Rolling with It
Yesterday was rough, especially yesterday evening. Dad was in a lot of pain and the medications he was on weren’t keeping up with it well enough. Around 5pm he wanted to change positions, either onto his side or to raise his head and shoulders a little to take the pressure off of his back. When the nurses tried to move him it was excruciating. He didn’t want to let them try anything more after that. The doctors adjusted his pain medication orders and were able to make him much more comfortable. An answered prayer! Then, after the night nurse came on she was able to talk him into trying again and as Mom said, the nurse followed his lead and worked with him to roll in both directions. At one point he seemed quite relieved and asked if he could stay in the new position he was in, and then he agreed to let them roll him the other way. That was drastically different than s few hours before when he cried out for the nurses to stop when they tried to move him just a little! It’s very encouraging that he’s able to withstand movement now as it would be dangerous for him to just lay flat on his back for an extended period of time.
He ate some sherbet slept well after all that moving. This morning he got rolled again which included putting an air mattress under him (“and rubbing oils on his back,” - Mom). Then they sat him up partway. He got his first glimpse of his feet. They’re very bruised and swollen. As you all know, he takes things as they come. He was very calm.
This morning the surgeons met with Mom and Ben and Dad and explained the plan for Dad’s feet. Tomorrow at noon they’ll operate to play “external fixators” on his feet and ankles. The goal is to open up the space where some nerves might be pinched; they can’t reset anything until the swelling goes down. All the bones in the foot are covered in cartilage, and to be able to move those the swelling in the soft tissues has to go down. They’d like to do that sooner rather than later, because the longer they wait the more likely it is for arthritis to develop. The resident who explained this was fairly confident he’ll have some amount of arthritis.
It looks like the plan is also to place a filter while they have him under anesthesia tomorrow in order to prevent large blood clots from migrating to his heart. He’s been on a blood thinner for at least 24 hours but it seems to be negatively impacting some things, so they want to discontinue that.
This morning he was also experiencing some arrhythmia in his heart. This is likely unrelated to the accident. He told me over a year ago when my preemie was experiencing an arrhythmia called SVT, “Oh yeah I have that sometimes.” It seems this is a self-diagnosis but we’re a little unclear. Typical Dad style to shrug his shoulders when the rest of us have gaping mouths. We love him and his stubborn self. Anyway, that’s being monitored and he’s on some medications now to correct the issue.
He’s eating and drinking a little but finds it somewhat difficult; I’m not sure if it’s just because he’s tired or if his injuries make it painful.
Prayer items
No infection
No blood clots
Continued mobility and that it increases
That he eats and drinks more
Continued successful pain management (we are praising God for this today!)
For Mom to SLEEP! She’s had about 3 combined hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. But she’s getting lots of praying done!
Regulation of his heart rate
Regulation of levels of some stuff in his blood that aren’t right (sorry, I missed this part of the report and am not medically savvy enough to be more specific! God knows what he needs!)
Clarity on insurance coverage
Financial coverage to be taken care of
He ate some sherbet slept well after all that moving. This morning he got rolled again which included putting an air mattress under him (“and rubbing oils on his back,” - Mom). Then they sat him up partway. He got his first glimpse of his feet. They’re very bruised and swollen. As you all know, he takes things as they come. He was very calm.
This morning the surgeons met with Mom and Ben and Dad and explained the plan for Dad’s feet. Tomorrow at noon they’ll operate to play “external fixators” on his feet and ankles. The goal is to open up the space where some nerves might be pinched; they can’t reset anything until the swelling goes down. All the bones in the foot are covered in cartilage, and to be able to move those the swelling in the soft tissues has to go down. They’d like to do that sooner rather than later, because the longer they wait the more likely it is for arthritis to develop. The resident who explained this was fairly confident he’ll have some amount of arthritis.
It looks like the plan is also to place a filter while they have him under anesthesia tomorrow in order to prevent large blood clots from migrating to his heart. He’s been on a blood thinner for at least 24 hours but it seems to be negatively impacting some things, so they want to discontinue that.
This morning he was also experiencing some arrhythmia in his heart. This is likely unrelated to the accident. He told me over a year ago when my preemie was experiencing an arrhythmia called SVT, “Oh yeah I have that sometimes.” It seems this is a self-diagnosis but we’re a little unclear. Typical Dad style to shrug his shoulders when the rest of us have gaping mouths. We love him and his stubborn self. Anyway, that’s being monitored and he’s on some medications now to correct the issue.
He’s eating and drinking a little but finds it somewhat difficult; I’m not sure if it’s just because he’s tired or if his injuries make it painful.
Prayer items
No infection
No blood clots
Continued mobility and that it increases
That he eats and drinks more
Continued successful pain management (we are praising God for this today!)
For Mom to SLEEP! She’s had about 3 combined hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. But she’s getting lots of praying done!
Regulation of his heart rate
Regulation of levels of some stuff in his blood that aren’t right (sorry, I missed this part of the report and am not medically savvy enough to be more specific! God knows what he needs!)
Clarity on insurance coverage
Financial coverage to be taken care of
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