Saturday, October 5, 2013

Two Late Night SurPRIZE Visitors for MC


Hello everyone - here is a continuation of last night.  After my post last night Mike had a few visitors.
First I'd like to make mention that Kelsey, Mike's long time neighbor came to see him.  Also my son Brandon came by with Bill Sanger who donated time and talent to paint a motorcycle with the proceeds going to Mike. 

Kelsey has been living across the street from Mike in the same cul-de-sac since the day she was born more than 19 years ago.  It was an overwhelming reunion for both of them. 

Here's Kelsey sharing a BIG smile with MC.  He was so happy to see her.  
Just like a visit with one of his daughters. 

Here is the Bill Sanger Donation for Mike and a first time meet up. 
My son Brandon came in the room first. He is always excited to see Mike. 

Here is Bill Sanger the Bike Painter and donor of his proceeds meeting Mike. 
Mike was very moved by these riders who came in to meet with him, hear his story and share their hearts with him. 

(I had to include this)  Before Mike could visit with the guests in the room, his nurse Chris came in to take his vitals.  I have to say - I understand the timing on this because it's every few hours, but.... This guy must have asked Mike every question in the book.  Like what's your pain level?  Not just the general pain level but he went through every part of his body wanting to know a pain level number on every bone or organ. Than he had to wiggle toes and I thought for sure he was trying to find reasons to "show off" his medical talents?  Is that possible?  It became a little funny yet a little obnoxious too.  :-)

Here's the group watching and listening to Nurse Chris teach and control the entire conversation of the room for WAY too long.  Oh My.  I don't think we actually learned anything but Chris did.  haha

So here's the crew next to Mike. 
Brandon my son. Bill the bike painter and donator of time and talent. Amber, Bill's lovely wife. 
(They have 5 kids)  And Derek the wonderful young gentleman who purchased the paint job.  

Here is Derek presenting Mike with the donation money.  

I followed the riders out to their bikes in the parking garage.  It was a cold night and I had a hard time thinking they were going to be warm enough.  Here they are getting geared up and ready to depart.  The 4 of them met and rode in together, however they all departed in different directions.  
(Except Bill and Amber - duh) 


Be safe everyone! 
Thanks for caring so much! 
S


The BIG PS is: 
Mike has a new room!!  Yeah - it's a BIG room with a beautiful view and it's so therapeutic
He loves it and he has been sitting in his chair almost all day.  So happy about that. 

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Friday, October 4, 2013

Mike is getting around better and seems to be getting stronger.

Good evening all you MC supporters !  

be sure to scroll all the way down to the PS - MC really needs some company now that he is between surgeries and feeling better and he's a little mobil.  


My day started with a quick trip to see my Daddy, Pat, Tasha and Lindsay in Marcola very early this morning.  The early bird may get the worm, but I get the photo.  Such beautiful countryside here in the Willamette Valley - near Eugene, OR. 

Mike's day started out like most of the others with food and his bathroom rituals.  When I arrived his OT, Leslie was helping him learn to gain a little strength and independence by getting himself into his wheelchair on his own.  Mike uses elastics from his strength routine to lift his leg out of bed ( his thigh is not strong enough) and to tie his leg onto a support board that was rigged up for his frame to rest on. 

The leg is all strapped onto the board and MC is ready to back out and go for a spin. This is a good workout for his right leg & upper body. It was nice to see how far he was able to go. 

Nurse Tiffany is helping Mike now get out of his wheelchair.  Really she is just supervising as he does it all himself.  We decided ( I decided) that we should get a weight on Mike so that we can tell if he continues to lose or if he can maintain his weight.  With a low appetite and a shrunken stomach as well as a less than desirable menu options, we have some challenges in the calorie / protein count department.  But we are working on it. :-)

It's hard to know just how much that heavy foot weighs and although MC has lost quite a bit, he is holding his own and once he is mobil - look out world.  

I have to laugh because right now - 6:30 in the evening and Mike is sound asleep next to me and I'm watching golf.  REALLY?  Not watching but it's on in the background.   He looks pretty peaceful and the staff has actually been out of here for about 2 hours.  It's been nice and quiet and it gave me a chance to work and do the update.  I hope your evening is feeling peaceful as well.  

SB and MC out from room 3521

PS - MIKE IS UP FOR VISITORS - 
afternoon and evenings are best! 

Text or Call  him 503-778-0190
The Doctors concur & said to come visit MC!
(they look kind of bored waiting for that next surgery on the 14th. )



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Thursday, October 3, 2013

The Healing Continues...

Good evening everyone!   

