To start off, I would like to thank Jason, Omer and everyone at The Hills for making that awesome video card. I just finished viewing it and will show it to my dad as soon as he is ready. Right now they have just brought him back from X-Rays which always entails a lot of moving and shifting of his body. Unfortunately, this very often makes him nauseous. Right now that is a big problem because if he gets sick, they will have to cut the wires in his mouth. We definitely don't want that to happen for two reasons; number one, they already felt like that window of opportunity was almost closed to get the jaw wired shut, and now it's a few days later so it will surely be closed. Number two, my dad will be so pissed (excuse the language) if he has to go through this jaw-wiring procedure again. As it is he is not happy with the extra week they have tacked on to the length of time it has to remain wired. As he said, "I never agreed to that (extra week)". We are trying to convince him that the doctors do have his best interest at heart. You can't blame the poor guy, how miserable does that sound to have your mouth wired shut on top of everything else he is going through. He is still able to make the nurses and doctors laugh...everybody loves him, but you all know that already. Keep praying for him, he is getting stronger everyday (that feeding tube is helping to rebuild his strength).
Thanks,
Stacy
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
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
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
Big day for Joe!
Hi Everybody. My dad got to sit up in a chair today! It was exhausting and a process for everybody but well worth it. That is pretty big news from a guy who has been almost flat on his back for 34 days. He also gave himself a shave today. The phsyical therapist gave him some clay to manuever in his hands to help with the nerve damage in his arms/fingers. He said it feels good to use his hands. They are also pleased with the strength in his ankels and legs. Yesterday, my dad had a filter put in below his kidneys to catch any blood clots from going to his heart. He was in the o.r. for the procedure but had a local anesthetic and was awake during the process. The infectious disease control team thinks the antibiotics are doing the job they need to on the infection. Let's hope the week continues this way. By the way the plastic surgery team thinks it will be another 2 weeks or so before they do anymore grafting b/c they want to see if the integra they put on will allow more of my dads own skin to begin to grow.
That's it for now. I don't know about all of you but today feels like a really great day! Go Joe go!
Dana
That's it for now. I don't know about all of you but today feels like a really great day! Go Joe go!
Dana
Sunday, September 23, 2007
hanging in there
No major news to report on my dad. The weekends are usually quiet as far as visits from any doctors. Last week was pretty overwhelming so it was nice to give my dad (and my mom) a break and let my dad (and my mom) try to rest. He is hanging in there (so is she). The doctors will be back bright and early tomorrow morning. Let's all hope and pray that this coming week is full of good news for Joey, we all know he could use some. Thanks for continuing to keep my dad and our family in your thoughts and prayers, it means a great deal to our family.
Dana
Dana
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