URGENT!! Prayer requests needed HORRIBLE WRECK

DOUBLE UPDATE:

Sunday

Written 22 hours ago

Kim was pretty out of it today. I don't blame her. I can only imagine the pain and frustration she feels going through all of this. I got there about 12:45 PM, and her nurse happened to be in her room. He said her temperature was still in the 99/100 range, but wasn't spiking.

I spoke with the on-call when he made rounds, and this doctor was very generous with his time and answering questions, and gave me a more in depth idea about where we are at this point. He said that they positively identified the strain of pneumonia she has, and they have started her on the specific antibiotics that will eradicate it (hopefully).


He was cautiously optimistic on having to give Kim a tracheotomy, saying that if they can get rid of the pneumonia, then we should be good to go for surgery. If all goes well, she could have a green light for the neck and leg surgeries on or about Wednesday. However, if she regresses, and we can't knock down the pneumonia, then we will have to go with the tracheotomy, and that would then delay the neck surgery for a couple more days, as they will have to wait for the swelling from that to go down before they can operate. Also, it makes things more complicated doing the C2 vertebra repair through the front of the neck while also having the tracheotomy there. It can be done, it's just more difficult. He said that they generally have to leave the tubes in for about two days after the C2 repair surgery, as they don't want the airway to become closed off as a result of the swelling from the C2 surgery. After that, the tubes can come out.


We talked about the degloving injury, and he was, again, cautiously optimistic. He said that the risk of infection and complications from the degloving injury can occur up to 2-3 weeks after the injury, so we are in the dangerous time for another week to two. What he said that is encouraging, is the fluid that is draining from the injury, which I have seen quite a bit, and he showed it to me as well, is clear, and that's a good sign. He said the degloving injury causes the vascular supply to the fat and underlying tissue of the skin to be damaged, causing the risk of parts of that tissue to die, which leads to the infection. If the fluid had bits of matter and fatty tissue in it, that would be a bad indication, and that would mean that some of the underlying tissue has died, causing surgery to be done to remove the dead tissue. He also said that there could be parts of the area that got degloved (which is quite large) that would have to be removed if the infection occurred, meaning that "patches" or "sections" that were affected would be taken out, and would later have to be covered with skin grafts. He showed me one area of redness on the injury that he was concerned with, and he had outlined it with a marker to see if the redness was growing, shrinking, or holding steady. If it grows, we have to start working on removal of that skin. He said again, though, that it looks good at this time. Another indicator that there was infection resulting from tissue death would be her fever increasing, and right now, she doesn't have that. She just has the low grade fever that it is assumed is only associated with the pneumonia. Holdin' on, hopin', and prayin' that this stays good and gets better.


In the course of our conversation, he mentioned that she did have some broken ribs, too. First I have heard of this. I don't doubt him, it's just that nobody ever told me that before. Add another injury to the list. I'm sure the broken ribs weren't mentioned to me before, as there doesn't seem to be any repair needed for them, and on the scale of all her injuries, it's low on the priority list. Not much you can do for broken ribs normally, so I understand why it hasn't been brought up before.


Kim looked better today, complexion-wise. Even more so than yesterday. She just wasn't really there, though, like she has been, and I'm sure it's just the combination of all the exhaustion, drugs, and fever. She did crack a smile, though when my Mom said something to her, so she was there.


Another day passes, another challenge gets chipped at. Hopefully, I will have more news tomorrow that's positive.

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Monday's Update

Written 22 minutes ago

Kim's fever is back up. It spiked at 101.9. As of 6 PM, they had it back down to 100. Things are headed in the wrong direction in regards to this, so hopefully things can improve overnight. Her white cell count is down to around 15, and it was as high as 24 at one point. Apparently, the normal range is around 10. Kim cried a lot today, I know it's frustrating, and it definitely hurts me that I can't do anything to take away the pain.

No other news rolled in today, other than I did run into the neurosurgeon, who told me he had checked her neck earlier today, and she's in perfect alignment.


I will post again tomorrow after I meet with the doctor.