Standing up

I had a wonderful conversation yesterday with dad when about halfway through, he mentioned that he stood up for the first time!! With the physical therapist and his sitter at his side, helping him up, he was able to stand up on his legs for the first time since the accident. It's one GIANT step in the recovery process and we are all excited.

I asked him if he was light headed while standing and he said no, but that it felt weird. He had a walker he was using to take some of the weight off his legs, but for the most part, he was holding himself up. He stood up twice, not for very long, but it's the first time since the accident that he's been able to get up on his feet at all.

He's also got a laptop from work and is able to check his email now. Jason had the insight to install wireless internet at their house, so he is connected. Please email him if you get a chance, he'd love to hear from you! He's checking it daily and it has been really good for his morale.

I forgot to post this the other day, but this is Dad with our cousin Emily so here's a picture:

Finally... a new posting!

I'm so sorry this has taken so long. I started a new job last week and things have just been really hectic lately... so here's the latest.

Last week, Dad went to the doctor for the surgery he's waited for for weeks. He had his external fixators removed, finally! While he was asleep, they moved his knees to see how much flexibility he had in his legs. The left knee moved 100 degrees while the right knee moved 120 degrees. Keep in mind, this is the first movement he's had in his knees in over 7 weeks so this alone is an accomplishment.

They also did MRI's on his knees so that they could see internally how much nerve, muscle, tendon damage he had. They have concluded that they will definitely have to do reconstructive surgery on the left knee. It's still up in the air regarding the right knee. They have opted for four to six weeks of physical therapy and then they will take a second look at the right knee.

At this point, the main concern is how much strength and stability each leg has. The legs could have strength, but not stability, and vice versa. This is what they are going to try to figure out through physical therapy.

They have a lovely "dad sitter" that comes and stays with him during the day while Mom goes to work. This has been good for them both because it allows Mom to get back to work without worrying about him.

I just talked to Mom and she said that he was just up, sitting on the edge of his bed with his feet almost on the floor just a few minutes ago. He sat there for about 15 minutes, just getting readjusted to having his feet near the ground.

He's started moving the fourth toe on his right foot so all that's left is the big toe. This is an answer to all of our prayers as he is regaining movement and feeling in his foot. Mom is sending me more pictures of his legs here in a few minutes so there will be more to see.

Finally... HOME!!!

Yesterday Dad and Mom got the break they've been looking for and they made their way home. Dad had to ride in an ambulance because of his legs, so Mom led the way in her car and the ambulance followed behind. My brother and sister had put up balloons and signs welcoming Dad home and he had a good meal last night for dinner. It's such a relief for everyone to have him home. And he got to use the new ramp for the first time built by the guys at Sanford Contractors. He loved it!!

I would like to take a quick moment to say that we really appreciate all the cards, phone calls and visits from everyone while Dad was at the hospital. It has done wonders for his spirits to know that he has so many folks cheering him on. Since he'll be home now, we know he will have even more friends and family visiting daily which is wonderful. At the same time, it would be helpful to everyone if these visits were kept brief since we want to make sure he has time to rest and recover.

Again, thank you all for everything, I promise I will put pictures up of his homecoming as soon as I get them from Mom!

Surgery Update

It's 12:39 pm on Friday and Dad's still in surgery as far as we know. We arrived at 10:45 am and mom said that Dad had gone back for surgery at about 8 am. We're hanging around in the waiting room with a wheelchair full of stuff because we're not sure what room he'll be moved to next.

They had to put electrodes on his head to monitor his brain waves because they are going to be close to his spinal cord. I really hope to get a picture of this so that I can show it to him later on. He'll be so mad that they messed up his hair!

I'll update this once he's out of surgery, but until then, we'll be sitting here waiting...

FRIDAY - Surgery Day

Tommorow, Dad will undergo surgery on his back to help fix his crushed L3 vertebrae. Dad explained it to me saying that a healthy back is curved and his back is currently straight. If his back isn't corrected by surgery, he will lean forward for the rest of his life and that will lead to arthritis and other problems. The doctors recommended taking care of this as soon as possible so tomorrow at 7:30 am, he will go in. The surgery will last 2 1/2 to 3 hours and then he will have a scar that's about four inches long. They said that he may be able to come home in 2-3 days so that's a positive. I'll update this as soon as I know the outcome of his surgery, but please think good thoughts and keep praying!!

