So sorry, again. We just realized that no one has blogged since Wednesday. It has been an exhausting couple of days and, unfortunately, at the end of each day, there was no energy left for blogging. So here goes. Thursday turned out to be a miserable day for Joe as he was in incredible pain that could not be controlled, no matter how much morphine, fentanyl and percoset they used. As everyone knows, it is very hard to watch a loved one in pain and be completely helpless to do anything. Everybody tried hard to give him some relief, but it just didn't happen that day. But let me add that we knew it was just a bump in the road for him and we know how incredibly well he is doing. We found out that some of the residents have nicknamed him "The Tank", bec. a tractor rolled over and dragged him and he was still able to make his own 9-1-1 call. It was just a rough day for him, and thus, for us. They hoped that day not to have to give him any more blood. I have kind of lost track, but I think he has received 20 units of blood, maybe a couple more that I might missed somewhere along the line, but the bleeding seems to have stopped. He still has plenty of drainage from the open wounds and into the drain from the surgical site, and into the wound vac. from the open area on the right tibia, but seems to be holding his own, so that is very positive.
So, that night, poor Megan came on - her first day back after a week off - with high hopes about how the night would go. When she came on, Joe was resting quietly - for about a nanno second. It was down hill from there. Joe managed to pull his feeding tube out and Megan didn't notice it immediately until she realized she was standing in a puddle. He was proudly holding the tube in his hand. Uh, oh. She replaced the ng tube and put the arm restraints on him. Somehow, he managed to get the ng tube out again, even with the restraints on. He is nothing if not determined. The rest of the night did not go any better. When we came back in to see him early in the morning, Megan looked haggard and the little angel was, once again, resting peacefully for a nanno second. Megan told us, "Don't be fooled. It has taken me 12 hours to get him to this point. We've had 12 hours of negotiations and I didn't win any of them". This from a man who is unable to speak. Megan said, "Thank goodness! Only 17 minutes until Derek (the day nurse) gets here". It was quite a night for everybody. And for someone who really needs some rest to heal, not resting is getting to be a little bit concerning.
So Derek's shift began the same way. Fortunately, this day they seemed to be able to get a grip on the pain, but unfortunately bec. of that, it began a whole day of insisting he wanted to get out of bed, trying to move himself, insisting he needed to take a shower and on and on. Even though his pain seemed to be under control, he was not comfortable all day with back pain and kept trying to shift himself and tried to pull himself around . Nobody could figure out how he was managing to skootch himself all around, but he did. After hours and hours of this, and hours and hours of pulling off tubes, bandages, his identification bracelet and blood pressure cuff, Derek finally told us that he was suffering from "ICU psychosis". Personally, I think I have that myself, but that's a different story. So, once again, a long, miserable day for everybody ... but he is still doing wonderfully and we have no complaints. Couple of little blips with his insulin and some other small problems that needed attending. I've been asked many times if he is diabetic and my reply is that he didn't have it when he came in here, so please take care of it.
So by the time that Megan got on at night, there was a plan for getting him to sleep finally. It took several hours and more drugs, but voila, finally rest and sleep. He did look like a new man this morning when we arrived.
So, the update on the injuries. The lungs are starting to heal and re-inflate. Both chest tubes have been removed. He is now on a trach collar, which just keeps humidified oxygen going through trach. He is completely off the ventilator. The contustion on the heart is healing nicely. Ditto for the liver. The hip has been repaired and the femur has a rod in it. The head of the Trauma unit was in and asked how the "Miracle Man" was doing. He said the ribs are starting to mend together, as are the vertebrae. Somehow, the surgical residents managed to slip in last night and remove the drain from the hip and femur and disappear into the wind again without me or the nurse spotting them. They are crafty and quick and I have had to literally ankle tackle them several times to get some answers. However, that looks good and they are pleased so far. The rod in the right tibia looks good and he is still 2 hours on and 2 hours off on the machine that is slightly bending his knee and extending his leg. His left leg still has the external fixators on it and the word right now is that they are O.K. with that for now, but may require further surgery down the road. It may also require some skin grafting, but the more time that goes on, he is starting to do some healing on his own. They will wait and see. The plastic surgery on the right leg will be scheduled for next Tuesday or Wednesday and they will decide at that time whether they will need to do some muscle grafting or just a skin graft. Everyone is pleased and amazed at his progress and we are (quietly) wild with hope, joy and optimism. We are still learning about how many people really never thought he would survive, but no one ever said that to us and we never believed it for a minute.
