays that they took yesterday, everything looks fabulous and if those were the only injuries, he would let him start weight-bearing at 6 weeks instead of 3 months. Of course, those are not the only injuries. But he had him do a series of minor movements to see just how much muscle tone was left and how much he could do on his own and gave him some goals to reach. Joey is nothing, if not goal oriented, so we have no doubt he'll be working as hard as he can. We are ecstatic!!!
So, thank you so much for your caring and loving thoughts and prayers. Everything is helping and we are not giving up the good fight for a minute. Feeling very guardedly (we have learned that things can go in another direction very quickly) encouraged, Love, Cindi