Update on Dave

We've had a pretty good week, more or less. Dave continues to tackle the stairs a couple times a day and do some exercises at home. He still is really positive.
A couple scares this week involved Dave having a bloody nose for a few days that we couldn't stop. Since he is on blood thinners, this worried me a bit. We were at the spine surgeon's office and they told us to take Dave to the ER, but it finally stopped, so we didn't have to. Dave also had pain in his chest, which made him think of a blood clot (we had stopped giving him the blood thinners because of his bloody nose). One doctor said there's about a 100% chance that pelvic fractures get blood clots, so that frightened us. Luckily he threw up and felt better, though. Fun stuff.
Dave's x-rays on his back and pelvis looked good and he hopes to be putting some weight on his left foot in a couple weeks. He wears his back brace all the time (this makes showers interesting), even at night usually, so he looks a little like Magneto, but hey, whatever it takes not to have back surgery.
One downer is that Dave has some nerve damage in his left leg, which causes hypersensitivity and a constant burning in his foot. I try to massage his leg as much as I can because the tactile sensation is good for the nerves, but if I touch it wrong--say, harder than a feather-swipe--it hurts him.
The sheets really bother his foot too. Now, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who wear socks to bed at night and those who would never do such a thing. Dave has had to convert from the latter to the former because of this nerve damage.
Dr. Chardack did say that the pain could go away in 4 to 6 months OR...12 to 18 months OR...Never. Not the most encouraging, but at least he's honest.
Dave's scabs and incisions are starting to heal, finally. He never had any on his face, so he looks like himself. People are always surprised at how good he looks. He does have some good scars on his knees and elbows and various other locations where he got road/rock rash. That actually might look cool to other cyclists, though. It's the incisions that look like a mad scientist was let loose with a scalpel. But the worst damage with that is more to Dave's vanity. Besides, they'd probably only be visable when Dave's wearing a speedo, which he hasn't since high school.
It has been incredible all the service we have received as a family. People have come up with things to help us that I never would have thought of myself but ended up being desperately grateful for. I truly think many of you have been inspired by God, and we thank you so much.

The411 on Dave

Tomorrow it will be a week since Dave got home. I guess I'm a little busier now that he's home--I haven't even updated my favorite people on FB and my blog!
Dave is trying so hard to get better and have a good attitude but it takes so long. It is a miracle that he came home from the hospital when he did, or even that he came home at all. I owe that to everyone's faith and prayers and I'm so grateful. Now we just have to be patient.
Dave has 4 dr. appts this week, so we'll see how the healing is going. He tries his best to tolerate the noise and confusion a house of 5 children creates and the children are so happy to have him here. I feel the added stress on my time and energy too, and I appreciate all of you who have helped alleviate that--both since he's been home and the 3 weeks previous to that.
I'm still reeling from the shock of almost losing Dave. My 8-yr-old was just telling me tonight that he just didn't feel like he could see his dad when he was having "eternal bleeding". Luckily, it was "internal" not "eternal", but I know what he meant, it felt that way. That 10 days at the beginning was like an eternity.
Dave tries to come downstairs a couple times a day with his crutches and then sits in his wheelchair. Sometimes he has meals with us. It's been great.
Most of the time he just has to lie in bed and heal. He's becoming an expert in several fields from the Discovery Channel documentaries he's been watching and no one knows what's going on in the news like Dave. It's good the TV can keep him company since I can't always just be hanging out with him (I wish I could). Hopefully I'll remember to update you all after his dr. visits.

Collateral Damage 2

There has been some other things that have deteriorated besides Dave's health and the children's peace of mind in the last 2 1/2 weeks. One is my brain.
For example, I set out tonight after getting back from 8 hours at the hospital (I spent 11 yesterday) to Aidan's preschool orientation. All went fine there, except that I didn't have him with me to meet his teachers, then I decided to go to the grocery store for the first time since Dave's accident. I felt pretty confident that it would be an efficient, quick trip since I didn't have any children with me. I decided I'd also get the kids school supplies. Easy, right? Wrong.
I left for home an hour later, exhausted and bewildered, with most of the school supplies, but little else (I did get cottage cheese to eat). Something about being in SuperWalmart brought out a decision-making impairment, or maybe it's just a depletion.

