Sept 6th Surgery update and Sherry took a nap! zzzzzzzz :-)

Good afternoon from cloudy Portland - It's our typical Willamette Valley Day.  Hopping for some of our incredible sunny September days that Portland is known for. 

Mike started the day at 6am when he headed down to surgery for a Debridment surgery and wound dressing with the VAC.  There is so much flesh exposed that he has to be "under" to have this procedure done. (especially the debridment)   I had a couple of appointments early this morning so I popped in about 10 am for my day.  I caught Mike just after he got back to his room.  I didn't speak with the doctor but heard it went well.  Dr. Fromm is mapping out all those veins that she will be using and I heard she feels confident that MC has what it takes to make this upcoming Free Flap surgery a success.  

After returning to his room there was an issue with the VAC and it had a small leak but Mike was whisked off to some other floor for an ultra sound on his leg.  The one that almost happened at 2am - Mike's RN put the kibosh on that one since he had surgery at 7am.  

Mike heading out for Ultrasound in his "dress"
They won't let him wear his shorts and Harley T-Shirt for procedures.  :-( 

This afternoon presented a little problem as they worked hard for almost 3 hours to seal up the leak in the wound VAC.  Finally the machines stopped beeping and chirping and all was quiet.  What happened next was amazing!!!  I sat down in the room recliner and fell fast asleep.  I think i dozed off for 30 minutes or better.  This was my first nap in 37 days.  Mike told me that everyone that came in the room got the shhhhhhh from him.  Now that's funny because he was taking care of me.  I think that nap was much needed.  :-)  "Thanks MC" !!

Multitasking at it's finest. Wound VAC suction repair while OT

 is helping MC with band flexing / strengthening.

Mike has had several guests and wonderful phone calls from various friends.  Here is who stopped in to see him since my last update :  Clay Morgan, Pat, Chris, Papa Jim, Jeff Ravencraft, Leonard Weitman, Ben and Mike Ashe, Christopher and Maria Locatell & Miles Jackson. (my son)  He received calls from old work colleagues Dick Dryden & from EC Company Leah Goldstone-Schuller and Steve Trapp.  He has really enjoyed all the great reconnects.  Sounds more like he invited everyone to a Tupperware party or something. 
Who's next?  Don't be too shy.  I know a few are on the schedule for tomorrow.  The friends coming by right now are a great distraction and gives Mike a big warm heart - he feels the love! 


Mike's big surgery with the Free Flap will defiantly be happening this coming Thursday.  One of the other things they will be doing to his foot is taking off the exterior fixator and replacing it with a Ilizarov apparatus - "what's that you ask"?   Check it out here

SB & MC are out for the evening - have a great weekend everyone!

Sept 5th Morning update after seeing the Surgeon from yesterday's procedure.

This is short and sweet: 
What we know about the foot after seeing the doctor - How could we be saying "we still don't know" but "we still don't know". What we do know is that another Doctor - Dr. Fromm who ordered the CT Scan and angiogram is the one who would do the Free Flap surgery and she is looking at all the veins in his body, checking blood supply and determining where they will pull muscle from. All of this info came from the Doctor who will NOT be doing that surgery. He goes in again tomorrow for a wound cleanse and that means he goes under again. Dr. Fromm will be doing that procedure and we will anxiously be awaiting ANY word from her. Thanks for hanging in there with us.

Dr. Cory filling us in.

UPDATE:  

Mike finally heard from Dr. Fromm's PA.  Dr. Keller spent about 30 minutes with us sharing the plan they have to keep the foot.  They would not be talking to MC about this if they did not feel he was a good candidate.  This is very encouraging.  Mike is moving forward the plan to salvage the foot - this has ALWAYS been Mike's plan.  

The schedule is as follows: 

Friday - 7am Mike has another debridment, wound vac change surgery.

Saturday - Sunday PT, OT, meals, paperwork (everyday) IV's, meds, more meds & friends. 

Monday - Same as Friday except they are going to being a dissection of the veins in prep for the free flap which will happen a few days later. 

SURGERY DAY - unknown, but at the moment we are looking at Thursday. The Doctors retain the right to change dates at their discretion.  :-)    The surgery will last at least 6 hours and will involve removing muscle from the Latisimus Dorsi. (the Lat - under the arm) More on all that later, but for now here is the Doc showing us with his hands how this will work. 

Dr Craig Keller - Mikes PA for the surgeries.

Yes Dr. Keller is over 18.   

He got the hugest smile when he talked 

about doing Free Flaps with Dr. Fromm.  

For now Mike will keep up with fluids, good food choices, PT, OT and antibiotics. If the timing is right I know he's ready for some visitors.  It won't be long (just a few days) and we'll be back in a situation where we will visitors out till he is through those few post surgery days.   Have a great rest of the day and we so appreciate all of you.   S&M out 

Sept 5th Focus on Fire Fighter Jared Jepson

This morning Mike and I are anxiously awaiting the PA or the Physician to arrive and discuss yesterday procedure with us.  Meanwhile I would like to share something very special with you.  Most of you know, those that have read the posts, that there is a very, very special Fire Fighter in Mike's life.  After the accident Mike talked about "this one guy who talked to me and stayed with me the whole time. I'll never forget him."   Well coincidentally I met someone in St. George that knew who that man was.  FF Jepson, Station #7. 

