Utah Valley Specialty Hospital

It's been two months today since the accident. Butch moved to the Utah Valley Specialty Hospital in Provo on Thursday. We were able to visit him and he is doing well and still in high spirits. He's been reading a lot of scriptures and other church literature. He'll be there for a while doing a little physical therapy everyday. This hospital is taking good care of Butch. He was able to watch the BYU vs. U of U game this weekend with family and is happy the Utes won :)

If you plan on visiting him they are strict with visiting hours. The hours are 9-9.

Surgery went well

Butch's skin graft went well yesterday and he will be staying at IHC for the next few days :)

Skin Graft Today

Again, sorry for the lack of information. Not a lot changes from day to day. Butch is doing well. He has been at Promise for the last couple of days but is being moved back to IHC again today for his last surgery. They are finally doing the skin graft to close up his leg. He's also been doing a number of hyperbaric treatments to help the wound heal.

He can move his hips a little now. After this last surgery he will be able to focus on physical therapy as his wounds continue to heal.

Surgery moved to tomorrow

Butch has been moved to IHC but they were unable to do the surgery to remove the bacteria today. The doctors were too busy but it is scheduled for tomorrow. They took his feeding tube out on Monday night--which he is REALLY happy about. The doctors and nurses who have worked with him from the beginning and are seeing him again at IHC are impressed and happy with his recovery so far.

Bacteria

They have found bacteria in Butch's hip. They will be transferring him back to IHC in order to clean the bacteria out. He will then have hyperbaric treatments that will help his wounds to heal faster.

Update

Sorry again for the length between posts. We visited Butch yesterday. He has been eating small amounts of food and they may be taking his feeding tube out sometime this week. The skin graft is still planned for sometime in the next few weeks--we still don't have a date for that. Butch continues to do physical therapy. They want to work him up to doing it three hours at a time. In order for him to do physical therapy they have to put a brace on him. It is kind of a shell that goes around his torso to support his back. He may need to wear it for 5-6 weeks or longer--but only during physical therapy. It was especially designed for him but he says that it is very painful and is making it difficult to do physical therapy for very long. He has asked that we pray for some kind of out-of-the-box solution that will support his back like he needs but not cause him such pain.

Skin Graft

Sorry for the lack of information lately. Butch has been at Promise post hospital care but was transferred to IHC this morning for his skin and muscle graft. When they checked the wounds they were doing better than expected and the ended up just cleaning them. They don't plan on needing the muscle graft and are planning on doing the skin graft in two weeks.

Butch has been adjusting to Promise--they're not quite as good as IHC. When they moved him back today they gave him a private room.

More Himself

Butch has been moved to Promise in LDS hospital. He is more himself than he has been since the two days after the accident. They have him on a lot less pain medication. So much so that he is very aware of the pain and is uncomfortable. After they gave him his evening pain meds he was relieved and started to fall asleep. He had a smoothie today--and thought it was REALLY good :)

Moving Tomorrow and Surgery Scheduled

Butch is doing well. At times he is more aware than he has been and has been making decisions--such as being okay with being moved tomorrow. They will be taking him to a post hospital care place called Promise. He will then be taken back to the hospital on Monday for his leg surgery. They have checked his leg and the bone looks good. They will be taking muscle and skin from his other leg in Monday's surgery. He doesn't have any blood clots and has passed the swallow test. He is now on a soft diet.

Little Change

Not much change today. Butch is a little more himself--more aware. He's started to be able to answer questions--he knows he is in the hospital and he knows he was in an accident. His not knowing wasn't from the accident itself but from so much pain medication.

Getting His Voice Back

Butch's voice was almost back to normal today. His throat cleared and they took him off a lot of the medication. He was a lot more himself and joked a little bit. They're still testing his swallowing with small amounts of applesauce and ice chips but he still can't have more than that. They had him on the tilting table again to put weight on his leg and help him to stand. He's more peaceful today--especially after having a blessing yesterday.