Oh, and a big "THANK YOU" to the folks from Sanford Contractors that finished the ramp today. You guys are amazing and we can't wait to get home and put it to good use!!

UPDATE: Dad's surgery was postponed on Wednesday and we're told it will be FOR SURE Friday at 7:30 am. We're not sure why he got "bumped" but he's ready to get this surgery over!

Lots of photos!

Here's pictures of Dad and what he's been up to. WARNING- at the bottom are pictures of his injuries that may be a little too much for some folks. Please use caution when viewing!

(above) Wes, the Physical Therapist, is teaching Dad some new moves to use on his good foot.

Dad is enjoying the massage therapy Wes gives him on his injured foot.

Here's his back brace that he has to wear when he's sitting up or moving around.

This is his first venture out of the 7th floor. Mom pushed him to the main entrance and then to the Children's Hospital entrance. This 2-story "maze" is pretty fascinating. There are about 10 balls moving around at a time and it makes noise and is just something neat to look at. Children love it.

Ok Randall, play this baby Grand! (Actually, it plays some songs on its own)

Kevin helps Dad strengthen his upper body. He pulls these rubber bands across his chest and gets a good workout!

Here's a good shot of the trapeze bars. You can't see his triangle bar that dangles over his head that well, but this allows him to pull himself up and move his back around. He finds this to be helpful because he can move around to get comfortable.

Dr. Ibazebo is his rehabilitation doctor and he has been wonderful! Here you can see his triangle above his head.

His rehab team: Dr. Atkinson, an intern doctor, Dr. Ibazebo, and Susan the nurse.

This is the nurse that welcomed us to the rehab department. She comes by almost daily to say hello and see how Dad's progressing.

Here's Mom helping to hold Dad up while he sits on the edge of his bed. Believe it or not, this is considered physical therapy because he's not lying in the bed, he's actually moving around. He says his is such a relief to be able to move around :)
WARNING- THESE PICTURES ARE A LITTLE GROSS... You've been warned.

Twice a day, Dad's dressing on his wounds must be changed. When his kidneys weren't functioning correctly, his body was so swollen that the fluid had nowhere to go. So it created little pockets like blisters just under his skin. This dark spot in the next picture is what happens when these blisters burst and the fluid leaks out. It then scabs over and starts to heal. It doesn't look pretty, but it's healing!

(above) This is where Dr. Brabham, the vascular surgeon, took the piece of vein out and then put it in on the other side (next picture).

This is where the by-pass graft was done. They placed the vein inside this wound and it is, essentially, what saved his leg. That's right folks, you're looking at a miracle! As the swelling goes down, they will be able to tighten these sutures and then it will be able to heal. They can't do the knee surgery until this wound is healed so we're hoping it will hurry up!

Thanks for looking folks, I'll have some more pictures soon.

Good News Update

The word on the street is that Dad will be heading home next Wednesday! Hooray! The teams of doctors working on him met yesterday with the physical therapist to give an over all evaluation of his healing and abilities. They all said that they think if he keeps healing and working the way he is now, he should be home on Wednesday. He slept really well last night and is feeling good today.

That leaves Mom and the rest of the family scrambling to get the house ready. Mom's heading home this afternoon to re-arrange the living room so that Dad can set up shop with his bed and wheelchair. The folks from Sanford Contractors are coming Monday to start working on the ramp and sidewalk to the front door. Brent said it would look like "Extreme Home Makeover" in the front yard for a while. Hopefully someone will be there to get some pictures for us!

Physical therapy is going really well. They have attached rubber band-type material to his trapeze bars on his hospital bed that hangs down within his reach so that he can pull himself up and strengthen his arms. He's going to have HUGE arm muscles soon. :)

Mom has taken pictures of Dad's doctors and nurses and is going to upload them and send them to me today. I can't wait to see them because with the improvements he's made, he's going to look even better than when I saw him last. Mom said that the Cox's from our church came by and brought a huge basket full of different snack foods and fruit. Thank you all so much! I think that's all the updates I have. Keep praying!

