#63

Dad went to surgery around noon today, and Dr. Duke started grafting dad's right side. All went well and he plans to do some more grafting on Wednesday. Dad's now back in his room and under heat lamps for the next three days. They took the grafts from his legs and the area where they were taken will need to be exposed and heated around the clock.

Dr. Duke says to "cross your fingers that the grafts will take". Cross your fingers if you wish, but while you're doing it, go ahead send a prayer or two up for the successfullness of the grafts. We all know that it is the prayers that have gotten dad this far, not thousands of family members, friends, and strangers with crossed fingers. Thank you all again, for your continued prayers.

On another note, we know that dad really loves having visitors, but for the next few days we will need to limit the visitors to immediate family members only.

I know this is not great photo quality, but it was taken with my phone today right before they wheeled him to surgery. He looks great!

Bump

Dad never did make it to surgery yesterday. They waited all day for him to be taken, but in the end he got bumped. Yesterday turned out to be a day for many new traumas patients, and Dr. Duke was very busy (at one time working out of two operating rooms simultaneously). The plan is now to take dad to surgery today. We'll pray that he's able to get in.

No Post Op Report Yet

He's back from surgery. He has some mucous in his lungs that they are working to thin, but other than that he's okay. We do not think that they did any grafting today, but he did come back with all of his wound vacs working! I would call this celebrating the smaller successes, but the past months are proof that that is no small victory. Those wound vacs are a constant battle.

That's all for now.

#62

All's going well. Yesterday dad had a busy day - full of therapy and lots of work on the wound vacs. The wound vac adjusting was no fun. Lots of poking, proding, turning, etc, and it took quite a long time. In therapy dad took a few more steps and sat in a regular chair for the first time. Therapy's tough, but he really, really looks forward to it. While in the hospital it's the closest he can get to being his active self. We know he'd love to just get out and get his hands dirty. If you guys knew dad's hands before, you wouldn't recognize them now. While in STICU for the first few months his hands shed most of their callouses. It was kind of like molting. His finger nails have grown out and been trimmed, but not as short as he'd like due to risk of infection. (he prefers "worn down completely" look) Somewhere in there, maybe when changing the lines, the dressings, or the rooms, someone changed out his rough tough hands as well. In return he got some soft and smooth ones. All jokes aside, he's doing well. I'll post a post op report later on.

#61

No grafting done today. :( Dad went to and from surgery earlier today and is now back in his room feeling alright. He spent minimal time in recovery (unlike on Friday) and watched a John Wayne movie this afternoon. Alls well and dad's fever free... now we just hope Dr. Duke opts to try grafting soon.

Just a quick stop in STICU

Last night dad was moved back to his room on the floor. Mom referred to it as being "back home". They are both very happy that their time in STICU was very short and their room was still available and just as they left it!

Maybe grafting will start tomorrow. We'll see!