Tried Standing

Butch is doing well today. He is more aware of the people visiting but can't always answer all the questions the nurses ask. He has had a few tablespoons of pudding and some juice and ice chips to practice swallowing. He's swallowing better but still can't eat any more than that. They tested weight on his right leg today. They had him on a table that helped to stand him up and he isn't yet able to support his own weight.

There's been a rumor about having to have his leg amputated. It's not completely true. The doctor just said that he has a bad infection and that they need to check on the condition of the bone in the next couple of days. We'll see where it goes from there. His leg is just not out of the woods yet.

No Skin Graft Yet

Butch is doing better today. He still isn't totally aware of everything going on but he's more coherent than he was yesterday. He was unable to get the skin graft today. The wound on his left leg is infected and they think that may be why he has been getting the fever on and off. On Thursday they plan on looking into how bad the infection is. However, they were able to work on a few other wounds on his leg today to help them continue healing.

Ready for Tomorrow's Surgery

Butch is doing well. He is a lot more relaxed and more peaceful today. His breathing is better and he is sleeping better. In physical therapy they have been able to sit him all the way up and put on his shell brace for his back. He was able to have a few spoonfuls of applesauce and he had a little water. They were testing to make sure he could swallow it. But he will get the breathing tube back in tomorrow for his skin graft and they will have to test again after that. He has been watching the Olympics.

Update

Butch is doing better today. He is a lot more aware. They helped him to sit all the way up in his physical therapy and he was able to have some ice chips :)

Out of the ICU

Butch has been moved out of the ICU! He has a fever again but is doing well otherwise. He is starting physical therapy and can lift his head and continues to move a lot.

Another Update

Sorry for the lack of information lately. Butch is doing well. He now has his breathing tube out and is talking a little. He moves a lot and no longer has to have his hands tied down--he's stopped playing with the tubes. He responds when they ask him to put up two fingers and other such things. His fever has also gone down. They have scheduled his next surgery--the skin graft for his left leg will be on Tuesday.

Post Surgery Update

A few updates: Butch still has the breathing tube from yesterday's surgery but he is breathing on his own. They hope to be able to take it out tomorrow. He has a fever again. They have pieced together his hip but will have to replace the whole hip eventually--they are not sure when though. He will also be having skin grafts for his left leg but we aren't sure when that will be either.

Last Hip Surgery

Butch got out of surgery last night. The doctors said everything went well and that the surgery was successful. They also said that he won't be able to put weight on it for eight weeks.

Second Hip Surgery Day

Butch went in for his second hip surgery at 3:00 this afternoon. It is his last major surgery and should take about seven hours--same as the one last week. This morning he was about the same as yesterday. He was awake, though still on pain killers. They did have to tie his wrists down again because he kept pulling on his tubes and even took out his feeding tube. He continues to be frustrated with laying in bed doing nothing and tries to get up himself to leave.

Tube Out, More Aware :)

Butch is doing really well today. They were actually able to take the breathing tube out around noon. He's moving around a lot more--especially since they were able to untie his wrists. They were strapped to the bed before so he wouldn't pull the tube out. He's moving his right leg a lot still and his arms as well. He'll stretch his arms up and put them behind his head. Because of the back and hip injuries he can't sit up very far right now. He's a lot more aware and responsive today and can talk a little bit but it is difficult because the tube was in for more than a week. He looks better every day and is anxious to recover. So anxious he kept telling Spencer to help him up and take him out of there.

Breathing Tube

Sorry for the lack of information. They checked Butch's lungs for water today and decided that they wouldn't take the breathing tube out yet. Other than that things are mostly the same.

Another Update

Visited Butch again today. He looks a lot better and is moving around more. The cut on his forehead is healing nicely. He still has the breathing tube because of the water in his lungs. He has pneumonia and they will x-ray him again tomorrow to see if they can take the tube out. If there is still water in his lungs they won't take  it out until after his last hip surgery--scheduled for Monday.

