Day One- The Event (may be graphic details for some) + Surgery

Here we are the day after a life changing day in our lives. The trauma + the miracles. 

I'm hoping this will be helpful for everyone to access Brigham's updates. Plus, I'm thinking it will be therapeutic for me. 

DAY ONE  8/7/2020

THE EVENT

Friday morning (guessing 9:40ish)  Brigham was building deck stairs in the Francis' backyard by himself.  Somehow he accidentally cut himself with a skill saw on his right upper leg.  (I will stress this point, he did nothing wrong, we are pretty sure we have figured how it happened and it was a freak accident.) Neighbors came running as they heard his bloodcurdling scream.  Mom Francis (I don't have permission to use first names so I will refer to people as Mom + Dad) looked at her window and saw the blood.  She quickly grabbed towels, leaping off her deck to get to Brigham and immediately applying pressure.  Her husband was home and he ran out to help apply pressure and giving him a priesthood blessing. Thank you Francis family we have been told that your quick thinking saved his life. You are our heroes.  Their teen son called 911 + then called Jeremy saying "Brigham's been cut. It's bad". 

Jeremy arrived before the paramedics and was by his side until he was placed on the stretcher.  As a parent Jeremy would have done ANYTHING at that moment to trade places. It will be difficult to overcome. I arrived at the house with London within 10 minutes after Jeremy. I went to the backyard and saw Brigham white + pale laying on the cement with paramedics working on him. He asked for me to leave because he did not want me to see him like that. Mom Bailey was mine + London's support as we waited. 

Jeremy was holding the IV when the paramedic turned to him and asked if he was the dad.  He said, "prepare yourself.  We are going to lift these towels off and as quickly as possible pack his leg with clotting gauze.  It is going to hurt really bad and you are going to hear him scream like never before."  Jeremy said this was the hardest moment and it was hard to look Brigham in the face and see the amount of pain.  The location of the cut made it impossible to tourniquet which was a BIG problem. 

I overheard the firemen saying they were life flighting him from our Stake Center a few blocks away.  I was able to wipe sweat off his forehead as they were wheeling him to the ambulance and said, " I love you Brig." He said, "I'm dying, mom."  Miraculously I held it together to reply, "No, you got this. You are strong. I will see you at the hospital. I love you." 

They loaded him and raced to life flight which had already landed.  London drove me to the Stake Center to be there as they loaded him on to AirMed helicopter. (Jeremy was having a hard time with passing out so I had to leave him at the Francis house)  It took awhile for Brig to be stable enough in the ambulance before they could move him to life flight.  They asked me his blood type.  There was a lot of people watching at the church including Bishop Burton from the Stake.  He was so helpful and offered to call our Bishop which was needed.  I realized at this point that I had not called anyone.  Sobbing I called my mom who lives close and told her to get to the Stake Center.  

The fire chief (or something I don't know the titles) told me to wait until he knew what hospital they were heading to. It was U of U hospital when they took off but we saw the helicopter make a u-turn and they switched to McKay Dee.  We got confirmation and I headed to my car.

I was able to get a hug from a friend while we both sobbed.  My parents arrived and I switched to hugging her. The fire chief ran over and interrupted and told me that I needed to get to the hospital fast.  So I picked up Jeremy and we drove to the hospital crying and knowing they may tell us that he had passed away in flight. 

When we arrived at 11:30 he was already in surgery.  We waited outside on a grassy somewhat shady area in the parking lot for hours waiting to get word from the OR.  The ER doctor who worked on him for a short time before surgery told us he is on a scale and where he lands we just don't know yet >>> life saving > leg saving or amputation > hospital recovery > rehab to end recovery<<<.  Jeremy and I were able to have Priesthood blessings from each our dads while we waited. 

Around 2:30 we got word that he was stable.  Hallelujah.  The vascular surgeon was now working on grafting his artery and vein. 

In all > his surgery was 6 hours long. He was given 9 units of blood. They took veins from his right calf to use as the graft in his right thigh. 

The ICU nurse waved from his window so we could see the room where he was.  

THE CUT

The cut runs from middle upper (almost to his hip) and then slightly diagonal down and towards his inner thigh. It cut through an artery, veins, nerves, muscle to the bone. [EDIT: We now know after talking to the surgeons again that the cut did not go to the bone. It cut through 2/3 of his quad muscle.] The doctors say it was the worst part of his leg to get cut.  He lost 6 inches of his femoral artery and femoral vein. 

TALKING TO SURGEONS

They led us inside to a room. The vascular surgeon and his NP came to talk to us.  He even showed us a picture of the graft.  And no I did not take a picture of his picture. It was a lot to see his leg open and everything going on in there. They were pleased with the results and amputation was no longer mentioned. There concern now is watching for infection and seeing the function ability of his quad. If the function is low they will bring in the specialists (plastic surgeon) to access if another surgery is needed to repair the nerves.  Or if it is better to wait and see or he will have to live with less function.  

Next came in a dear friend who is a nurse at the hospital who promises to visit him throughout his stay and squeeze his hand for his me. 

Next visitor was the trauma surgeon.  He expressed that he is lucky to be alive and there must be a reason that he lived.  From what we understand there were 3 separate times throughout the day when he almost didn't make it. He told us that Brig was in ICU and that he was responding with shakes and nods of his head and they were pleased with his neurological function. He was still intubated and most likely would be until Saturday. Expect 1-2 days in ICU, then another 3-5 days on a different floor. He also said, "Good thing the first responder knew what they were doing. It saved his life.  They knew exactly where to apply pressure. He had 3-4 minutes before he would have bled to death." Side Note: Mom Francis did not know exactly what to do. She knew to apply pressure but where in a wound like this?  Then it was like she was following instructions on where to put her hands and what to do. We all agree she was getting help from heaven.

The ICU nurse facetimed us so we could see Brigham and talk to him.  He was intubated and could not speak. He was sedated enough that he wouldn't even open his eyes.  However, he nodded yes that he could hear us.  We just poured love + positivity to him. 

It was HEARTWRENCHING for us to leave him at the hospital.  We felt like we were abandoning him. I'm still not doing well with this. 

We were amazed by the outpouring of love, prayers and so much support.  It is amazing, overwhelming and wonderful all at the same time.  

We were happy to see our girls. It was a rough day for them too.  We came home to food, flowers, cookies and even more messages sent directly to our daughters.