Sanford & the ramp

Mom got a well deserved break yesterday, she went home for the first time since the accident happened. She met with some of the insurance folks and some of dad's coworkers to discuss building a new ramp for the house. We need to have a ramp that can accomodate dad in his wheelchair and that's no easy task. Because of his knees, he will have to keep his legs straight out in front of him and because of his back injury, he can't sit straight up, he must be reclined. So this means he has a specially designed wheelchair that won't take sharp turns well. So they plotted out the best design for a ramp and planned to come back and build it soon.

I would like to take a moment here to mention how wonderful dad's company, Sanford Contractors has been. Where do I begin? From the moment the accident happened, they have been looking out for all of us and making sure we are taken care of. The insurance company has been wonderful and they have assigned a rehabilitation worker to dad to make sure he has everything taken care of. It is such a blessing to know that he works for such a dedicated company. And it's very good to know that his coworkers respect him the way they do. They've already started talking about getting him "back to work" as soon as possible which is good for everyone.

And so many from the company have visited. Geez, I can't even name them all! Randall and Brent have been there numerous times, keeping dad in a good mood and they were there yesterday at our house helping mom with ramp ideas. The owner of Sanford Contractors, Donnie, came by as well a few days ago and told dad he can come back whenever he wants. What a relief to know that they want him to come back to work!

I have to run, but I'll write more and update everyone on his new wheelchair/toilet mechanism... I know you're all anxious to hear about this!

Rehab... not THAT kind of rehab!

So yesterday, we returned to DC and had to leave the family at home. It was hard to leave knowing that there's still so much left to do, but we'll be getting daily updates from mom so don't worry, you'll read it all here, I promise.

When we left yesterday, dad had just come back from his x-ray on his hip. He keeps on having sharp pains in his left hip that are just agonizing. He said it feels like knives just stabbing at his insides when he gets it agitated. And to make it worse, after he's in the pain "zone" he stays uncomfortable for about two hours. The worst is when he has to move from the hospital bed to the stretcher and back. The nurses, while they are wonderful, and they don't mean to, but they end up contorting his hip in the wrong way and he is in immense pain. It almost makes me pass out to see him like this. Trust me, it's not good.

Since they haven't really given us a reason for this pain, they did an x-ray to see if anything had been broken in the fall. Mom says it came back showing nothing unusual so they've decided it must just be the broken vertebraes in his back getting moved around, causing pain.

Before we left yesterday, they put the trapeze bars around his bed giving him a dangling bar overhead to hold on to and thus allowing him to pull his upper body up and move around. This helps him to adjust his back and get more comfortable in the bed.

The latest word is that he'll be in rehab for 2-3 weeks. I want to clarify here that this is not rehab on his legs. This is rehab on his upper body in order to teach him how to be more independent. They want to know that he can take care of himself for the most part so they've started showing him how to use his arm strength to get around. They move him from the hospital bed into a wheelchair, then he has to wheel himself down the hall to the gym. Then they give his arms a good work out and send him back to rest. It wears him out, but it's good for him. As mom said, it will get him functional and independently active for when he does come home.

When he does go home, he'll have the hospital bed, trapeze bars and wheelchair. He'll also be sporting the external fixators (the rods and pins in his legs) so his legs will be straight in front of him. The back brace will also be a must. They hope that his back injuries will heal in 6-8 weeks on their own, but only time will tell. He'll have to go back to Chapel Hill in 4-6 weeks to do the knee reconstruction surgery on both legs. This surgery won't happen til the vein graft wound has healed completely so in reality, we don't know when that will be. We assume that he will then return home in a cast or a brace of some sort, we really don't know.

The vascular surgeon visited yesterday and stood at the edge of dad's bed and proclaimed that he was "very pleased" at the way his leg was healing. When they did the vein graft, his leg was so swolen, they were not able to stitch him back up. So they left the wound open and as the swelling goes down, they will pull the soutures together letting his wound close and heal. Yesterday they were able to pull two soutures together and dad felt the pain which is a GOOD sign! Any feeling in that part of his leg is good because that means there is a chance he'll regain feeling in his right foot. The doctors think that the fluid in his right leg/foot is pressing on a nerve imparing his sensations and preventing him from feeling anything. We hope once the swelling goes down (and it's still pretty swolen) it will move from this nerve and his sense of touch in his foot will come back.