Today I took the morning to go to an eye appointment and then collect my Mom who had not yet had a chance to get up to see Mike.  When we arrived we rode the elevator up with a gentleman who had a Harley t-shirt on.  I'd say he was about 60.  I asked him if he rides? He said "yes".  We got off on the same floor, Trauma Recovery.  Then I asked if he was going visit someone who had been in a bike accident?  The answer again was "yes".  Two 19 yr olds were on the bike.  I asked if anyone died.  Once again the answer was "yes".  My heart went out to him and to the survivor who didn't yet know  that the girl riding on the back of his bike had been fatally wounded.   

I mention that story because - It touched me.  It made me think about that family all day. I can't relate to that man losing someone.  I can relate to the long recovery that may be ahead for the driver and the caregivers.  I felt a little strength come through...  I thought "it's happening"  

Later in the day I received an email from a long time client and someone I would call "friend".  Unbeknownst to me, she has been reading Mike's Blog all along.  She lives many, many states away.   Very recently she had a family member who has been through a tragic bike accident too.  He was not expected to live and is not out of the woods yet.  She now has some strength in believing that he CAN and WILL recover since she has been reading MC's blog.  There is some hope there for her.  Perhaps some hope that she can share with her family.  That made me feel good.  I write this blog to keep everyone updated.  I really do not know the impact the blog has or doesn't have on any given person.  I hope you find inner strength, compassion and gratitude for all that is around you!  

"If you ride - always ride as if no one sees you, don't speed, don't drink, respect the road and its rules and always wear your ALL of your gear. Dress for the crash NOT the ride.   If you don't ride - give riders lots of space. Bikers can stop much faster than you. Riders are very vulnerable.  Riders ride because they have the right, because they would rather be IN the movie than just watch it.  There is a thrill from the throttle and the lean and the smells in the air...  ALSO: Always have the best and the most insurance coverage you can afford.  Check with your agent, know your limits, understand what they mean and increase them if it makes sense.  It can be the difference in your future! "  SB

Here is a little bit of MC's day.  When my Mom, Nancy and I arrived Mike was in the restroom with OT.  Doing all that private bathroom stuff.  So we went for a walk.  When we got back Mike was in his recliner chair.  I took a small chair by the bed and My mom sat comfortably in his wheelchair.  It's a small room, but when there is a will there is always a way.  Mom and Mike had a good chance to catch up.  I think the trip to the bathroom and being in his chair really tired him out... so we left and he got back into bed for a much needed rest. 

When MC got into his chair they needed to take the gauze off his leg.  It was added for his bathroom trip since the bleeding started up a little on his thigh.  Nurse Stephanie got him all comfy. As much as he could be.  His comfy position usually lasts 10-15 minutes and he needs a shift again. 

Mike's bandage says "do not change dressing"  That lower leg will stay wrapped for about 5 more days before Dr. Frome will take a look at how the skin is doing.  Mike's leg looks pretty bad in this photo.  It's a bit dark and yes the blood is drying and it is dark red but not as scary as this picture looks.  Ewwww  ;-)


      "Freedom and independence comes in small steps"  
MC

Mike had a "good" day on his path to recovery and once again he appreciates all the comments.  He is emailed as soon as anyone leaves a comment below. (both of us get an email)  Thanks for taking the time to reach out to Mike - he loves what you have to say. 

Heart Hugs SB and MC


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This Too Shall Pass

Good morning MC Supporters,

Mike had a BIG DAY yesterday.  Just how do you have a BIG DAY when you are laying in bed 23.5/7?  Well as you know those pesky Nurses wake you at all hours of the night to make sure you are still comfortable and breathing...  Those vitals have to be recorded so Mike understands why they are there at 3am but geez, it's always when he is finally getting some good sleep.  :-)

Doctors, Nurses and the Trauma Team as well as the PT and OT's are coming and going all day long.  As well as housekeeping and nutrition.  It's a non-stop and some days feel as though there is a revolving door at the end of the room.

Dr. Hodges said the Frame is doing very well - they are pleased with how things are looking.  
Dr. Frome and Just Craig are pleased as well with how things are looking and feeling.  Because "Mike's Skin" is on his foot now, there will be no dressing change until next Monday.  It's important to let that new skin establish itself well before being disturbed.  We did hear that it's a bit of a patch-work quilt job on his flap because the Doctors had to work around his frame.  This proposes a challenge and the Frome Team did the best they could. 

Trauma Doc determined, based on a collection of notes from everyone taking care of MC, that Mike shall remain in the hospital till his scheduled surgery on the 14th.  This is his surgery with Dr. Gelhman to put the wires through his heel.  This is great news and this time will give MC what he needs to work hard with his PT & OT and get strength back. 

WARNING 


Below are photos from the Skin Graft area - you may not want to see them so scroll down slowly or exit now. 


Just in case this is your exit point - I would like to thank you for continued support on Mike's journey. 

