Morning Update 8/9/2020 and feelings

 This Sabbath morning my thoughts are very tender.  We are feeling the Lord's love through family and friends.  You are truly the Lord's hands on earth. I am going to be honest I had a meltdown last night.  We had a family wedding that I really wanted to attend but I couldn't hold myself together.  Jeremy and the girls went and I think it was therapeutic for them to be with family.  I'm understanding that this is all part of a process + journey that we are on.  I was so frustrated and sad that I couldn't be by Brigham's side.  I really want to give him a hug. 

Update:

Yesterday Brigham was super tired and had a headache so we didn't talk with him after our 3pm call.  We had him on speaker phone with our family.  He told me eventually he is going to need clothes to come home. I asked him what he thinks about wearing underwear since the location of the cut. His response was, "I'm never wearing underwear again. I am wearing skirts for the rest of my life." Ha, ha! so there you go friends, you have been warned. 

Last night we talked with his night nurse Melinda.  She comforted this mom's heart. She said when she met Brigham she felt like he was one of her kids.  She has a son who is almost 18 and plays soccer. So, Melinda and Brigham had been talking soccer - which is something he looooves to talk about. She promised me to be his mom and talk to him until he fell asleep. Tender mercy for us.  

Brigham is now eating. At first he was restricting himself because he really does not want to have a BM. He is scared of the pain of moving his leg. Completely understandable but he needs food + strength. So thankfully he is now eating and says the food is good. 

Since he had moved floors this nurse has not seen his wounds but she said the bandages look good. Little to no weeping on the cut. There is some weeping on the open wounds (which is called a fasciotomy) in his right calf. 

At the time we talked to the nurse he was being given a unit of blood.  They really want his body to produce it's own so they gave him one transfusion unit and see how it goes and then if needed will give him more.

SUNDAY MORNING

We had a good long 1 1/2 hour talk (+ listening to the doctor + nurse) with him this morning. His mental state seems to be good.  He remembers a lot (if not all) of being treated before surgery. Which I imagine is difficult. He recalls over hearing the medic say something similar to -he is bleeding out, we are going to lose him.  He said it felt like hours for him to get put out for surgery and remembers telling the ER that it hurts and just put me to sleep.  In reality he was in surgery within 1 1/2 hours of being cut. As parents we agree that it felt like a really long time to us too. I'm sure the remembering is quite difficult for him as it is for us. However, I will always be grateful that we could be with him before he was life flighted.

Last night he ended up getting 2 more units of blood after that first one.  Which made the pulse in his foot stronger and making him feel a bit better.  The last unit he said just hurt as it was going in, we don't know why. This morning as we were talking he was getting platelets. The doctor says he is on blood thinners because he is at risk for a clot in his leg. So they are trying to balance the no clots + just enough clotting with blood, platelets and plasma. 

He has 2 IV sites one on his right arm and one on his right hand. The poke his left arm often to take blood for testing. I told him good thing he handles needles better than his father.  He said, "after this, needles will never be my problem." He has had so many shots + needles.

His to-do board today says- Pain management, Eating, Physical therapy.  They want him to try and lift his leg straight up off the bed today.  Again this scares him.

Let's talk nerves:  the nerve (plastic surgeon) specialist is at the U of U Hospital.  So at some point this week he will be transferred to the U. The nerves help stabilize his knee. It sounds like he will be wearing a leg brace for awhile but the doctors don't want him to have to wear it for the rest of his life.  Depending on what the specialist says Brigham may need another surgery on the nerves. The doctor said normally we would have had the plastic surgeon in to do his thing on your first surgery but due to the life saving measures there wasn't time or room in the OR. Brigham does not want to have another surgery which we can't blame him.  We will wait and see what the specialist says.

Once he moves to the U, he will stay there until his release.  Which the doctor says he doesn't really have a time frame for us on that right now.  He says one day at a time. He has a long road of recovery. I'm hoping the U has different rules on having visitors and I am praying that they will let 1 of us in at some point, especially if he is looking at a long stay. 

They took off the bandages on his fasciotomy today and said it is looking good. The nurse said she was able to close it a bit more, so the swelling has gone done slightly.  They are hoping to close those up on Tuesday. 

Brigham says tomorrow they are taking off the bandage on his cut and removing the drain. He is nervous about this. He wants nothing + nobody to touch anywhere near his cut.  

It was nice to be on the phone listening while they removed bandages today.  We asked Brig if he would call us when he the physical therapist comes today so we could listen but he said he doesn't want us to hear him trying to move.  We are trying to be okay with his choice even though we would prefer to listen in.

He feels comfort by being at the hospital because they are the ones who know how to help him. 

I think that is all the update. I scribble notes as fast as I can when we are talking to the nurses or doctors but sometimes means I can't read my handwriting. Brig sent this picture of his swollen leg this morning and the nurse says she will take one of him the bed so we can see that handsome face.

Brigham continually asks us to thank everyone.  We read him messages that we have received and just like us he is overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from all over the world from family, friends and strangers.  He says the way to help him right now is with prayers. He is tired so please understand he only will respond to messages or texts when he can.