Today he visited the gym again for physical therapy for an hour, came back to the room for lunch and then went back for more. Then he had occupational therapy for an hour. He looks forward to this time becuase when he's doing therapy, he's not lying in the bed helpless, this gets him moving his upper body. He will do 3 hours of intense therapy a day until he goes home.

It is amazing to look at the pictures from last week and the ones now. He has come so far in just 11 days, it is nothing short of a miracle what the doctors can do these days. We all know that it is God at work and we are sending up prayers constantly. Thank you for helping us do that and for the many acts of kindness you have shown to our family. We are so blessed!

Moving on up

Today dad got to move up to the rehabilitation floor here at the hospital. As mentioned before, it's very nice and luxurious compared to the typical hospital room we were in on the fifth floor. He's had a good day for the most part. Here's a picture of him in his new "crib."

You'll notice he has noticably less stuff hanging around and attached to him. He's gotten rid of the oxygen and the ivs in the past few days so he's doing a lot better. The ultra sound of his artery went well. The vein graph was a sucess and the doctors are all pleased with the way it is healing. Prayer is working!

We got the word that the rehab wing was ready for us so we packed up and loaded him on a stretcher. They walked him up here and then when we were loading him back onto the bed, we got a little off in our timing and he was in intense pain for a few minutes. We had to stop what we were doing, put him back on the stretcher and figure out another option. Luckily, the staff here knew right what to do and grabbed a slick sheet to help him to slide onto the bed. It was much less painful the second time around, but he's been in pain for a while since then.

Mom's tired but of course she has yet to complain about anything. She's actually napping now as I type this. Her medical knowledge has been so helpful because she remembers their "lingo" and can repeat it when the next round of doctors come in to check up on him.

So I'm sure you're all dying to see the new room. HA! Here's some pics.


The best part is the window. We joke about being on people patrol because you can actually look out of the window and see the folks that are walking in from the parking deck. It's so interesting to be able to people watch from seven floors up! Here's the view

Since it's the weekend now, his physical therapy tomorrow won't be as intense as it is during the week. With the weekend staff, they only do about half of what the weekday staff can do. This will be good becuase it will let dad ease into the physical therapy. In total, they will do about three hours of physical therapy a day. It's not all at once, it's in shifts. They'll let him calm down and rest in between in order to keep him from tiring too badly.

They are thinking he'll be in physical therapy for 10-14 days. We're not sure when his reconstructive surgery will be, but if they had to guess, they said it would be several weeks away.

As you can tell from the picture above, he's come a long way in a week. We're just hopeful that he continues at this rate.

Thursday

Dad was able to watch fireworks on tv last night. Ironically, he saw the "National" fireworks show in DC. It was just two years ago at that time that we were all sitting in the Pentagon parking lot watching those same fireworks live. Let's hope that next year we can do that again.

This morning, dad was ready to move around. So he got mom and a couple nurses to help him move his legs around and sit on the edge of the bed. It's good for him to sit up to get acclimated to moving around. It's occassionally painful, of course, but we all know that this is a good step in the right direction. He sat this way for about an hour and fifteen minutes but then at the end, he was exhausted. They got him situated back in his bed and he napped for a while. It just takes so much out of him.

Fortunately, his left leg and foot are looking like normal. The swelling is almost completely gone. However, the right leg is still very swollen and marshmellow-ish. They are going to do an ultrasound tomorrow morning on his right leg to check the vein that they had to replace and see how well it is doing.

The doctors came in this afternoon and said that he was anemic and therefore a blood transfusion was needed. So this afternoon, they gave him two pints of blood. Instantly, he started to feel better, look better and it's a noticable difference. Because of his need for blood, they weren't able to move him to the rehab wing so we've got one more day before we are in the lap of luxury.

Mom and I got to "tour" the rehabilitation wing last night and it is like staying at the Ritz. Hardwood floors, nickel light fixtures, awesome decoration. The rooms there are bigger, the bathrooms are handicapped accessible and there's even a laundry room for them to do their own laundry. It's such a nice environment for him, more positive, upbeat, etc. They also want to make him more independant so mom can go home and he will be able to take care of himself.

