ALMOST DAY 35 -TUESDAY NIGHT, SEPT. 25

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DARLING SISTER, BEV!! It has been quite some time since I had a chance to blog, so many thanks to the kids for taking over blogging duties. It has been a rough 10 days or so and things were so bad I just didn't feel that I could leave Joe. Some very interesting events have transpired. While we were waiting in the Pre-Op Room for Joe to go to surgery on last Tues. night, the anesthesiologist looked into Joe's mouth to check for dentures, etc., and said, "Wow, has his bite always been like that"? The answer was No, just since the accident. He has been complaining about his teeth hurting since he was semi-conscious - about 3 weeks. The doctor said that of course they hurt. They're completely out of alignment! Now, I can't tell you how many other anesthesiologists had looked in there, nor how many doctors didn't bother to look in there, even though he, and I, had been trying to tell everybody about the pain he was having and that he was very clear that something happened in the accident. I wanted to give that doctor a giant hug, bec. here was yet another guardian angel. Bec. from there, things started to happen. The next day, Joe was taken for a CT Scan, where surprise of all surprises, it was discovered that he had a fractured mandible. The enormous difficulty being that it was now 4 weeks out from the original injury. It had been ignored for that long, so now Reconstructive Facial and ENT joined our little group. My hope was that whatever possible surgery that needed to take place would be done in conjunction with another surgery, so that he would not have to have a general anesthetic every day that week. So I insisted on meeting and talking with the Attending doctor who would do the surgery, no matter what time of the day or night it was. So we waited. Meantime, once Trauma realized that they had missed the fractured jaw, I hit them with, Oh, and what about the numb fingers that he has been complaining about since the beginning, also. So they decided that they better have a Neurology consult. Yes, I guess there is room for them to join Team PoPo also. Our family is multiplying faster that we'd like (and we thought we were done multiplying). More surprises (although not to us bec. Joe has been very specific about his injuries, pain and difficulties. The difficulty is in getting anyone to listen.
O.K., back to the Joe. Early Thurs. a.m. I spoke with the doctor who would be performing the surgery. He explained that the great difficulty in dealing with the location of the fracture was that there was a large facial nerve that kind of ran through the joint that could be involved and if that was damaged during surgery, Joe would lose all control of that side of his face. It seemed like a poor option. The next difficulty was that the injury was already 4 weeks old and had started to fuse together in the totally wrong place. With all of the other injuries that Joe has, it didn't seem prudent to go re-breaking the jaw again, as he is so weak and depleted now. The doctor explained that his best window of opportunity was already gone and the 2nd window was closing quickly. He needed to operate much sooner, rather than later before there was really no opportunity left at all, so I gave my consent for surgery, much to Joe's annoyance. He did not want to go, but he was up at 4:45 ready and waiting. And, yes, we did wait until 6:00 that night. We've learned that this is par for the course. We've also learned that when they say, Oh, hurry up, they're taking him. That means at least a 1 - 2 hour wait in a hallway somewhere or Pre-Op or some other frigid spot. We've learned to bring extra blankets for Joe. We are, unfortunately, getting used to the place.
Back to the fractured mandible. Surgery consisted of prying the jaws open as much as possible, placing arch supports in the roof and the floor of the mouth and then wiring the mouth closed in position. They had to put the tracheostomy back in to facilitate the surgery and bec. he has several more plastic surgeries planned. However, at least this trach could be cuffed to allow Joe to talk. When Robb, Todd and I went in to see him in the Recovery Room, he looked frightening bec. his face and mouth were swollen, his mouth was wired shut and all bloody. The poor guy was completely disoriented and looked terrified. It was very unsettling for us. Trooper that he's been, by the next day he felt a little better.
That day, instead of going back to surgery to clean out the wound with the Staph. they asked Joe if he could take the pain if they did it at his bedside. He said if it meant he didn't have to go back to the O.R., he could take the pain. And that he did. It was quite amazing to watch bec. on the large thigh wound with the Staph infection, there is so little tissue of any kind left, that it is down to just bare muscle. They actually, carefully, moved the muscle to outside of the body to clean and remove any sponges that were place in there, and then replaced it. So far, so good.
I'm going to close for now. I have plenty more gory details where those have come from, but perhaps everyone needs a break. Will do my best to stay a little more current. It is so important to hear from everyone. Tomorrow, I will have some good news bec. I do want to tell about some more special visitors. Please keep up the good thoughts and prayers for Joe. We know they are helping. Love, Cindi