Heart Hugs from the two of us.  SB & MC out...

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Second Warning


 
This is Jillian getting ready to open Mike's graft site up to the open air so the healing and scabbing can begin. 

Seriously now - this is graphic and you may want to be SURE you want to see this...  Don't say you were not warned.   Some of you will want to see and others won't and this is why I am including these photos.  
























One More Warning Folks












Jillian is carefully removing the outer bandages.  Everything looks good and normal. 
This is a view of the thigh area from Mike's perspective. He admittedly was taken aback when he first saw this. 


More bandages coming off.   If you were wondering - YES he is in quite a bit of pain. 
 Side view 

The white bandage is now removed completly and the xeroform is the only covering remaining.  His leg will stay like this, open to the air for the next several weeks as it scabs up and the xeroform drys up with the scab.  

A bit blurry but here is MC at the end of the day.  He is laying with his leg exposed and a room fan aimed at the site to encourage the drying.  The bleeding has stopped however the wound site is still oozing and gooey looking.   
Believe it or not - this looks good and it looks exactly like it is suppose to.  This gives you an idea as to how much of Mike's back was put on his foot / ankle / leg.  Dr. Frome told me that took "A LOT" of skin when I asked her how much.  

Whew - you made it - Remember MC will be here for a couple more weeks and besides his busy daytime schedule with all the Health Professionals, he would love to have you come by for a visit.  Personally I am now spending a little less time at the hospital and focusing more on "Sherry and my job".  After all "Life must have a balance in order to be thriving".  In order to be there for MC, I need to be there for SB. 

Love and hugs Sherry 

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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Day 63 - 9 weeks post accident

Good evening all,  

Mike and I did not see a lot of each other today so I don't have a lot to report.  I caught up with him in the afternoon.  When I arrived he was receiving some much needed PT.  They were working him pretty hard and he was loving it.  His left foot weighs quite a bit so it's a real feat to get that leg up in the air, but he does it pretty well. 

The Grafted site will be uncovered and redressed 48 hours after surgery / Wednesday sometime.  It will be interesting to see just how much of his leg lost skin.  He said the pain is not hurting him as much as he expected.  Who knows what it will be feeling like as the days go on.  I don't like to speak for him, but that's my take on it based on what he says.  

MC had a lot of drugs this morning for the pain, but weaned himself off a little later in the day.  The drugs mess with his appetite and that's not a good thing.  Mike needs the food and the protein for his health.  It's such a balancing act trying to get his body healthy. 

Our focus now is to build strength and get moving.  We are not sure how long Mike will be in the Hospital or if he will go home or to an assisted facility first.  Time will tell.  :-)

SB & MC out for the evening...

Monday, September 30, 2013

The Skin Grafting is complete and MC is back in his room

Good Monday Friends and Family -  

MC is out of surgery and resting well.  Drugs are his new BF. 

Here is how today's journey went from Sherry's perspective. :-)  It's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I started the day 12 hours ago at 5am - beat the traffic and greeted MC bright (actually still dark out) and early.  He looked ready to go and it turned into a hurry up and wait situation again.  Oh well...  what can you do about it.  Complain?  LOL    We tend to roll with the punches and remain filled with gratitude for all of those that have their hands on MC.   Read on:

MC is off and rolling.  the 7am surgery turned into 8:45 which turned into 10am. Rosa is our Transport Tech again - did I say again?  Yes this is surgery number 11 - 6 here at Legacy in Sept. 

"Just Craig" and Dr. Frome are giving MC the final details about what will be happening today.   Then Nurses and the Anesthesiologist ask him to tell them what the Doctors are going to do. They all seem to come in one at a time. We're not sure if it's a memory test or they are confirming they have the right patient.  It's fun to hear MC repeat all the steps back to them.  It's as if he is giving them instructions and making sure they know what they are suppose to be doing. 

While waiting in the Surgery waiting area my son Brandon, Granddaughter Harper and BFF Cindi came in to visit.  I don't see any of them often enough.  This was Cindi's first time to meet Harper and she will be 11 months tomorrow.  Long overdue visit.  She really enjoyed seeing Brandon as a Dad.  She has known him since he was 5.  Oh the circle of life and this helped Sherry's time in the waiting room pass a little faster.   Thanks Team!!
Post  surgery, MC is on his way UP to his room and Cindi and I managed to squeeeeeze into the elevator.  Cindi really enjoyed being able to see Mike.  It was a great surprise to her -she didn't expect to be able to see him.  I can't really even being to express the heart this gal has - I'm blessed to have support from a person like her.  

