Good News!

Good Friday Morning! I received some great news this morning from my brother Robb. They have removed the trach from dad - he can finally talk! You all know it's hard to keep dad quiet for 3 minutes let alone 3 weeks! You can imagine he has so much to say and we are all very happy to hear his voice again. He detailed to Robb how difficult and painful it has been to communicate with the trach in and he is so much more comfortable now that he can talk.

Dads next surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday to do some work on his left leg. Unfortunately, it has not set properly so they need to do some additional work, but we don't know exactly what at this point. There are a number of options and that will be left up to the doctor in charge of that leg - he has a doctor and team assigned to each body part.

And last, but certainly not least we need to send out more thank yous! This one is long over due! You have heard us mention dads guardian angels - Dennis and Paul, the life flight team - a few times throughout our blog. We haven't had a chance to thank the other guardian angels who were the first to get to dad and care for him in the field until Dennis and Paul arrived. We need to thank Tom Chambers and his son - mom and dads neighbors - who first responded to dads call for help. Tom recognized immediately that dads injuries were very severe and called for the life flight team to be summoned - it is that quick decision that brought Dennis and Paul to dads aid and possibly saved his life! We can never repay the Chambers family for their quick actions. We also need to say thank you to the Hillsdale rescue team who arrived quickly and made their way to dads side. Once again, they did an unbelievable job preparing dad for his helicopter ride - they were the first responders. If you ask them, they will probably say they were just doing their job. If you ask us they changed our lives forever - they saved our husband and dad and grandfather and brother and brother-in-law and uncle and cousin and nephew and father-in-law and friend! And for that we are forever grateful! Thank you and thank you for being dads guardian angels!

Scott

PS - Finding out more of the story as time goes on. Rick, part of the Hillsdale EMT Team, was the first on scene and immediately called for Life Flitght. Tom Chambers arrived shortly after Rick and was invaluable on the scene. Thanks to all!

Thanks for the generous offers!

Good evening, so many friends and loved ones have so kindly offered to send send mom and dad well wishes. The cards are greatly appreciated as mom has time on her hands to read them to dad. Dad can't receive gifts such as flowers. If you feel compelled to send something mom is staying at a home where families of sick Veterans can live long term to support their loved ones (dads brother Al is a Vietnam Vet - God Bless him!). This facility provides private rooms, a full kitchen and comfortable living quarters all for donations. Mom will be here for at least a few more weeks. We are certainly not soliciting donations - please do not get that impression! So many people have asked what they could send or do and this is a great solution which benefits a wonderful establishment that provides for veterans who have served our country and their families in need! If you would like to send something please send your donations to:

The Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher House
Attn: Cindi Ferraro - Room 1
113 Holland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208

Thank you all once again, we can't say it enough, for all your prayers and positive thoughts! I recieve at least 2-3 new calls each day from freinds who just heard of the accident and want to know how mom and dad are doing! Please feel free to continue to call or e-mail me anytime. I am happy to update you on dads progress.

Best wishes,

Scott - Joe's oldest

A good feeling.....

After visiting with my brother Joe today, I can honestly say I felt a bit of relief. I saw a definite improvement in him and couldn't be happier. I had a conversation with him although it was tough for him to mouth the words and for me to understand what he was trying to say. He looked so much better than he has over the past few weeks. I hope and pray everyday that God keeps making him better and better. I just wanted to say thanks to Cindi and the kids for keeping everything together for our family and keeping his spirits up. You guys have been great. I would also like to thank my friends for all of their support and thank everyone who has been praying for Joe. Everyone's thoughts and prayers have been helping. If there is one thing I know about Joe, its that he loves his family more than anything and he is determined to get well. Love and thanks to all of you. ~Al

Post-Plastic Surgery

Well, surgery was quick tonight and they did not do quite as much as we thought. They did go in and clean out the debris, which basically means cut away the dead tissue. They got all the way down to the bone on his shin but did not see the rod they put in last week and that is a good sign. They put something over the wound which is called Integra which promotes the growth of the midddle layer of skin (the derma) and the fatty layer beneath that. They will keep an eye on this and determine in a week to 10 days whether this will be enough tissue to skin graft over or if they will have to do a muscle graft after all. The doctors would like to avoid this if they can.

So, that went as well as we could have hoped. My mom and I had the opportunity to go in and see him in the recovery room and boy was he glad to see us! He was a little confused and asked us how he got involved in this. We all had a good laugh over that, including him. The recovery nurse told us that that he was awake in the Operating Room and had all of the anesthesiologists laughing. She told us she had been entertained the whole time as well.

Tonight, we breath another sigh of relief as my dad moves into the Trauma Unit instead of back to the Cardiac Care. They will certainly know how to care for a trauma patient in the Trauma Unit, don't ya' think?

Thanks as always for your kind words, prayers and well wishes. We can absolutely feel the strength that you have been sending all of us.
Love, Stacy and the gang

Tomorrow's Surgery

Tomorrow's surgery is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.. Which means he could go down to the OR anywhere from 7:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m., or not at all from our recent history with the OR. They are prepared to do a muscle graft as well as a skin graft. They may only do the skin depending on how things look once they get in there.
O.K., so the blog has been neglected in the last few days as they have been long and draining on everyone including the patient. They moved my dad from SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) to CCU (Cardiac Care Unit), not because he was ready to move but because they needed the bed up in intensive care. This is absolutely the last place he should be. He is not receiving the proper care here and he has become pretty worried about the way he has been treated. This is the first night in almost 3 weeks that he has asked my mom to stay here with him. He is usually fine with one or more of us kids being here. Tonight he told my mom not to leave him, that he was scared that they would treat him the way they did early this morning. He told us that a nurse came in early this morning and picked up his upper body like a rag doll. We were not in the room when this happened but a little while later a nurse came in to give him his meds and tried to sit him all the way up. HELLO!! ALL OF HIS RIBS ARE BROKEN!!
Needless to say that their specialty in this unit is not the kind of care my father needs. They do not know how to dress/clean his wounds, do pin care on the external supports he has on his leg, or set him up on the machine that moves his leg which he needs to go on/off every two hours. Enough about the CCU which will hopefully be left far behind at some point tonight. They are supposedly moving him to a trauma unit after they finish admitting a new patient. It is already 12:30 and he is still here although resting pretty comfortably. He has been eating a little bit each day and needs to continue to eat more so they do not have to give him another feeding tube.
Thank you everyone for your prayers, well wishes, care packages, and cards (we have started reading the cards to my dad and he loves hearing from all of you). Unfortunately, he is still not able to receive flowers...probably not for a long time. We just ask that you keeps him in your thoughts, the rest of the stuff is unnecessary.
With love, Stacy and the rest of The Ferraros
-please excuse the typos and as Todd keeps telling me the grammatical errors, as it
is late and there is nobody in the waiting room with me to check my work...skeleton
crew tonight.

Yankees Sweep Royals-3 game series

Dad, I just wanted to let you know that the Yanks are continuing their solid play. We watched some of these games together, but I am not sure if you will remember. A-Rod was smashing home runs left and right. This made you so happy. It was Ma and her three boys with you for the last few days. You made us laugh numerous times. It was an awesome visit!!! I will be back soon. Keep it real. Oh, yeah the Golia boys have heard the news of your accident and they are sending their best to you.


love R-boy