The day before we left St. George, I surprised Mike and took him to the Snow Canyon Station #7 so that he could meet those first responders and Jared himself.   Here is a photo of Jared and Mike and an email Mike and I received from Jared.  This is way too special to keep to ourselves.  We have been so blessed with people like this in our lives.  Read on:

Jared and Mike August 27th 2013

Mike and Sherry,
I had a moment and I wanted to just drop you a note to make sure you guys made it home well.


I also wanted to thank you for the letter and photos you sent to Capt. Tischner. I really can't explain how much it meant to my crew, and ESPECIALLY me to have you bring Mike over to see me. Due to all the sensitivity around privacy issues we hardly ever get to find out how our patients do after they leave us. And our patients have the same issues finding us.
It has been overwhelming to me and I cannot come close to describing my feelings. It's amazing how close two men (and yourself) in such a short amount of time can feel so close and interconnected.


I have to say that when I saw Mike sitting in the car my heart ached for him. It was almost like seeing my brother. Their was a familiarity with him that only comes from knowing someone for years. Having only spent such a short amount of time at his accident, an amount of time that at that moment seemed like almost forever with someone whose life is slipping away every moment that goes by.
As you guys can tell, I am kind of rambling on. Im just trying to explain my feelings and even try to understand them better myself.

Sherry, this experience is a gem in my life and I thank you for making that happen.
Mike, I want you to know that my thoughts are with you in this time of change and challenge and You are in my prayers. (even my two young sons, who pray for you when it's their turn).

Kind regards, and our love, from me and mine.
Jared

Sept 4th Mike had Surgery and got a new room!

Good Day everyone,   

Mike got a "new and improved" room today.  Now he can handle staff, guests and the gardner.  His new room is 4501.  You may want to call prior to showing up just in case he is using the Pilot bottle or taking that bed bath.  

Later in the day MC had his surgery / wound wash scheduled.  I followed him down to Pre-op and had a chance to talk to his Orthopedic Doc.  Doctor Cory explained what he was going to do today and talked about a few different options Mike may have.   I headed back to the room and a few hours later they rolled MC back in.  He really comes out of surgery well.   After getting settled in, we waited, and waited, and waited for the Surgeon to fill us in on his thoughts about Mike's foot.  We finally heard he would not be in till in the morning. He called in from the Dentist chair to let us know we would need to hurry up tonight.  Just when we thought we might know a little more.  Looks like tomorrow we will have the info we are looking for. 

MC ready to roll out to surgery

It's been 24 hours since Mike ate, so he drank some water  and ordered up a sandwich / salad.  Mike's long time friend Clay Morgan stopped in for a surprise visit then his Dad, Pat and Chris came by. He never did get to his dinner before the Transfer guy in Green came to take him away for a CT Scan at 8:30.   Guess I'll finish up this post and head out myself.  It's been another full day of busy tasks and laying around.  I was just asking Mike how we could be so busy when all he does is lay around.  =-)    That's a joke and we DO know what keeps us busy.  

Hope we can see more of you as the healing goes on.  A quick call first might ensure that you won't find MC missing from his room due to ????  He keeps us all guessing. 

SB & MC (in the CT Lab right now) out for the night.   

Sept 3rd, Exciting Day at Legacy

Hello All, 

I arrived nice and early this morning. In fact Mike sent me a text asking if I was awake yet and I walked in the room.  I love saying good morning face to face.  The morning was moving along just fine and after a bowl of the usual raisin bran, the OT had Mike up on a walker ( new to him) and headed over to the bathroom.  (10' away)  

After doing his "business" so to speak, MC headed back to his recliner for some upright time.  He complained of being lightheaded and sweaty. I noticed he felt unusually cold and clammy.   After getting comfy he got noticeably quiet.  When I looked at him (I was sitting on his bed 2' away) and he had clearly passed out or ?   I called out to the OT who was in the bathroom straightening things, she called down the hall and down the hall came running!    Code whatever was over the PA to room 4504 and I was in the corner trying to stay out of the way.  Mike's easy chair became a quick bed and all the professionals did "their thing".  

When Mike came to, he said he must have invited a lot of people to the party.  He said "something big must have happened there are a lot of people in the room". 

He was only out for about 45 seconds.  The Doctors determined it was NOT a Heart Attack and it was NOT a seizure - just a little light headedness.  He basically passed out.  A blood transfusion and fluids got added to the agenda and even more attention to his every body's movement and beep put out by each machine.  

Dr. Gee, the General Trauma Surgeon was right across the hall.  It seemed like all the right people were in all the right places.  This afternoon PT came in and got MC back on his feet and reinstalled a little confidence in his ability to get up and move about.  He's back in his easy chair right now.  (By the way Dr. Gee is a taller version of one of my Dearest Friends Tim Cox and I feel like he's a bit of an angel.  Tim is an Angel.  Isn't it grand to have people like that in our lives? )

I think he's looking pretty good right now and he's defiantly feeling pretty good. 