Post Surgery Update

Update on Butch's condition. His hip surgery was a success and they are planning the second hip surgery for Monday. They are slowly waking him up and should be taking the breathing tube out tomorrow. He's a lot more aware and responsive. He is also moving not only his toes but his legs as well--and quite a bit. He has had a fever but it has been going down. Overall his progress has been very positive.

Update

Butch got out of surgery late last night. He will be having the other hip surgery in a few days.

Hip Surgery Today

Butch went in for surgery at 3:00. It should take about seven hours but that is all we know right now.

Movement Test

Just visited Butch. They are keeping him on pain killers and he still has the breathing tube. We talked to him a little and he understands what we are saying. It's hard for him to respond much though because he can't talk with the tube. The nurse was having him move his toes and squeeze her hand while we were there. He was also responding to nodding and shaking his head and closing his eyes.

Surgery Update

Again, there hasn't been much to report. They have now scheduled hip surgery for tomorrow and Thursday. The surgery is split into two parts. They will be piecing the hip bone back together and will be working on one section each of the days. Butch has been given a blessing and the family feels that things will go well.

Little Change

Sorry for the lack of information today. Not much has changed. Butch still has a breathing tube. They are thinking the hip surgery will be in the next day or two but it hasn't officially been scheduled.

Thank you to all those who have been helping the family and all your thoughts and prayers.

News Links

We have found a few news stories about the accident. This first one only briefly mentions it.

http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_1514.shtml


This second one has a little bit more information.

http://sandy.fox13now.com/news/news/75033-man-hospitalized-after-lcc-rollover#.UAybF5IQMTI.email

Surgery Change and Pictures

So we have been told that they won't be doing hip surgery tomorrow. We don't know that much more has changed than that.

We were also able to get pictures of the truck from the towing company. They were taken after Butch was lifeflighted.

The top of the car on its side. You can see the boulder and tree he hit.

After they tipped the car up.

The top of the car on its side again. 

The car on its side from the front.

Update

Butch has been asleep most of the day. They are planning on doing his hip surgery tomorrow so they are keeping his breathing tube in until after that. Because the breathing tube is annoying, they are trying to keep him comfortable and asleep. This is good because the rest helps him heal and prepare for surgery. He continues to move his toes when the nurses ask him to.

Truck Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the truck.

The front of the truck from the driver's side.

The driver's seat.

The driver's seat again.

Farther back on the driver's side. 

The passenger's seat.

The truck from the passenger's side.

Back from Surgery

Butch got out of back surgery a few hours ago and we were able to see him. He was really groggy but would open his eyes a little and respond to the nurse talking to him. One of the surgeons came in and asked him to move his toes. He opened his eyes and was able to move his toes--a good sign. He currently has a breathing tube and will be asleep for the rest of today and at least part of tomorrow. They want to keep him comfortable. Things continue to go well.

Update

We don't know much but I wanted to update with what we do know. Butch has been in surgery for several hours now. We recently heard that he is doing really well and things are going smoothly.

The family was also able to contact Cory on his mission last night to let him know what is going on. It was good to hear that he is so focused on the work.

Back Surgery

We have been told that Butch will go in for back surgery tomorrow morning and that the surgery should take a few hours. He will also need surgery on his hip within a few days. He has been able to get more sleep today, which has been good for him and things continue to go well.

Butch's Accident

We decided to start a blog to keep friends and family updated on Butch's condition. We would first like to let everyone know what happened.

Wednesday night, July 18th, he was driving down Little Cottonwood Canyon headed home from visiting Girl's Camp. He failed to veer left around a corner and hit a boulder sending him flying 30 feet. The truck hit one tree and then another before landing on it's side between a tree and the boulder. They had to cut the top of the truck off to get him out and he was lifeflighted to IHC in critical condition. He was the only one in the car and didn't hit any other vehicles.

He sustained several injuries including broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a shattered hip, a broken leg, and a broken back. He went into surgery that night to restore circulation to his leg. Surgery went well and they were able to save his leg. He is now in good spirits and will have have surgery to fix his back sometime this weekend.

We want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and will update this blog as things progress. Right now they are only allowing immediate family and we will let you know as that changes.