Sorry I have not gotten around to posting the next part of this story. I also apologize if I repeat anything I have already written or even leave out detail. Another disclaimer, I don't reread before I post so please look past my typos and such.
So much happened and yet not much happened in this part of the story. Andrew was still in a coma and the hospital was working on stabilizing his vital signs, his cranial pressure and his lungs.
It seemed like months already but the cranial pressure monitor was finally removed 2 weeks later. The next day they were able to do the tracheostomy and feeding tube and finally an MRI 2 over two weeks after the stroke.
One day before one month since the accident Andrew finally got surgery on his right femur. The next day was supposed to be surgery on the left femur, however they found infection in the hip from the initial surgery a month before. So the day was spent cleaning out the infection and the surgery was moved to 6/15. After the surgery Andrew was now stable enough to move to University Hospital ICU and out of Denver Health SICU (surgical ICU). The move was due to insurance. Most of us were happy about the move... it was something new... it meant he was recovering, he was near more people who could support him, he worked for University Hospital. I had happy memories of University, both boys were born there.
My worst memory of Denver Health was after Andrew was no longer a patient. We had a finally meeting with Doctors who had treated him. My mother-in-law was having a difficult time handling and processing all the had happened... I mean this was her 'baby' and I think we all get that. At this meeting she asked "I want you to be honest, do you think he will recover?" Most doctors gave an honest answer, they thought he would recover and be ok, but they had no way of knowing how much recovery. What I am getting to though I could not believe, one woman looked directly into his mothers face and said. "If he recovers, he will never recover to the cognitive function he was before. He may be a 'vegetable' for the rest of his life." You don't say that to a fragile woman, to a fragile family. I agreed with the others in the room... "we don't know, hope for the best, he has age and intelligence on his side."
Once stable at University Hospital the doctors took the sedation off. Slowly Andrew emerged from his coma. Some of us could see his was there. His eyes seemed to show expression even though the rest of him could not seem to move. He also started to show signs of 'storming' (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14998101) and we were told even though it looked bad it was a good sign. This meant his brain was trying to heal.
I got to spend the whole day of our 7 year wedding anniversary at the hospital. It was one of the best days so far during recovery. I came in the room and had to walk in front of the bed and across the room to set my stuff down. Andrew's head moved and he followed me as I moved across the room. What an improvement.
After 41 days total in the ICU (DENVER HEALTH and UCH combined) Andrew was off the ventilator and stable enough to move facilities once again. Next stop was Kindred Hospital.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Andrew's accident pt 2.
After shock had set in, we finally started wondering what had happened. Family members called to talk with the police officer that had called me on the day of the accident. At the time he could only give us a little information because they were going to have to investigate... no witnesses. He said he would let us know when the police report was finished and when we could come pick it up. All he could tell us at that point was the accident was a head-on collision, the other vehicle was a Jeep Commander and where they towed the car.
I went with my dad to look at the car and retrieve items from it and also take pictures. Many people were worried about me seeing the car, but I had too. I had to see what the car looked like, why was Andrew hurt so badly? I am debating about posting a picture of the car on here so after you read what happened you can show it to people who might need to see it.
The day I went to get the police report... I was so angry that day, and the crazy thing about that was we did not have all the information then either. First page gave me the name, date of birth, insurance, car type, ect. for the other driver along with the same for Andrew. The other car was then called vehicle 1 and Andrew's vehicle 2. The second page read: Driver of vehicle 1 stated that he 'was looking down at an address and he must have crossed the center line and hit' vehicle 2.
LOOKING FOR AN ADDRESS!!!!! Later during the other drivers trial he also admitted to being on the phone, a business call, while on his way to a client meeting. There is also strong speculation that the driver was speeding too. The accident was on a frontage road next to I-270, a very curvy road. The accident was right on a curve. No one had seen it happen but some drivers who were approaching on I-270 saw debris flying in the air, pulled over and helped at the scene... a nurse and a former EMT.
Andrew does not remember what he was doing on the road that day. We can only piece it together. Our bank statement shows he got some lunch, and his work badge was at home. So maybe he was going to get his badge.
Sorry now I will backtrack a little. Five days after the accident (May 16) was my graduation from Metro State. I cancelled my party but decided to walk at graduation anyway. I was thinking about not walking months before and Andrew said I had to and would regret no doing it... so then I felt I had to walk still. I called to check up on Andrew in the morning and everything was the same, stable but still not enough.