Mike's new profile - the walking plate got added to his foot plate / frame as you can see.  This will allow mike be able to place his foot on the ground and even bare just a little weight. (50 lbs) .  When transferring from bed to chair or chair / walker to potty - this will make life a lot easier for everyone!  ME!!!   :-)   (and Mike)


Mike is resting pretty well however the pain he is dealing with right now is pretty intense.  Loves the ice chips and drugs during that first hour back to the room.  Been here done that.  Since typing the rest of this Blog - he ate peanut butter and graham crackers.  YUM! 

The little white foam pads have been removed from Mike's pin sites so you can now see them.  Hard to believe there is no pain at these sites.  More wires like this will be placed in his heel bone in approximately 2 weeks from today.  Surgery #12.  

The Skin Graft was taken from Mike's left leg / upper thigh. He figured he'd keep all the scars on the same leg.  Frome said she took a very large area of skin.  There was not too much bleeding.  The leg and foot will stay wrapped till she see him next Monday.  His leg will have a bandage change but the xeroform will remain on the leg for about 4 weeks.  As his leg begins to scab the xeroform will curl and dry up on the edges.  Those edges will be cut.  eventually Mike will lose the xeroform gauze covering and he will be left with a scab and a scar that will go through a series of color changes before it completes it course.  The hair should grow back, but won't be present on the bottom of his foot.  :-)  whew...


Overall:  Mike is doing well - the thigh stings pretty bad, but that's to be expected.  The foot had new skin stapled to it so imagine it will be hurting quite a bit from time to time as well. 

Week by week, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second - we feel your support and really appreciate it. 

Love and Hugs from SB & MC in room 3521




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Sunday, September 29, 2013

The GONZO Family showed up in full force!

Great time with the Gonzales Family

Eric, Jade, Baby Zara, Yolonda, Joe and Nicolette.  
Such a lovely family and it was so nice to have this visit with them. 


Baby Zara is 5 months old now

 
 Mike gets a little time with a wee one.  he loved it until...
  Zara had other ideas after looking at MC for a bit. 
 Mike got another surprise when he got to SKYPE with Alex - The youngest Gonzo who is away at College.  
Guess what?  MC is chatting it up about what's going on.   He just loves a captive audience.  LOL  

Once again, it was very nice to have them all over.  

MC - & sherry out - this is my last update for the day.  4th and final - I promise! 

What Mike can expect from his surgery on Monday the 30th

Good evening all.  Tomorrow is Mike's "next" big day.  Surgery is bright and early at 7am.  This procedure will involve a skin graft using a Dermatome and then a skin Mesher.  You can watch how this is done at You Tube Skin Graft Procedure .  This YouTube video is correct with the exception of Mike's flap will not be having a wound VAC put in place.   I found the video very interesting and it help me to totally understand how this is done.  The other difference is that they will be taking a lot of skin from MC. (2 previous skin applications have been from donors)   Mike has elected to use the left leg for the harvesting because it's already bunged up.   He's decided to keep at least one leg looking hot as ever! 

Dr Frome will also be preforming a Debulking of certain areas of the Free Flap.  Some obvious places need to be debulked.  Other places look as though they need to be debulked, however they will not be at this time.  Some atrophy will take place and Dr. Frome will need to see how things settle in the future before doing further debulking.  
Not the sort of photo you might want to see, but this will be the tool taking the skin up from MC's thigh. 



While Mike is under, Thing #1 and Thing #2 will be removed as well as all the staples that held his back together over the past 17 days.  

Mikey is doing pretty well today.  Got into the bathroom a couple of times and managed to get around with less assisted help from the pit crew.  It still took a crew, but a little more effort on his part was very noticeable.  Great job MC!   Tonight Mike trimmed up his thigh in prep for his procedure.  He trimmed all around the edges so that when the doc put plastic on to hold the bandages, it would not pull on his hair at removal time.  After almost 9 weeks of this hair pulling - MC won't have any more of it!!!  Seriously this gets him grouchy!  So trim the hair and he stays sweet and happy.  :-)

Today Mike's Dad, Sister Judy and I all showed up at the same time.  It was a nice visit and they were off to the races about 30 minutes later. 

Tonight Serge came over to visit again (was here a couple of days ago) He brought Mike a Bible and a whole lot of photos from days gone by.  They reminisced and really enjoyed each other. 

 Joe and Yolonda Gonzales will be here shortly. Mike has been looking forward to their visit for quite some time.    I think the visitors today helped keep Mike busy.  The day before surgery it's always good to stay occupied so you don't focus on what's coming.  He's ready! 

Hope everyone had a nice weekend with your family and friends. We did. 

SB & MC out from room 3521 Day 29 at Legacy Emanuel

PS  we love that you are leaving comments, but let us know who you are.  We are a little stumped sometimes but would really like to know who you are.  :-)

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