Another deterioration is my plants. My back deck hanging flowers have croaked beyond rescusitation. I just couldn't bring myself to water them. I finally retired them to the grass so I wouldn't see them everytime I looked outside and be reminded of my inability to save them. I don't dare check my vegetable garden. It might push me over the edge.
Our credit is something else that is in danger of deteriorating. I got the $10,000 bill for life flight yesterday. If I can navigate the mine field of insurance it will eventually get paid. I got an anesthesia bill for Dave less than a week after the accident. Quick turn around time if you ask me. I guess they wanted to get first in line for payment. My little brother, who had cancer, said he had a shot a couple times during treatment that the medical personnel called "liquid gold" because it cost $6,000 a pop. Dave and I were wondering if part of the cost was that a leprachaun had to deliver it. Whew! Although--if life flight and "liquid gold" saved Dave's and Scott's lives, who's to put a price on medical treatment for a human life? Oh yeah...the government.

As far as Dave's concerned:
Dave was moved into the rehab program yesterday. It's like hospital haven compared to the ICU and the 11th floor Dave just came from (Free Lorna Doone's! All the chocolate milk and diet coke you can drink!) They're actually pretty laid back and nice up there on the 12th floor.
They finally stopped giving Dave oxygen and he'll have a couple more days of his IV. He's doing quite well and working hard on getting back some mobility.
In this new program, they have physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy sessions through out the day. He can have visitors after 4 PM or anytime on Sunday. The physical therapist was so impressed with what Dave could do today, he said Dave might only need to be there a week or less.
So we're hopeful about his progress and thank you all for your love and support! My kids get back on Saturday--my deteriorating brain does not bode well for them. Wish me luck!

8-10-09

Dave's white blood cell count has been coming down the last few days, which means the pneumonia and staph infections are getting better. They also have been very aggressive with his anti-biotics.
He has had speech therapists monitoring how he is swallowing and his eating is getting back on track. They took out his feeding tube a day ago, so now he is getting all his nutrition through what he eats.
They've been working on his physical therapy everyday now, too. I got to walk outside of his room with him while he used a walker.
A physical therapist evaluated Dave for an intensive rehab program they have at the same hospital and they decided he would be a good candidate. So he will be moving floors to that program in the next day or so. I think it will be good--he'll have 3 hours of physical therapy a day.
Dave also had his pelvis and back x-rayed today to see how they are healing, and everything seems to be on track.
Dave is handling everything with grace a positive attitude. He always is kind to those who are caring for him and working hard to accomplish what they ask. I am so impressed with him!
My MIL and FIL took my children to WA to be with their cousins this week. I'm so grateful for their help and sacrifice, they are the best in-laws in the world. Thank you, Doug and Janeen for being willing to have all 11 kids this week!

8-7-09

Well, two great things have happened in the last couple of days. As I mentioned, Dave got extubated yesterday and started to talk and take sips of water. He also started working with the physical therapist. Tonight he finally got out of ICU and me and the kids were able to visit him.
We had understood that there was no restrictions in visiting him, but then the nurse came in and demanded whether we knew that Dave had pneumonia. Uh....yeah? Well, we were supposed to be wearing masks! We quickly accomodated her request and looked really funny for the rest of our visit. Dave asked us to bring him frozen yogurt, which he ended up eating all of, so hopefully that will be ok. He looks really good, other than having lost some weight.
I asked him if he remembered much from his stay in the ICU, and except for the day after his accident, he didn't really. His mind made up some pretty weird hallucinations to explain how his body felt, meanwhile. I guess his mind is pretty creative.
I'm feeling very positive about the future and extremely grateful that Dave was not killed. I heard that his vertebrae was fractured 25%. If it had been any higher, paralysis or significant nerve damage would have occured, so I'm counting my blessings. I don't think Dave has heard how young and in-shape and athletic he is during his lifetime as much as he's getting from the physical therapists, doctors and other specialists. It might go to his head. But the point being that all these factors will help him heal and hopefully bounce back quickly.