I know that I keep saying this, but we can't thank everyone enough for all their thoughts and prayers. They are so important to Joe's recovery, so if you can, please keep them coming his way. They are helping. If you could, please keep our new waiting room friends, families and patients - Dana Carr and our new friend, Todd, and his family, both critically injured in biking accidents. Love, Cindi
Just a P.S. We have heard that some people have had trouble with the blog. You do not have to have a Google account to post a blog. You can just sign on as "Anonymous". But it does not cost anything to open a Google account and you do not have to share any personal or confidential information.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
DAY 14 - WEDNESDAY
Well, we can't believe this. Day 14. Yesterday was a long and stressful, but positive, day. We had all been so anxious to get to this next phase of surgery. I did explain yesterday about the first part of the surgery. The second part went well also. It was about 2:00 a.m. before we got to just peek in on him. He was, of course, still sound asleep from surgery and heavily medicated and sedated, but looked wonderful without the traction.
This morning, the orthopedic surgeon saw him and was still pleased. There is a very large drain and suctioning machine from the surgical incision and they have replaced the wound vac. on the open area of the right tibia. They now have him on a machine called a Kinnetec. The right leg, while heavily padded and bandaged, is placed in this and it will continually extend the leg and bend the knee ever so slightly. As I understand it, this machine is used a lot with knee replacement surgeries to help with the mobility of the knee, which they are afraid of Joe losing with all the fractures and the muscle damage. I will be addressing the other knee tomorrow with the ortho guys, bec. that one is being kept completely immobile right now with the external fixators. Anyway, Joe is right now at the very lowest setting, 2 hours on and 2 hours off. The unfortunate part is that on the 2 hours that is off, they have to remove the entire machine bec. of the pressure on the skin (which is still a mess) and the pressure points. Then, of course, they have to put the machine back in the bed and set him up on it for the 2 hours on. This is quite a process, requiring 3 nurses and causes Joe considerable pain. But we are still very grateful for all of it.
Next up was Trauma, who were satisfied with progress and last up was Plastics. As Dana said, I literally practically grabbed onto their coat tails to not let them get away until I talked to them. The plastic surgery will probably take place early next week. There is a possibility that they will not have to move the muscle, even though the bone is still slightly exposed, but they are hoping with a little more time they may only have to do a skin graft.
There was more good news this morning bec. joe, who had spent all day yesterday asking for a Coke (of course, he couldn't have it), finally was allowed to have a Coke! He slurped it right down, as well as a pitcher of water. he has been so thirsty and was not allowed to have anything because at first he was intubated and he still now has the trach. But he is now allowed to start drinking (although Lia his nurse has warned that we need to be careful bec. he could throw up and with the trach it could go right into his lungs and cause a pneumonia). So they gave him a Pepsi, as this is a Pepsi, not a Coke, facility. Well, apparently that was O.K. for then, but now he is insisting on COKE, so Stacy is out scouring the city of Albany for a Coke. Yes, I think there is a 3 year old in the bed masquerading as Joe and if he could have a complete melt-down and stamp his feet, he would. They have also said they would like to try to get rid of the feeding tube as soon as they can, so they have started sending liquids and soft foods. So far today, he has a teeny weeny little bit of vanilla pudding and one bite of Jello. This is huge and we are thrilled.
The amount of morphine and drugs he is getting is making him a little loopy, so it is a constant balance of not knocking him out completely, while still keeping him comfortable. Communicating is a continual guessing game because the tracheostomy does not allow him to speak and we are not that talented at reading lips. He is also still very weak, so the whole process is exhausting for everybody. But we are completely thrilled with the progress and cannot believe ourselves how far he has come. We have had a couple of unsettling days and nights during which there have been Code Blues and some families have lost their loved ones. It is a stark reminder to all of us here again about how frail all of our loved ones are and how lucky we are when things are going well.