I had my phone on me just in case, and I needed it. People were walking on stage to get their diploma and my phone rings. "Shawna, a nurse noticed that one of Andrew's pupils was dilated larger than the other. We took him for a CT and he has possibly had a stroke and there is fluid on his brain. We are calling to get verbal permission to place a monitoring device in his skull." Soon after I was called up for my diploma.
At the hospital we learned that Andrew had suffered some mini strokes. The strokes were caused from fat cells that got into the bloodstream. The fat cells escaped from the breaks in femurs (long bones have fat cells). Usually if that were to happen the lungs filter out the fat, and since Andrew's lings were so badly damaged they could not do the job and the cells went to the brain. If you want to do more research look up the term 'fat emboli'.
So now I am in the part of the story where we are waiting for Andrew cranial pressure to stay normal. The hospital staff can not lay him flat for long periods of time or his pressure would go up. They still can not do the remaining operations on his legs because of his lungs and now the cranial pressure and not being able to lay him flat. Also because they can not lay him flat he also can not get a feeding tube into his stomach or have a tracheostomy so the breathing tubes are not continued to be shoved down his mouth.
I went with my dad to look at the car and retrieve items from it and also take pictures. Many people were worried about me seeing the car, but I had too. I had to see what the car looked like, why was Andrew hurt so badly? I am debating about posting a picture of the car on here so after you read what happened you can show it to people who might need to see it.
LOOKING FOR AN ADDRESS!!!!! Later during the other drivers trial he also admitted to being on the phone, a business call, while on his way to a client meeting. There is also strong speculation that the driver was speeding too. The accident was on a frontage road next to I-270, a very curvy road. The accident was right on a curve. No one had seen it happen but some drivers who were approaching on I-270 saw debris flying in the air, pulled over and helped at the scene... a nurse and a former EMT.
Andrew does not remember what he was doing on the road that day. We can only piece it together. Our bank statement shows he got some lunch, and his work badge was at home. So maybe he was going to get his badge.
Sorry now I will backtrack a little. Five days after the accident (May 16) was my graduation from Metro State. I cancelled my party but decided to walk at graduation anyway. I was thinking about not walking months before and Andrew said I had to and would regret no doing it... so then I felt I had to walk still. I called to check up on Andrew in the morning and everything was the same, stable but still not enough.
I had my phone on me just in case, and I needed it. People were walking on stage to get their diploma and my phone rings. "Shawna, a nurse noticed that one of Andrew's pupils was dilated larger than the other. We took him for a CT and he has possibly had a stroke and there is fluid on his brain. We are calling to get verbal permission to place a monitoring device in his skull." Soon after I was called up for my diploma.
At the hospital we learned that Andrew had suffered some mini strokes. The strokes were caused from fat cells that got into the bloodstream. The fat cells escaped from the breaks in femurs (long bones have fat cells). Usually if that were to happen the lungs filter out the fat, and since Andrew's lings were so badly damaged they could not do the job and the cells went to the brain. If you want to do more research look up the term 'fat emboli'.
So now I am in the part of the story where we are waiting for Andrew cranial pressure to stay normal. The hospital staff can not lay him flat for long periods of time or his pressure would go up. They still can not do the remaining operations on his legs because of his lungs and now the cranial pressure and not being able to lay him flat. Also because they can not lay him flat he also can not get a feeding tube into his stomach or have a tracheostomy so the breathing tubes are not continued to be shoved down his mouth.
Monday, April 16, 2012
It happened in 2010 pt. 1
2010 was going to be a great year. January 3rd Andrew turned 30, I was finally completing my student teaching and was going to graduate in May and our two beautiful children were happy and healthy. In March Miles had his 1st Birthday, and then there was Easter and Mother's Day. I look at the pictures from Mother's Day and reminisce about how this were at that very moment. The innocent happy faces of my children, Miles riding on top of his daddy's shoulders, Avery lounging in Grandma's chair.
I also strangely remember that morning, Tuesday May 11 that is. The morning was kind of cloudy and only cold enough to have on a light sweater. My mom had driven from Fort Collins to Denver to watch the kids for the day. Andrew and I left the house together, said "have a good day" and got in our cars, Andrew went to work and I went to the elementary school where I was student teaching. I finished teaching my science lesson after math. Then it was lunch I had checked my phone several time while I was on lunch then put it away. I felt the need to look at my phone one more time 5 minutes before the kids were to come back from lunch and I had a message.
