MC's Angel T-Shirts - GET YOURS WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!

Hi Everyone, This is a special note today generated by something that Mike's oldest Daughter Katelyn thought to do for her Dad.  Read on:

To all my dads ridding buddies and friends , 
PLEASE take a look at the fundraiser I started for him..all the proceeds are going directly to him to help with his hospital expenses..MC's Angels t-shirts are $18..every little bit helps, help me meet the 75 shirt goal so we can pay it forward!

The next post from Katelyn
Facebook friends and family...so far 28 shirts sold..I'd love for us to exceed the goal of 75 maybe even hit 100! Remember all the proceeds from these shirts are going directly to my dad...its only $18 for a shirt, but the impact will be tremendous!!! ! A BIG thank you to everyone who has bought a shirt and is showing their support! Fundraiser ends Nov. 4th, so click the link below and get your shirt TODAY!!! 

And the Next:
Hey everyone so there's still 24 days left of the fundraiser and we've sold over the goal of 75 and are now at 82!! I'm hoping we can reach 100 if not more by the closing date Nov. 4th so if you haven't already gotten a shirt theres still time!!! 

This is how things look today - Katelyn hopes you'll get your MC's Angel T-Shirt TODAY!  

Great Job Katie!!!

www.booster.com/mcsangel

The photo above is NOT a link, but you can go to www.booster.com/mcsangel to order your shirt today.  

On another note:

Mike is doing it!  He made it to the gym yesterday!  He even did his stairs up and down.  I know he felt a real sense of accomplishment!  If he keeps this up, he'll be home inside of another week.  This is great news for all of us.  (Mike's foot is looking red/purple, that's because it IS!!  His blood vessels don't know how to carry the blood back up and out of his foot.  Dr. Frome has said it will need some training.  Lots of up and down time during the day.  The UP time has to be much greater than the down.  It's all a process.  One that can be tackled!  

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Hugs and more Hugs from the S&M couple!!  

Mike steps OUT and the Family Drops in - Katelyn, Madison and Grandson Brayden are in the house - room.

Good Day All - happy to report in that Mike is having some great days.  Pain is getting manageable.  OT and PT are keeping him busy.  Dr. Frome & Just Craig also stopped in for a much needed / wanted visit.  Dr. Frome likes how the flap is looking despite "how it is looking".  Dr. Dustin came in and helped Mike adjust the 6 struts on his frame that will need daily tweaking.  Much like braces, the struts will be moved slightly each day, bringing the foot up to a normal position within about 3 weeks.  The frame will be on for 12 weeks or so. 

Here's MC just a day out of surgery taking a walk to the hallway and back.  Today the dressing has been changed and the bleeding has stopped.  Basically they wrap the frame instead of the wound.  Things look much cleaner today. 

Mike is rather proud of his ability to get out of his room and to the hallway with his walker and back again.  Once they are back they do some light weightlifting exercises.  All in a days work. 

Yesterday's biggest blessing is that Katelyn came by with her baby boy Brayden.  This is Mike's one and only Grandson who turned 2 months just a couple of days ago.  Miss Madison was there as well.  Not much makes Mike happier than having his family around him.  Baby Braden is a huge win for his day!!!  Just look how precious this little guy is! 

  

  

Mike really enjoyed sitting in his easy chair with that baby all propped up on one of his pillows - sound asleep doing all the stuff babies do in there sleep.  You know, they squeak, they stretch,  smile, make noises that came from ? and make sucking motions with nothing in their mouth - oh the list goes on.  You just have to wonder what they dream about. 

I really liked this photo of Mike and Brayden - I'll just call it being reflective and enjoying the cycle of life.  At one point when the girls had left the room for a few minutes, Mike was looking at Brayden and said "look what I had a part in making" ( something like that)  It can be a little surreal when you are holding a precious new life!   

MC was warming the toes and doing baby exercises with Baby Brayden.  I've added all the baby photos because honestly - this is a huge part of his recovery, his journey and his ability to realize that there is life outside those Hospital walls.  And it's all waiting for him! 

It's fun playing Grandma and knowing some of the tricks to stop the fussy baby blues.  A little pressure on the tummy and a wrist to suck on and Brayden's world ( as big as it is - since he ONLY lives in the moment. Something we should all strive to do.)  becomes just fine. 

Folks, I have to say - Katelyn and Cody did a great job on this little guy!  He's just about as cute as they come.  Still a tiny one, but his growth spurt is just around the corner.  

Big, Big Blessing to have the girls and Brayden come by.

TODAY'S PLAN:  Mike is very excited about today - He gets to take a shower for the first time in 36 days - translated that's 5 weeks and 1 day.  Not to say that he hasn't been cleaned, but when you haven't had any water run over your body in that many weeks, you tend to feel a little dried out.  The other big item on his agenda today is to make it to the PT Gym on crutches and do a workout from there.  Mike is even going to attempt to do some stairs.  That is the one task he will need to master prior to coming home since sleeping downstairs is NOT an option for him.   Looks like home may be just another week away.  

Have a blessed day everyone - be safe always!! 

Love from the S&M couple.  

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Can you say "Hurry Up and Wait"?

Good morning Friends!  

It was a little too late last night to bring you the latest.  You know they say "no news is good news".  Hope I didn't leave anyone hanging.   At least not hanging like the Doctor left us yesterday.  Mike's morning surgery turned into an evening surgery.  I wanted to arrive in plenty of time since I always go with MC to pre-surgery.  It turned into a 12 hour day...   We actually wondered if it was even going to happen.  We also hoped the Doctor was going to have the energy and focus to do one more surgery.  Apparently he had his patients lined up for the entire day.   While waiting, Mike and I had plenty of time to chat and catch up on things we hadn't talked about. No visitors, just a revolving door of Nurses.  When you can't eat or drink that also tends to make for an extra long day.  

