Happy Memorial Day!

We had a lot of visitors in this weekend! It was a great time with everyone in town. Dad is doing better. His chest tube came out and they are waiting for his leg to be a little more stable. There is one part of his leg they are worried the skin might die so they will have to do another skin graph. As of now, that is really the only update. They are thinking dad will be in the hospital about another week and then either go home and rest or go to rehab. Rehab might not be needed right now because he can't put weight on his leg and that is the part that would need rehab. So if that is the case, dad will go home to rest his leg and then in about 4-5 weeks, he will have more surgeries on his leg. Jeff and Dave are going to get the basement set up for him so there is room for a wheelchair and a ramp to get it in the house. We need to make his "man cave" wheelchair ready :) Dave and Jeff left a riding lawn mower for me to use at mom and dads and they taught me how to drive it. Ha, this should be funny! We all went to visit Grandma today in rehab. Her mind is a little slower than before the accident but she is make slow progress. They are thinking her discharge date is June 6-9th???? Hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial Weekend!

                                                         Chase and Jack visiting Grandpa

Some Pics of the weekend so far

Dave and Jack visiting

Jessii and Steve Grana sent this with all the books to keep dad busy!

Dad's leg today. They have it unwrapped to let it get air. You can see the stitches in his knee. The skin graph is obviously under the bandages.

Lindsey, Chase, Cindy, and Jeff hanging out at the hospital. That couch opens up to a bed. It is nice.

Happy Friday!

Aunt Marlys sent an old picture of dad and part of the family. In her card she said, god bless the "little guy" in the center of the picture." So cute! He was probably 5 or 6. The left side are his parents and Aunt Marlys is above him. Aunt Dee is on the right side and he thinks that is Aunt Dee's friend with them.

Today is a better day. They took the wrap off of dad's leg to get a good look at it. The skin graph looks ok but there are a few spots that a slightly purple so they are watching those. His breathing is better today. He got the nose tube out last night and he was happy about that because he can eat normal food. The chest tube isn't taking out as much today so they were planning to move it to another spot so it can drain from there. He seems more with it today which is great. Every once in a while he says funny stuff like a few days ago, he made a comment about Cinderella. I am assuming it was about the Cinderella pageants I use to do. When he talks, he will say something and then catch himself and say, "Hold on, let me think before I say that again. It didn't make sense." Family gets in town tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

Almost two weeks....

Can't believe the accident was two weeks ago tomorrow. Crazy how fast and slow it has seemed. It feels like it just happened yesterday but then I sit and think about the hours my family has put in at the hospital and it feels like forever. Everyday I put the weather and date on the board and dad just can't believe how long it has been since he has been outside. He feels like he has been in the hospital forever.

Dad received a chest tube in today. They didn't have to take him in for surgery, they just gave him lots of drugs and put it in bedside. The chest tube is taking fluid, which looks like blood, out of his lung area and releasing some of the pressure that is building up around his left lung. They will see if this helps his breathing and then go from there. They decided against the clips/locks to put on his ribs to stabilize them because they don't want to have to put him under and cut him open again. They still have the nose tube that goes into his stomach to help him feel less sick. The tube is still helping take out liquid that has built up from medicine and helping his stomach because part of his stomach decided to stop working a few days ago. When they put the chest tube in, they clamped off the nose tube to see if he felt nauseous at all. They told us if he didn't feel sick within 6 hours, they would take it out. Here we are, way past 6 hours, and the tube is still in. He doesn't feel sick so we are hoping it will come out tonight. His leg still looks good! The skin graph is holding and keeping its color. They hear a strong pulse in the skin so that is great news! The doctor plans to take the wrap off tomorrow now to get a better look at it.

This weekend, the whole family will be in town! Dave, Kelly, Chase, and Jack will be coming in from Kansas City and bringing his boat. Jeff is still in town and his girlfriend Cindy will be bringing in Lindsey (basically like a child of his) on Saturday. It will be a packed home with lots of people and dogs :) Nothing new for my parents house!

Dad loves reading all of the posts that you comment on my Facebook and he loves the cards. Everyday he says, "Mandy, read me some posts" or "Who is that card from?" He can't believe the amount of people that are praying and thinking about him! I know it makes him feel so much better!

Grandma is slow and steady. I believe mom said her release date from rehab is suppose to be June 6th. We are trying to figure out the nurse situation when she goes home.

We hope you enjoy your long weekend and stay safe! Love you guys!!!

