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.