Dad got another huge flower arrangement today from Sanford Contractors and it is gorgeous! Thank y'all so much for all of your love and support. He appreciates it all (as do we, the family). Jason says that the pictures of his legs on Webshots have been viewed 957 times!! That takes my breath away. I cannot believe that many people have an interest in this but it's amazing. If we've got at least half those folks praying, then the Lord has to oblige us all, right? :)

Hopefully we'll have more pictures tomorrow of his new "crib."

More updates

Today has been a good day. Daddy's taken his first ride around in a wheelchair so that was exciting. They got him up in the wheelchair and drove him around the hallway for his physical therapy and he got to see a bit of new scenery. His "specialty" wheelchair is designed so that his legs will lie straight in front of him and his torso is able to lay back. At this point, he is unable to sit straight up so with this reclining wheelchair, it's the only way for him to get around. It's a big step for him to be mobile!

Since today's the fourth of July, the mass of doctors hasn't been so bad. He had the trauma team in first thing this morning, then the physical therapy folks but it really hasn't been that bad. Supposedly they are having fireworks at Keenan Stadium tonight at 9:30 pm so maybe we'll be able to see those.

We're still unclear on when he will have surgery and move to the rehabilitation wing. The latest update was that he'd go to rehab tomorrow and then have surgery in 7-10 days. We're hoping to go up to the rehab wing on the 7th floor sometime to walk around and check things out. When he does get to rehab, they will teach him how to be more independent. Right now, we are moving his legs and placing pillows around his body in order to make him more comfortable. Rehab will help him to learn how to do all of this on his own.

Some good news, still no pneumonia! He's still hot all the time but fortunately, his breathing exercises seem to be doing their job. We've got the a/c in his room set at about 60 degrees so we are all freezing but he is sweating away. Melissa's fanning him right now trying to get him cooled off. We said we were going to buy big palm leaves to fan him with and feed him grapes... ha!

Today he was able to get rid of the oxygen and the iv in his arm. These are the last two steps he had to conquer in order to get him to rehab so he's doing well! He's eating well and we keep getting more and more home cooked food from visitors so thank you all so much.

Keep the prayers a coming, he is already so much better than he was yesterday!

Good news...

This morning the rehabilitation doctors came in and gave us an update. They recommend that he go upstairs to the 7th floor which is a totally different part of the hospital in a few days. It is all physical therapy/rehabilitation on the 7th floor which will help him to learn how to be independent when he returns home. We think he will be on the rehab floor for 2-3 weeks, but that is just a guess-timate from the doctors at this point. A lot of that depends on his ability to kick the oxygen and the morphine.

A physical therapist did come in today and helped to fit him with his hard plastic brace that he will have to wear in order to keep his back from moving. This will allow his fractured vertebrae to heal. They put on the brace and then she wanted him to sit up. We all had to help move his legs around and he used a the orange bar above his head to pull himself up. We moved him so that he sat up in the bed and we rotated his body so that his back was 90 degrees. He got a little light headed (as did some of us) and so we laid him back down. The physical therapist says this will help him to get used to sitting up again and to use his upper body strength. He did wonderful. She was impressed with his agility and dedication and we all think that he did better than expected. He even commented that it was a lot less painful than he thought it would be.

Many people have been asking what they can do to help. For now, we have been trying to think of things that would help us out now and in the long run. The best thing we can come up with is either gas cards or Wal-Mart gift cards. We know that when he comes home, he will need things that we can't even begin to think of and we're sure those trips to Wal-Mart will be needed. We also know that between us kids and mom, we've already made several trips home and back so gas cards would be nice. Of course we're not asking for anything. Please don't go out of your way. I'm just posting it here because so many of you have asked what you can do to help and this is what we've come up with.

That's all for now, he's taking a nap and we're expecting visitors soon so I'll go. But do keep looking on here for updates! And keep praying... lots of prayers!

Daddy update...

On Thursday, June 28th our dad, Kenny B, was involved in an accident at work. The long and short of it is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a part off a crane decided to break and fall on him. Skip over the rest of this post if you cannot handle gross medical details, you won't hurt my feelings.