I know I say this all the time, but I cannot say enough times how much we appreciate all your thoughts and prayers and good wishes. Please keep them coming and keep Joe in your prayers. They are helping. Thank you, thank you!! Love, Cindi
This morning, the orthopedic surgeon saw him and was still pleased. There is a very large drain and suctioning machine from the surgical incision and they have replaced the wound vac. on the open area of the right tibia. They now have him on a machine called a Kinnetec. The right leg, while heavily padded and bandaged, is placed in this and it will continually extend the leg and bend the knee ever so slightly. As I understand it, this machine is used a lot with knee replacement surgeries to help with the mobility of the knee, which they are afraid of Joe losing with all the fractures and the muscle damage. I will be addressing the other knee tomorrow with the ortho guys, bec. that one is being kept completely immobile right now with the external fixators. Anyway, Joe is right now at the very lowest setting, 2 hours on and 2 hours off. The unfortunate part is that on the 2 hours that is off, they have to remove the entire machine bec. of the pressure on the skin (which is still a mess) and the pressure points. Then, of course, they have to put the machine back in the bed and set him up on it for the 2 hours on. This is quite a process, requiring 3 nurses and causes Joe considerable pain. But we are still very grateful for all of it.
Next up was Trauma, who were satisfied with progress and last up was Plastics. As Dana said, I literally practically grabbed onto their coat tails to not let them get away until I talked to them. The plastic surgery will probably take place early next week. There is a possibility that they will not have to move the muscle, even though the bone is still slightly exposed, but they are hoping with a little more time they may only have to do a skin graft.
There was more good news this morning bec. joe, who had spent all day yesterday asking for a Coke (of course, he couldn't have it), finally was allowed to have a Coke! He slurped it right down, as well as a pitcher of water. he has been so thirsty and was not allowed to have anything because at first he was intubated and he still now has the trach. But he is now allowed to start drinking (although Lia his nurse has warned that we need to be careful bec. he could throw up and with the trach it could go right into his lungs and cause a pneumonia). So they gave him a Pepsi, as this is a Pepsi, not a Coke, facility. Well, apparently that was O.K. for then, but now he is insisting on COKE, so Stacy is out scouring the city of Albany for a Coke. Yes, I think there is a 3 year old in the bed masquerading as Joe and if he could have a complete melt-down and stamp his feet, he would. They have also said they would like to try to get rid of the feeding tube as soon as they can, so they have started sending liquids and soft foods. So far today, he has a teeny weeny little bit of vanilla pudding and one bite of Jello. This is huge and we are thrilled.
The amount of morphine and drugs he is getting is making him a little loopy, so it is a constant balance of not knocking him out completely, while still keeping him comfortable. Communicating is a continual guessing game because the tracheostomy does not allow him to speak and we are not that talented at reading lips. He is also still very weak, so the whole process is exhausting for everybody. But we are completely thrilled with the progress and cannot believe ourselves how far he has come. We have had a couple of unsettling days and nights during which there have been Code Blues and some families have lost their loved ones. It is a stark reminder to all of us here again about how frail all of our loved ones are and how lucky we are when things are going well.
I know I say this all the time, but I cannot say enough times how much we appreciate all your thoughts and prayers and good wishes. Please keep them coming and keep Joe in your prayers. They are helping. Thank you, thank you!! Love, Cindi
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
MID-SURGERY, DAY 13
It is Tuesday evening about 10:30 and we are in the Surgical Waiting Room. One of the orthopedic surgeons just came out to us to give us an update. The news so far is favorable. Joe received 2 units of blood this a.m. to prepare for surgery, since they knew he would lose a lot of blood. He had 2 more units just when he went into surgery and several more units so far. They discovered at surgery that there were more fractures than they could see on the X-Rays, so the process of putting everything together became even more complicated. But they were able to wire all of those pieces together and then wire it all together with the hip. Basically, the whole right side is wired together. They drained about a liter of blood that had pooled in the thigh (making it look huge and swollen), debrided the muscle (which, according to the doctor, looked like shredded wheat. We don't know exactly what this will mean long-term, but it will be a long time before Joe is standing on his own two feet.) and cleaned it all and then placed a rod down the femur. The doctor was very pleased and felt that it all came together nicely. As he said, it was a very unusual fracture that required a very large incision. They decided that the fracture in the pelvis could just be left alone since he will just be lying still for so long. So far, so good. The incision has been closed, which the surgeon was not sure about. He considered leaving the incision open and just putting a wound vac. on it. The reason for leaving it open is that there is actually less chance for contamination. However, he did make the decision to close it and put a drain in the wound. If there should be the slightest question about any infection, he will immediately open the incision at bedside. So that will need to be watched very carefully. He, of course, is being pumped full of antibiotics.