Midwest weather getting in the way

So another stormy day and this time, Jeff and Dad had to be moved to the hallway. After seeing the tornado in Joplin and the hospital there, they weren't taking any risks. Dad was in the hallway for a few hours and Jeff said he mostly slept. They put a tube down dad's nose and it goes into his stomach. It takes out the junk that has been making him feel sick. He is complaining that the tube is starting to irritate and hurt him so hopefully it will come out tomorrow. The doctors decided NOT to do a chest tube or stabilize his lungs by surgery today. They want the least amount of holes in him as possible. So they are hoping it starts to heal better with the tube getting stuff out of his stomach and therefore helping him cough more to help clear his lungs. His skin graph still looks good today. He still can't move the leg but the doctor might take the wrap off of it tomorrow and have a better look at it. Hope everyone is safe and sound after today's storms!

A small update...

So today was another rough day. Dad has a lot of fluid in his left lung and they still have not told us if they plan to do surgery tomorrow or not. One nurse told us his lung is collapsed but we have not heard word from the doctor. His lungs are currently working in the opposite direction when he breaths because of the broken ribs. He felt really sick tonight and is having trouble breathing. They are trying to get him to relax and settle down but he is very anxious about everything right now. On a good note, his skin graphs look promising as of now. His orthopedic doctors came in a few times tonight and reassured us that if he has surgery tomorrow, one of them will be in there to watch his leg and the position of it. They know his lungs are far more important and rather that be healthy but they are trying to do their best to keep his skin graphs closed and allow them to heal. I will know more tomorrow. Keep praying!

Slow and steady....

Got a call from mom today saying dad was going in for surgery again. They took him down for a scan to figure out what is wrong with his lungs. The left lung is really full of fluid and they wanted to see if it was just fluid or blood. If it is blood, they will do surgery tonight. If not, they are going in tomorrow to clean out his lungs. He will most likely get a lung tube, coming out from his side, tonight to try to get the fluid out of his lungs. He feels sick today and hasn't been sleeping because he has been trying to do breathing treatments to get his lungs healthy. Jeff is on his way in now. I will update tonight once we get results from scan about the actual condition of his lungs. Trying to stay positive! Thank you to my teammates Anna and Kim, Claire, and Jaime for your help in taking my kids today! I am very lucky to work at a place that helps one another out!

Surgery on a stormy day

Dad was just in surgery and the lights were flickering as the storm went through. Dad finished surgery and the doctor came to talk with us. He said it went okay. The doctor didn't sound really excited but he sounded ok with the work. He was hoping to use the muscle dad still had to wrap it around the leg area and then close it up. Once he got in there, he realized there was a huge hole in the back of the muscle and he is thinking the bone that dad is missing probably went through the muscle and created the hole. So he had to do two skin graphs to cover up the leg. Some skin came from the back of the leg and the rest came from the upper thigh of his bad leg. Dad will be happy to hear they kept all of the skin graphs on one leg so he at least has one good leg still.  The doctor is concerned about two spots that might be too tight from the skin graph. He kept skipping around the topic so I finally said, ok so what are you worried about. He said he is worried the two spots might become dead skin and break apart so then we would have to do another skin graph and surgery. So there is to be NO moving of the leg. If the skin on the leg heals, he will probably be out of here in another week and go to rehab. If the skin breaks open, then we start all over. So in all, surgery went ok. Not great, but a little step closer to getting him out of here. Keep the prayers coming!

Sunday fun

Dad is doing well today. He is in his chair, out of his bed. Surgery is tomorrow but not sure about time. Dave, Kelly, and the boys came to visit to help lift dad's spirits. It worked :) Dave shaved dad, first time ever. Dave also cut the grass last night in the dark. Dad's feeling in his fingers is getting better. It was spurs that dad has in his neck now and when they put the tube in his mouth for surgery it stressed them and hit a nerve so he lost feeling in his right hand. It is slowly coming back now. We went to visit grandma and she looks great. Her legs are a bit swollen, but we took her outside to get some fresh air. She is still in rehab at St. Anthony's.

Big Day Surgery

Dad's surgery went well today. They went in and put in rods and nails to fill in the missing bone. They cleaned out the leg and everything looks good. The only problem is that he now has pain in his leg, which believe it or not, until today he had no pain in the leg. His fingers on his right hand are slightly numb and he can't use them so we are hoping they didn't hit something during surgery. Surgery is still on for Monday when they will put muscle around the "bone" and close up the leg, finally! After that, he will be in rehab for 4-6 weeks and have a few more surgeries in there. Right now we are planning to put dad in St. John's rehab. Grandma is out of ICU and in rehab at St. Anthony's. Not sure if she will stay there or not because she has to share a room and gma does not like that. We might move her to a place she can have her own room. So today went well. Just hard seeing dad sit there trying to cough because of his pneumonia and it kills his sternum. I think that is all as of now. Mom is staying at the hospital today and Dave, Kelly, and the boys will be here tomorrow. Jeff is coming in soon. He told dad he was going to try to build him a ramp into the house. We are trying to figure out how to be able to get dad into his man cave when he gets home. We all know mom and dad DO NOT watch the same shows so there might have to be a lot of compromise over the next few months if they have to share a TV :) Thanks for the extra prayers today! 