This Photo is what a patient and his best friend look like when you have been waiting hours upon hours to be taken away for surgery.  It was borderline comical. Mike is wearing the Bair Paws Gown , his not so favorite attire.  He tends to get warm in it, but refuses to hook up to the "hose".   Go figure. 

Finally into Pre-Surgery with Dr. Gellman giving those last minute comments as to what he is going to DO to Mike this time.   The plan, BTW, is to add 3 wires into Mike's heel bone.  Once this is accomplished, MC will be given a sheet of numbers and a daily schedule starting Tuesday (today) to being making adjustments to the struts on his frame.  These adjustments will begin to bring his foot up to a neutral position.  That process will take about 3 weeks.  He expects Mike to be in the frame for at least an additional 12 weeks from this surgery.  Mikey was ready, but as usual a little melancholy about going under again.  Lots of hugs, kisses and "see you on the other side in a few minutes" goes a long ways.

  

While we are waiting for MC to get out of surgery, I thought I'd show you how well his skin grafted area is healing.  The Doctors are very pleased with this.  You can see where the skin shaver went a little deeper than needed in some places.  OUCH -  It's a little sore, but for the most part doing fine.  The skin on his foot also seems to be very happy and knows it has a job to do!  

Finally resting peacefully at the end of a very long day.  I spoke with Dr. Gellman after surgery and he was very happy with the placement of the wires.  He said Mike could start to add weight to his walking plate right away.  Not full weight, but PT and OT have their work cut out.  Mike is ready to go HOME!!!  His goal this week is to really get moving.  Learn stairs and how to use his walker and crutches  along with his walking plate.  Once that is accomplished - 3-5 days, we may see him released to head home.  Wouldn't that be a blessing.  The end of today marks 11 weeks in the hospital - this sweet man deserves to go home and sleep in his own bed.  Besides, the cat misses him dearly.  (his GF too) 

That's it for this morning - I'm sure Mike will be up for visitors soon.  I will add he was in a lot of pain last night, through the night and even this morning.  Lots of dilaudid for punch through pain  management and he is back up to his max pain pills as often as they will let him have them.  So a call or text would be recommended this week if you are planning on a visit.  ALSO - you'll want to be sure he is still at Hotel Legacy... 

Love to all, have a beautiful fall day, S&M out for now.

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Surgery #12 is tomorrow October 14th 2013

Hi everyone - remember me - Sherry the Blogger.  

I hear I'm a blogger and I didn't realize I even had it in me to do this.  I really enjoy keeping everyone updated on MC's progress, but I will admit, I took a week off and it was a much needed vacation.  :-)   I'm BACK!!!  Feeling a little more refreshed. 

MC, as you can see from his photos, is doing pretty darn good.  On the positive side:  It's been 2 weeks since his skin graft and it is 95% healed.  Looks amazing.  His H&H blood counts are coming UP. His energy level and even his appetite has increase slightly.  He's also claiming "I want to go home".  These are all positive markers.   On the not so great side:  Mike is still pretty weak.  His foot needs A LOT of healing and he has another surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning at 11:30.  Surgeries also set him back a little bit.  We estimate his weight loss to be about 50lbs.  The hard way!!!  OUCH.  He is working hard to get plenty of protein in his daily diet and also making healthy choices.  

Overall, MC is looking and feeling so much better than he was even a week ago.  He's even dressed! 

On the fun side of things, Mike has had so many visitors.  I manage to capture a photo if I'm there when the visitors are there, but I just can't seem to turn Mike into a Photo Journalist.  :-)  So I have missed photos of so many of his wonderful friends that have come by to see him.  Too many to even remember who they are.  I was in yesterday and managed to grab some new shots.  Here we go...

Ed and Ann stopped in after waiting in the Family Lounge for PT to finish with Mike.  They had a wonderful visit and they did a lot of reminiscing. 

Next JR and Stephanie rolled in.  M&M's and a People magazine - what more could you ask for.  While they were visiting, Mike's Nurse came in to do a dressing change.  Stephanie had a tough time with it.  I guess I'm just used to how it all looks.  

Mike is VERY GOOD at telling each Nurse (new ones all the time) how to change the dressing on his foot.  Here he is raising his foot up with his chair hoist.  They have gotten very creative when it comes to getting proper and easy access to his foot. 

Once the bandages are off, ON they go again.   Mike usually has to tell them how to get all the bandages to fit.  It's also the Project Manager in him.  I think he feels like he's at work and he feels very engaged in this, his own project.  After all he is very invested in the outcome. 

After Julie finished the Gonzales Family came by again.  This time with a surprise visitor, their son Alex was home from school for the weekend.  

I wasn't there this morning when Doc Dustin came in to look at Mike's foot but I did get to listen in on Mike's speaker phone while he assessed the foot.   Dustin was representing the Frome and the Gellman Team.  Word from Dustin is that everything looks great.  There is a lot of swelling but due to the fact that the skin (now Mike's skin) on the foot is taking so well, that seepage and drainage is not occurring. The swelling will go down over time.  We could only hope.  

Tomorrow is surgery #12.  Dr. Gellman will be putting wires through Mike's heel bone via a small drill.  Once these wires are in place he should be able to begin to add weight to the foot plate on the bottom of the frame.  That's the idea!  Dr. Frome will most likely be there too and there may be a reason (or not) to take a little more skin from Mike's leg due to the fact that there are a few places that didn't take during the original skin graft 2 weeks ago. 

That's it for now - will keep you update after surgery tomorrow.  

Big hugs from the S&M couple. 

We love you and thank you for ALL the support that keeps coming Mikes way. 

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