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