The next team has taken over and is working to place a rod in the right tibia. That will be the completion of the surgery for tonight. We are anxious that it be over. Happy that he will not need to be in traction anymore, as that has made him miserably uncomfortable in the last couple of days.
It was a long day of waiting for surgery. We were all anxious and nervous. Joe could hardly wait for the surgery and asked all day long about it - when was he going, what time was it and he wanted it fixed right then and there. The whole, very long, recovery process will try Joe's patience.
The day was definitely not without its high notes. We were lucky enough to have Paul Toscino visit us again. You may remember he is one of Joe's guardian angels who flies with helicopter wings. He and his partner, Dennis, are pictured right at the top of the blog and are a big part of why we are even able to have this blog. We will never be able to thank them properly for what they did for us. It is hard to even find words to try to explain your gratitude for a gift of such enormity.
Please continue to keep Joe in your thoughts and prayers. We are heartened by all of the messages we have received and by the number of people pulling for him. It is still going to be a very long road. Signing off for tonight. Love, Cindi
The next team has taken over and is working to place a rod in the right tibia. That will be the completion of the surgery for tonight. We are anxious that it be over. Happy that he will not need to be in traction anymore, as that has made him miserably uncomfortable in the last couple of days.
It was a long day of waiting for surgery. We were all anxious and nervous. Joe could hardly wait for the surgery and asked all day long about it - when was he going, what time was it and he wanted it fixed right then and there. The whole, very long, recovery process will try Joe's patience.
The day was definitely not without its high notes. We were lucky enough to have Paul Toscino visit us again. You may remember he is one of Joe's guardian angels who flies with helicopter wings. He and his partner, Dennis, are pictured right at the top of the blog and are a big part of why we are even able to have this blog. We will never be able to thank them properly for what they did for us. It is hard to even find words to try to explain your gratitude for a gift of such enormity.
Please continue to keep Joe in your thoughts and prayers. We are heartened by all of the messages we have received and by the number of people pulling for him. It is still going to be a very long road. Signing off for tonight. Love, Cindi
Monday, September 3, 2007
DAY 12, LABOR DAY
Apologies, everyone. It has been several days since anyone has blogged. It's amazing how quickly time slips by doing nothing but sitting, watching, waiting and praying. And how one day blends into another without any sense of time. So it is as much for my own benefit as for yours that i noted that today is Labor Day. We are slowly learning from everyone who saw joe when he came in and the day after that they did not expect to see him still here. That is why when people ask me how he is doing, my reply is always "he is still here" and that is a starting point that gives the doctors and nurses something to work with. Every day we can say that, we are grateful and a miracle in itself.
Now for Joe's progress and some updates. Several days ago, it took me several tries and dogging every team that is caring for him before I got someone to be responsible for his right big toe. You may remember back on day 2 or 3 when he had his first sugery, the orthopedic surgeon said the right big toe was broken, but he'd just slapped a bandage on it and wasn't going to worry about it. That's an exact medical quote from the surgeon. So a few days after that, his nurse and I decided that someone should start worrying about the toe since the dressing had not been changed in a few days. So we both started asking everyone and what I have discovered is that Trauma doesn't talk to Plastics and Plastics doesn't talk to Ortho and ortho doesn't talk to anybody. However, we finally got one orthopedic resident to attend to the big toe. It is pretty beat up and open with the nail about to fall off, so it would be prime to develop an infection. It was a huge victory to have someone adopt responsibility for the "Digit", bec. we were not going to have hime go through all of this and then develop an infection in the big toe. That would be pretty silly. So we can all rest easy as the big toe is being cared for.