The initial impact hit him in the chest and abdomen area and forced him to the ground. The part of the crane that fell then landed on his legs, causing his knees to hyperextend and bend the wrong way dislocating his knee caps. Fortunately, the adrenaline rush of another worker allowed him to lift this heavy piece of crane off dad's legs BY HIMSELF. Amazing. He was airlifted to Chapel Hill Hospital (which is where we all are now) where they took him in and did the first of many surgeries to come. He went in at around 8:30 or 9:00 pm and they let us know that their first concern was the artery in his right leg that had been damaged. At the time, they could find a pulse in his ankle of his right leg but not in the top of his foot which meant that the circulation was poor. If he continued to not have circulation, he could have lost his leg.

So they went in and did a vein graph. Basically, they took a vein from his left leg and put it into his right leg in order for the circulation to improve. They also went in and put pins and rods on the exterior of his legs in order to keep the knee caps in place. They also found a blood clot in his right leg, but when they opened him up, it moved and corrected itself. He has a gash behind his right kneed cap that is about 4 inches long that has caused a lot of nerve damage. All things that have troubled the doctors to no end.

At 1am Friday morning, the vascular surgeon came out and said that from his perspective, the surgery had gone as well as it could and he was positive that the circulation problem would be fixed. At 2am, the orthopeadic surgeon came out and said that they had placed the rods around his knee caps and that their part was done for now. However, more surgery would be needed to reconstruct his knees. They left him with a morphine drip that he could push a button and release as he needed. They also put him on blood thinners in order to prevent future blood clots.

At about 2:30 am, Mr. J, DK and I had decided we would head home and try to get some sleep. Then in the ICU waiting room over the loud speakers came a voice... "PAC-U Code Blue, PAC-U Code Blue." Mom's eyes got as big as saucers and she spoke up. "Your dad's in PAC-U, you're not going anywhere." So we waited to see if it was him. Fortunately, mom wandered around til she found PAC-U and asked someone if dad was ok and they assured her he was sleeping so we were all relieved. That was probably the scariest moment of them all so far.

On Friday morning, his kidneys stopped functioning properly and so he started retaining fluid. He swelled up like a marshmellow and just looked horrible. We got to start visiting him two at a time so we would lather up and walk into the Vascular ICU every so often. We had tons of guests and they brought food and drinks and were such a blessing.

They flushed his kidneys in order for them to start working better and luckily, they did. On Saturday, they moved him out of ICU and into a private room. This has been the biggest blessing because he has had more visitors than you can shake a stick at and the room has helped folks to come and go as they please.

They updated us on Saturday and told us that he had broken his back in two places. He fractured two of his vertebraes, L3 and T11. They don't know at this time if surgery will be needed, but they did fit him with a hard plastic brace that he will need to wear for a few months on his torso. Friday night he had bled pretty steadily because of the blood thinners so they took him off of the blood thinners on Saturday and put in a filter that would stop clots.

Saturday night they were able to find a pulse in his right foot on the top so that was the first of many answered prayers. His swelling in his face and upper body went down pretty dramatically and he was able to talk more and got a good nap (as did mom, finally). Being in the private room has given him more chance to sleep and there's a wonderful chair that folds out into a bed so mom can sleep. This has been the biggest help for all of us children, knowing that both of them can get their rest.

Today is Sunday and they have taken his cathader out which has been a blessing and a curse. He's had a hard time with the bed pan so this is the first of many struggles to come. Again, visitors have been arriving steadily so he's taking time to talk to all of them which is good. He's been coherent the entire time and says he remembers every detail of the accident. Says it's just a freak, random accident that could have happened to anyone.

Moral seems to be good all around. We all know that he has a long, uphill battle ahead of him and we don't know how long he'll be in the hospital or how long til surgery. I'll keep this blog as updated as possible so that you all will know what we know. If y'all have any questions, please email me or post a message on here. I will answer it to the best of my ability. Our cells work at the hospital so we can take calls, but with so many visitors, it's been hard to make all of the appropriate phone calls. Please don't be upset if we haven't called you. We're doing all that we can given the circumstances.

The Lord has blessed us with a wonderful network of family and friends and we are so blessed to have them all here. Thank you for taking the time to read this... I'll put a few pics up shortly.