We are loving the help from ALL the staff!!! 

The word from the good Ortho Doc was that tomorrow the plastics and the ortho specialists will take MC back into surgery for a wound flush.  At this point the Doctors will finally be able to make a full evaluation of Mikes foot  and it's ability to stay or go.   That sounds a little black and white - we are hopping we have great options / choices. 

SB & MC out for this afternoon.  Heart Hugs to everyone! 

Labor Day Sept 2nd 2013 MC's Day 2 at Legacy

Today's update  - Happy Labor Day everyone and our hope is that it's a safe one!   Although it was a holiday and the hospital wasn't hopping like usual, there were a few Doctors / Nurses that poked around on Mikey.  His bandages were removed with the exception of the wound vac and the black sponges / plastic associated with it.   

This was a first look at the "size" of what's left of Mike's foot.  I would say it was interesting, but not being a Doctor, I can make no assessment.  Later Mike had a CT Scan on his foot and ultrasound on his legs looking for blood clots.  I would like to add that the Orthopedic Specialist that was in, seemed very optimistic about the possibility of Mike's foot staying with him.  I will say - I feel more and more confident that he is in the best place possible for keeping that foot.  Mikey wiggles his little piggers all the time and he sort of pretends they are saying "keep us, we're alive and right here waving at you".   

Visitors today included Mike's Brother Pat, Sister in-law Chris, Sister Judy, Papa Jim, Daughter Katelyn, Baby Brayden and long time friend Kristin. (the kids mom)  

I know we've said this before, but we really do feel tomorrow or the following day will finally give us the answers we are looking for regarding Mike's options.   Fingers and TOES are crossed.  SB & MC out a little bit earlier tonight. 

Mike's toes are happy toes! 

September 1st Update - Mike Has Arrived at Legacy Emanuel in Portland Oregon

Good evening to Friends, Family and Friends that say they are family!  :-) 

Welcome to Mike's Blog.  I've added a couple of Blogs below as a test and I will be learning this AS I am posting my updates.  I created this so that I can post in one place instead of several.  ( you should see what it takes to keep everyone informed and all the avenues involved)  It's silly.   This is also a way to post a comment and people can read those comments without being notified throughout the day every time someone gives a thumbs up on Facebook.  those of you who get mails will be asked to check in here as well.  

Today's Update:  Mike was moved from Providence Portland to Legacy Emanuel in NE Portland.  We are now at a Level 1 Trauma Medical Center and promises to be the place to be if Mike has any chance of keeping his foot.  Today consisted of getting moved and a nice visit from Mike's brother Pat, his lovely wife Chris, Daddy Jim, Daughters Katelyn & Madison as well as Baby Brayden at 2 weeks 3 days old.  Today a PA also came in and asked a lot of questions about medical history and general info on how Mike got here. Should I just let them read the "Updates" from the last 32 days.  There's always that.  :-}

All in all today was a transition day - another hurry up and wait day.  It was also a day for family to visit - finally.  Tomorrow will bring more answers once the specialists take a look at Mike' foot and make a serious evaluation as to what his options are.  It's another late one, so I'm leaving the hospital now and headed home to get ready for another week, day, hour and even minute.  

SB & MC out from Legacy 

Mike and his Daddy hugging for the first time in 5 weeks.

Such a proud Grandpa

Uncle Pat (Mike's Brother, Madison and Katelyn with Brayden

Tonight Pat, Chris, Papa (Jim Colligan age 89) my daughter Britta

and myself went to Wu's for dinner.  This is a family tradition.  Right away they asked for Mike.  It wasn't the same but we did bring him his fortune cookie

"Trust others but still keep your eyes open"  

Sounds like great advice to me!! 

"Surprise" Mike meets his Grandson Baby Brayden at the Hospital 8-31-13

Well Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.  Yesterday I got a call from Katelyn, Mike's daughter that lives in Colorado Springs with her new hubby Codi and 2 week old baby boy, Brayden Christopher.  She had the idea of flying in to surprise her Daddy.  Mike and I were suppose to meet Baby Brayden on July 25th while on our motorcycle trip to  Milwaukee, WI. Obviously we had to cancel that trip, thus missing out on seeing Brayden as a newborn. Sad times for MC feeling like he was missing out on seeing his first Grand baby!  

Katelyn grabbed a ticket out of Denver with Baby Brayden and they landed here in Portland about 10:15 pm.  Madison, Mike's other beautiful daughter, picked them up and brought them over to the hospital.  With some creativity and a little planning we managed to pull off a really big surprise when the girls and Brayden entered the room.  I had Madison's phone / camera so I was able to video tape and take pictures at the same time.  Multitasking at it's finest.   

Enjoy the photos and I hope you'll be able to feel a little bit of the joy Mike felt when he met Brayden Christopher for the first time.  SB out

Madison and Katelyn getting off the elevator.

Baby Brayden, not likely to wake up at this late hour.

Mike was in total disbelief. 

The hand-off

Mike's first Grandpa moment

Sweet as pie

Happy - Happy moment

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Birdie