On Friday, they capped both chest tubes to see how he could manage on his own as far as managing the fluid build up, including the bleeding because of the punctured and collapsed lungs. At first they thought it was going O.K., but soon discovered that he still needed the chest tubes. We were told that they might cap them but would not remove them until they were sure he wouldn't need them again. So we waited patiently and this morning they actually removed the chest tube on the left side, so it's a great day! He still has the one on the right side as it is apparent that the right side of the body sustained the worst of the injuries.
Several days ago they let him come up out of sedation a little bit, but found that he was way too agitated, trying to ask questions and communicate. He, of course, cannot speak because of the trach tube and is way too weak to even mouth words, so after about a day of that they put him way back under sedation to give him a chance to rest. However, on Friday a.m. the head of one of the trauma teams checked his neck and determined that the neck brace could be removed. That made a huge difference in the way he looked and in his comfort level, as it did when they did the tracheostomy. So, last night they took him off the sedation again and by this morning he is full of questions. Up until now, every time he opened his eyes he did not know where he was and we would tell him he was in the hospital and had had an accident, but today he wanted to know how long he had been here and wanted to know what his injuries were. His nurse today, Lia, had given him a suction tube to try to suction his own mouth if he could, but he decided to use it as a pointer. He would weakly try to point to an area and want to know what injury had been sustained. I gave him a brief and simplified version. He managed to communicate that he wanted to know if he had all his toes by trying to point to them and then holding up 5 fingers. So after we'd assured him that he had all his digits, he wanted to know if his back was broken and while he does have some cracks in some of the vertebrae, i told him no, it wasn't broken and he was going to be O.K. While he was trying to get the run-down on the injuries, we were having a hard time trying to understand and so he told us all to Pay Attention. He is still Joe and even a farm tractor could not crush that silly, quirky sense of humor.
All right, so basic update on his situation. Joe is still in very critical condition and will be for a long time, but we, and the doctors and nurses, are encouraged by his progress. His ventilator support is down a bit, so he is doing a little breathing on his own, but he will be hooked up to the respirator for a very long while. And bec. all of the ribs on the right side have multiple fractures and the ribs on the left side are all broken as well, he will have a long healing process as there is nothing to be done for those. it is excruciatingly painful, as anyone who has had a broken rib knows. So compound that by many fractures and we can only guess how much pain Joe will be enduring and everytime the respirator takes a breath for him, it moves the ribs just enough that it will take even longer for them to heal. Unfortunately, the same goes for the vertebrae that are cracked. Very painful and nothing to do but wait for healing. However, the punctured and collapsed lungs have begun to heal, although they will also take a long time. The contusion to the heart seems to be improving and the laceration to the liver seems to be healing. There was fear earlier on that they might have to remove part of the liver and the gallbladder, but so far, things seem to be progressing positively there. Joe has external fixators on both lower legs, as he had very bad compound fractures of both legs below the knee. The left lower leg may need some skin grafting, although they have tried to close it as best they could for now. The right hip is broken and may need to be replaced, or if they can gather enough bone fragments of the hip and pelvis, they will try to wire it all together. The right femur is crushed and will need a rod inserted into it. They tried to do this surgery last week, but the skin and deep tissue on that side of the body from being dragged was nothing but massive, black hematoma and open and weeping and bleeding blisters. They had hoped they might be able to make an incision, but once in the O.R., realized that the chance for massive infection was too great and the chance for any healing too small, so they had to abort that surgery. So, we have waited another week for some healing to take place and for him to become more stable and he is an add-on for tomorrow's orthopedic surgical schedule. They will try to accomplish the hip and pelvis and if they are able and he is still tolerating surgery, they will try to put the rod in the femur. If he is still tolerating the surgery, they will also place a rod in the right tibia. He will also need plastic surgery. The muscle has been pulled off a section of the right tibia and there is, of course, no skin there either, so they will try to move his calf muscle over to cover the bone and then graft some skin over it. There is also another small section where there is a hole that they will need to do a skin graft and and a section on the left tibia that will probably require a skin graft. The plastic surgery will most likely be done later in the week. So my children were wondering with all that surgery if they could take care of their Dad's bunions while they're at it and I've been wondering if they couldn't do something about that snoring!!