Surgery tomorrow

Dr. just came in and he is in line for surgery tomorrow morning. Either at 7:30 or 9:30. They will go in and put in a rod through the bone and then do a clean out. Dad is anxious about this surgery. He actually asked me to stay tonight because he said he wants to sleep good. He said he slept so well with mom here last night. At least he is being honest about what he needs and would like. Grandma is suppose to go to a step down unit today or tomorrow. Then she will go to rehab. Today was much better than yesterday. So impressed with the staff here at St. John's. 

Today is a new day

So yesterday was difficult for dad. He coughed hard and hurt his ribs pretty bad. Mom stayed with him last night to try to give him some comfort. I think the new room, aka Hotel, has a different feel than the ICU and he is just trying to get use to it. Went in this morning and SLU doctors said still no bacteria in the cultures so we are still on for surgery Friday and Monday. Dave, Kelly, and the boys will be in on Saturday and Jeff is coming home next week. Mom is taking off work tomorrow and I am taking of work Monday. We are good and covered! Thank you for the prayers and thank you to whoever cut mom and dad's grass the other day! To all my neighbors, I am going to have to have one of you teach me to start the lawn mower :) Last time I cut grass, dad made fun of my lines because they weren't straight....we all know how particular dad is about his grass and garden....but something tells me he won't mind if it's not perfect haha :) I brought him in the newspaper this morning so he just sits in his room all day and sleeps, reads, and watches TV. If anyone has ideas of fun stuff to do, let me know. I don't want him to get bored! If you think of anything, call or text me 314-520-9899. Gma might get out tomorrow from the hospital and start rehab. We will have more details on her later. Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

Gma- May 17, 2011

Not a lot of change with grandma. Her recovery is just a lot of waiting and trying to keep her spirits up. She has 8 broken ribs, a broken sternum, and still watching her spleen. Her predicted  release date is 5-20-11. They are telling us to look into rehabs and where to go next. So really, it will be a very slow recovery seeing how weak she already was before the accident. Just have to keep her in a good mood!

New Room- TICU- AKA- "Hotel"

Wow...what a difference a day makes! Got to the hospital today at 4:00pm and dad was not in his bed! He was sitting in a chair NEXT to his bed. They were very careful to move him but the doctors are amazed at his progress! Cultures came back negative again so we are ok for now in terms of infections. Dr. Cannada is dad's orthopedic surgeon and she is very positive. He will have a surgery on Friday and on Monday. They will put pins in his knee and spacers in his leg where the bone is missing. Then six weeks from then he will start the rebuilding of the leg and putting the plastics in. Good news is, he will be able to go home in between. All the staff her calls the TICU the hotel because you have a couch that folds out to a bed, chair, bathroom, desk, and dvd player. Best of all, it has room service with REGULAR food! It is very nice! St. John's has been amazing through all of this. Keep praying that infections stay out. I will update when mom gets here about gma. Mom is at St. Anthony's right now so we will know more soon.

May 16, 2011

Just left the hospital visiting dad this morning. Dr. came in this morning and said that the test they did on his leg in surgery came back negative. The little bacteria they did find before in the cultures might have just been a little dirt from accident. Nothing major, as of now, in terms of infection. They are planning on having surgery Thursday or Friday to try to go in and put some rods in his knee. They did a scan of his knee yesterday to double check it and I didn't hear anything negative, which is good. They seem positive of trying to reconstruct his leg. The main Dr. is excited because she is doing a grant for this type of surgery right now so she was excited to see what they can do to keep the leg. Swelling went down in neck and face a ton and he has been doing his breathing exercises to keep him off of the ventilator. We use to have to make him pick up the device to open up his lungs but now he requests it. We are thinking because of the 15 or so different doctors and therapist to come in, EVERY single one of them have preached using the device to stay off the ventilator. I haven't talked with my aunt this morning yet to check on Grandma. I will call her later and update the page tonight. Keep praying!!!!

Here we go

I am going to try to post things about my dad and grandma on this blog. I am not the best blogger, but I am sure I will learn as I go seeing that we all have a long road ahead of us. Felt this way would be easier to let people know what was going on instead of all the annoying updates on Facebook. Feel free to pass this along to our friends and family. Dad wanted to keep updates slightly private with only family and friends. This is just a test post so I will update tomorrow.