It's Been a Week

Eight days in the Shock/Trauma ICU. That sounds like a movie or maybe a song.
This has been Dave's best day since the accident happened a week ago. He actually seemed like Dave again. He smiled several times and was even mouthing things to me around his ventilator. I'm a terrible lip-reader apparently, because I couldn't figure anything out that he said. His nurse, on the other hand was quite good at it. She tried to give me a crash course, but I think you have to have a talent for it.
I did make out Dave asking me what hospital he was in.
I told him a few things that he was too out of it to understand until now, like his mission president and his wife called. Also, I told him I've been messing around with all our finances and getting new passwords. He seemed like it didn't faze him. Of course he had some pain meds through his IV, so who knows.
The last update I wrote was one of my worst days. Yesterday was the other one. I couldn't even talk to anyone last night. My oldest son called my parents and told them they needed to get over here. He said I needed them. They were just leaving the hospital from seeing Dave, so they came over and talked with me a little and we all said a prayer together. I'm glad that Jameson knew what his mom needed, even if I didn't.
It sounds cliche, but it really is an emotional rollercoaster.
So, Dave still has pneumonia and we found out today that he has a staph infection in his lungs as well, but his plates and screws are all in the right places in his pelvis it sounds like. The next goal is to get his breathing good enough so that he can ditch the stupid ventilator (sorry, I know it serves a good purpose, but he hates it) and then get out of ICU. It sounds like they won't consider extubating him for a couple days, but I have my fingers crossed.

Day Four and Five

I don't know whether to give just the facts or the version with all the drama.
I guess if I start talking about yesterday I have to include some of the drama.
My 13-yr. old and I walked into Dave's room to hear a tech swearing because of a reading he got on pressure in Dave's abdomen. If there is too much pressure (fluids, air) it can cause certain organs to shut down. To solve this problem, they simply open the stomach up and can leave it open for up to 2 weeks with sterile dressings. Well. That freaked me out, since his readings were high enough to do this, but they decided against that and tried other ways to solve it (which worked, because it was better today).
Dave also started coughing spells that were scary, because he can't breath during them. The nurse has to stick a long tube down his breathing tube to suction out his lungs. There was one white-knuckle episode that did my son in. He asked to go home (which is saying alot because he spent the whole day there the day before and loved it). We got into the car and he finally broke down, saying he hadn't wanted to worry dad by crying in his room. We had to sit and hold each other for a little while before I could drive.
I went back again last night and his coughing was still bad. The respitory therapist said it sounded like it was turning into pneumonia.
Apparently she was right, because they started treating him for that today.
Yesterday I was rubbing lotion on his feet, trying to do something that might feel nice. He nodded that it did, so I moved up to his hands to do the same thing. I worked on his right hand and he started moving his left hand around enough that I finally figured out that he wanted me to stop. I asked, "Does that hurt?" and he nodded. I thought it was just because it was so swollen--it looks like the hands of an extremely obese person. Today, (since I'm a little slow on the uptake) I realized his hand might be fractured. We wouldn't know, since no x-rays have been done on his limbs.
Today was very hard for me to see him. His bleeding seems to have stopped and his collapsed lung is doing well, but he just looks worse. It's probably the pneumonia.
It made me more emotional today and I just wanted to turn around and walk out--I just didn't know if I could handle it. Some of the mornings since this has happened I wake up and think that it's all a bad dream. Jameson asked that of me the first morning after the accident and I ignored him, thinking he was joking. But when he asked 2 more times, I had to tell it all to him again--that it was our new reality and it made him cry.
Well, that's how I feel sometimes too, but then I think that Dave doesn't have the luxury of thinking it's a bad dream, because if he ever wakes up, the pain is always present and excruciating.
I ran the risk of obliterating my relationship with Dave's trauma orthopedic specialist by telling him that I wanted another opinion on Dave's upcoming surgery. What a cool guy--instead of nursing a bruised ego--he explained, in detail, AGAIN, the surgery to me. Even when I told him I was satisfied, he called me right back and arranged for a session at the hospital tomorrow to explain it to me AGAIN, with a model of a pelvis. Pretty exceptional for a surgeon.
I love you all.
Keep praying.
I'll keep in touch.