So, I know this has gotten a little bit wordy, but i had a lot of catching up to do. I can't tell you what it means to all of us to know how many people are pulling for Joe. It helps all of us to know that so many people are praying for him. As our friends, the Wilkes, blogged - they have the Jews, the Baptists, the Methodists and the Roman Catholics praying for him and my sister added the Mormons and her Buddhist chanting group as well. We like to cover all the bases and you can never have too many prayers. We can never thank everybody enough. It is all so important for Joe's recovery. I will apologize now to people who have been calling. Most of my time is spent in Joe's room, where cell phones have to be turned off. When I do come out, i spend time updating family who are not here (my children have worked out a schedule so that there is always another family member here with me) and then back in Joe's room again. But we do appreciate beyond words everyone thoughts, prayers and good wishes. We have had many requests for the address of the hospital. While Joe is in the Intensive Care Unit, he cannot have anything delivered to his room, but the unit secretary will deliver cards to me. Unfortunately, Joe is not able yet to read or enjoy them, but for those who would like the address, here goes:
Mr. Joe Ferraro
ALBANY MEDICAL CENTER
43 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York 12208-3478
SICU - Rm 326
Again, we cannot thank everyone enough and please keep Joe in your thoughts and prayers.
We will try to do better at keeping up to date on the blog. Love, Cindi
Now for Joe's progress and some updates. Several days ago, it took me several tries and dogging every team that is caring for him before I got someone to be responsible for his right big toe. You may remember back on day 2 or 3 when he had his first sugery, the orthopedic surgeon said the right big toe was broken, but he'd just slapped a bandage on it and wasn't going to worry about it. That's an exact medical quote from the surgeon. So a few days after that, his nurse and I decided that someone should start worrying about the toe since the dressing had not been changed in a few days. So we both started asking everyone and what I have discovered is that Trauma doesn't talk to Plastics and Plastics doesn't talk to Ortho and ortho doesn't talk to anybody. However, we finally got one orthopedic resident to attend to the big toe. It is pretty beat up and open with the nail about to fall off, so it would be prime to develop an infection. It was a huge victory to have someone adopt responsibility for the "Digit", bec. we were not going to have hime go through all of this and then develop an infection in the big toe. That would be pretty silly. So we can all rest easy as the big toe is being cared for.
On Friday, they capped both chest tubes to see how he could manage on his own as far as managing the fluid build up, including the bleeding because of the punctured and collapsed lungs. At first they thought it was going O.K., but soon discovered that he still needed the chest tubes. We were told that they might cap them but would not remove them until they were sure he wouldn't need them again. So we waited patiently and this morning they actually removed the chest tube on the left side, so it's a great day! He still has the one on the right side as it is apparent that the right side of the body sustained the worst of the injuries.
Several days ago they let him come up out of sedation a little bit, but found that he was way too agitated, trying to ask questions and communicate. He, of course, cannot speak because of the trach tube and is way too weak to even mouth words, so after about a day of that they put him way back under sedation to give him a chance to rest. However, on Friday a.m. the head of one of the trauma teams checked his neck and determined that the neck brace could be removed. That made a huge difference in the way he looked and in his comfort level, as it did when they did the tracheostomy. So, last night they took him off the sedation again and by this morning he is full of questions. Up until now, every time he opened his eyes he did not know where he was and we would tell him he was in the hospital and had had an accident, but today he wanted to know how long he had been here and wanted to know what his injuries were. His nurse today, Lia, had given him a suction tube to try to suction his own mouth if he could, but he decided to use it as a pointer. He would weakly try to point to an area and want to know what injury had been sustained. I gave him a brief and simplified version. He managed to communicate that he wanted to know if he had all his toes by trying to point to them and then holding up 5 fingers. So after we'd assured him that he had all his digits, he wanted to know if his back was broken and while he does have some cracks in some of the vertebrae, i told him no, it wasn't broken and he was going to be O.K. While he was trying to get the run-down on the injuries, we were having a hard time trying to understand and so he told us all to Pay Attention. He is still Joe and even a farm tractor could not crush that silly, quirky sense of humor.