I checked voice mail and it was a call from a Commerce City police officer telling me to call him back. My first thought was something happened with my mom and or the kids. Our home was not in Commerce City but it was close enough. When I returned the call the officer told me Andrew had been in an accident. He proceeded to tell me that they took him to Denver Health for x-rays and I should go there. I excused myself at school and headed to the hospital.
On my way to the hospital my phone rings, stupidly I answer it. It was Denver Health. The woman on the phone tells me where to go and says the Andrew has a broken leg. I get to the ER and they have a hospital councilor meet me and she took me to a room. The councilor then tells me BOTH of his legs are broken and he might need surgery to fix one or both. She asked me if I had any questions and I said "Yeah, how do I get him home, we live in a third story walk up. If both legs are broken how do I get him upstairs?" Her reply was "There will be people to work that out with you." At that point I should have known that she was withholding information.
I had called his parents and my parents to let them know what was going on. His parents and his brother joined me in the waiting room at Denver Health. They had taken him into surgery. A person from surgery came to tell us they had to medically place Andrew into a coma because his injuries were so bad. They were not able to do all the surgeries they needed to and his injuries were too extensive to keep him awake. This person was shocked that we did not know the list of injuries yet.
Later that night we learned: Two broken femurs, the left was broken in two places one of those being right near the ball of the femur at the hip, 7 broken ribs, fractured nose and a fracture at the elbow. Also he had bruising of the lungs and later that night his lungs had collapsed. The medical staff had to flip him on his stomach to help save his life but in the process the flip itself could have killed him. They also had to later flip him back over on his back and that could have killed him too. He looked so different laying there on the hospital bed, all bloated with fluid and banged up. His lungs were so bad the hospital had to focus on his lungs healing before they could continue the surgeries on his legs. This meant he was still going to be in a medial coma, and tubes were now draining fluid from his lungs. All we could do was wait.
I also strangely remember that morning, Tuesday May 11 that is. The morning was kind of cloudy and only cold enough to have on a light sweater. My mom had driven from Fort Collins to Denver to watch the kids for the day. Andrew and I left the house together, said "have a good day" and got in our cars, Andrew went to work and I went to the elementary school where I was student teaching. I finished teaching my science lesson after math. Then it was lunch I had checked my phone several time while I was on lunch then put it away. I felt the need to look at my phone one more time 5 minutes before the kids were to come back from lunch and I had a message.
I checked voice mail and it was a call from a Commerce City police officer telling me to call him back. My first thought was something happened with my mom and or the kids. Our home was not in Commerce City but it was close enough. When I returned the call the officer told me Andrew had been in an accident. He proceeded to tell me that they took him to Denver Health for x-rays and I should go there. I excused myself at school and headed to the hospital.
On my way to the hospital my phone rings, stupidly I answer it. It was Denver Health. The woman on the phone tells me where to go and says the Andrew has a broken leg. I get to the ER and they have a hospital councilor meet me and she took me to a room. The councilor then tells me BOTH of his legs are broken and he might need surgery to fix one or both. She asked me if I had any questions and I said "Yeah, how do I get him home, we live in a third story walk up. If both legs are broken how do I get him upstairs?" Her reply was "There will be people to work that out with you." At that point I should have known that she was withholding information.
I had called his parents and my parents to let them know what was going on. His parents and his brother joined me in the waiting room at Denver Health. They had taken him into surgery. A person from surgery came to tell us they had to medically place Andrew into a coma because his injuries were so bad. They were not able to do all the surgeries they needed to and his injuries were too extensive to keep him awake. This person was shocked that we did not know the list of injuries yet.
Later that night we learned: Two broken femurs, the left was broken in two places one of those being right near the ball of the femur at the hip, 7 broken ribs, fractured nose and a fracture at the elbow. Also he had bruising of the lungs and later that night his lungs had collapsed. The medical staff had to flip him on his stomach to help save his life but in the process the flip itself could have killed him. They also had to later flip him back over on his back and that could have killed him too. He looked so different laying there on the hospital bed, all bloated with fluid and banged up. His lungs were so bad the hospital had to focus on his lungs healing before they could continue the surgeries on his legs. This meant he was still going to be in a medial coma, and tubes were now draining fluid from his lungs. All we could do was wait.
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