All right, so basic update on his situation. Joe is still in very critical condition and will be for a long time, but we, and the doctors and nurses, are encouraged by his progress. His ventilator support is down a bit, so he is doing a little breathing on his own, but he will be hooked up to the respirator for a very long while. And bec. all of the ribs on the right side have multiple fractures and the ribs on the left side are all broken as well, he will have a long healing process as there is nothing to be done for those. it is excruciatingly painful, as anyone who has had a broken rib knows. So compound that by many fractures and we can only guess how much pain Joe will be enduring and everytime the respirator takes a breath for him, it moves the ribs just enough that it will take even longer for them to heal. Unfortunately, the same goes for the vertebrae that are cracked. Very painful and nothing to do but wait for healing. However, the punctured and collapsed lungs have begun to heal, although they will also take a long time. The contusion to the heart seems to be improving and the laceration to the liver seems to be healing. There was fear earlier on that they might have to remove part of the liver and the gallbladder, but so far, things seem to be progressing positively there. Joe has external fixators on both lower legs, as he had very bad compound fractures of both legs below the knee. The left lower leg may need some skin grafting, although they have tried to close it as best they could for now. The right hip is broken and may need to be replaced, or if they can gather enough bone fragments of the hip and pelvis, they will try to wire it all together. The right femur is crushed and will need a rod inserted into it. They tried to do this surgery last week, but the skin and deep tissue on that side of the body from being dragged was nothing but massive, black hematoma and open and weeping and bleeding blisters. They had hoped they might be able to make an incision, but once in the O.R., realized that the chance for massive infection was too great and the chance for any healing too small, so they had to abort that surgery. So, we have waited another week for some healing to take place and for him to become more stable and he is an add-on for tomorrow's orthopedic surgical schedule. They will try to accomplish the hip and pelvis and if they are able and he is still tolerating surgery, they will try to put the rod in the femur. If he is still tolerating the surgery, they will also place a rod in the right tibia. He will also need plastic surgery. The muscle has been pulled off a section of the right tibia and there is, of course, no skin there either, so they will try to move his calf muscle over to cover the bone and then graft some skin over it. There is also another small section where there is a hole that they will need to do a skin graft and and a section on the left tibia that will probably require a skin graft. The plastic surgery will most likely be done later in the week. So my children were wondering with all that surgery if they could take care of their Dad's bunions while they're at it and I've been wondering if they couldn't do something about that snoring!!
So, I know this has gotten a little bit wordy, but i had a lot of catching up to do. I can't tell you what it means to all of us to know how many people are pulling for Joe. It helps all of us to know that so many people are praying for him. As our friends, the Wilkes, blogged - they have the Jews, the Baptists, the Methodists and the Roman Catholics praying for him and my sister added the Mormons and her Buddhist chanting group as well. We like to cover all the bases and you can never have too many prayers. We can never thank everybody enough. It is all so important for Joe's recovery. I will apologize now to people who have been calling. Most of my time is spent in Joe's room, where cell phones have to be turned off. When I do come out, i spend time updating family who are not here (my children have worked out a schedule so that there is always another family member here with me) and then back in Joe's room again. But we do appreciate beyond words everyone thoughts, prayers and good wishes. We have had many requests for the address of the hospital. While Joe is in the Intensive Care Unit, he cannot have anything delivered to his room, but the unit secretary will deliver cards to me. Unfortunately, Joe is not able yet to read or enjoy them, but for those who would like the address, here goes:
Mr. Joe Ferraro
ALBANY MEDICAL CENTER
43 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York 12208-3478
SICU - Rm 326
Again, we cannot thank everyone enough and please keep Joe in your thoughts and prayers.
We will try to do better at keeping up to date on the blog. Love, Cindi
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