Visit to Nerve Specialist

This morning we headed to Huntsman Cancer Center to visit the nerve specialist, Dr. Agarwal. 

HOW WE GET BRIGHAM IN THE CAR

It is not a quick + easy process. He uses the walker to the front door. Then changes to one crutch on the left and Jeremy supporting his right side and takes each step one at a time.  This is the most difficult + painful part for Brigham. Once we get to the JEEP Cherokee he puts his left foot on a stool and pulls himself into the passenger seat. Remember the entire time he is carrying his wound vac and trying not to tug or tangle the tubing. Once his butt is on the seat he can pivot his legs into the car.  Getting out is a bit easier because he is letting himself down instead of going up. 

WHEELCHAIR adaptation by us

The wheelchair has a leg extender for his right leg. At the end of the extender is the foot plate where you would flex your foot and let it rest there. Well... Brigham cannot flex his foot due to swelling + that movement pulls on his fasciotomy's which is painful. If you don't use the foot plate it makes his ankle dangle off putting all the legs pressure on the fasciotomy. No bueno. So, we figured out our own solution with help of a friend. We flip up the foot extender out of the way and use a strip from a sheet to make a sling at the end of the leg extender to hold his ankle. Hey, it may not look the best but it works! 

DOCTOR VISIT

This is the first time Brigham has been seen by Dr. Agarwal. Once again due to Covid, Brigham had to go in alone even in his wheelchair. They had a valet push him in. We were on speaker phone with him most of the time which was good + bad.  It is good to hear everything the doctor is saying but so hard when Brigham is in pain and needs someone to change the position of his extended leg.  The pressure in his calf + knee gets so intense and usually only needs to be lowered a tiny bit.  One time the nurse did hear him grunting in pain and came into help. But it happened 2 other times when he was left alone.  So frustrating!! It is so hard on all of us to not be there in person. Next doctor appointment we are going to ask if a nurse can check on him. 

Then as he was leaving no one was pushing him out.  They said they would but nobody ever came.  Finally, he was so annoyed because he could see us out the window below that he wheeled himself down. He said the most difficult part was pushing the floor button inside the elevator.  Again.....frustrating!

We learned from the doctor (who was actually on Dr. Agarwal's team and not him) that nerves are the slowest to heal, they are the last thing to heal, they are the most sensitive and when they regrow they follow the same path. They have requested detailed notes from Brigham's surgery to find out what they report about what the surgeons saw in his initial cut. Since they didn't get a look inside themselves they need more information to know what they are dealing with nerve wise in his thigh. It seems his sensory is intact throughout his leg. 

We have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks.  This will give the leg time to heal (swelling go down) and make it easier to test the muscles and nerves. It sounds like if they need to do nerve reconstruction it will be down the road a bit. 

They also want us to take detailed pictures of his fasciotomy. They want to watch them because it sounds like they may be the doctors to close them up or do skin grafts if necessary. Brigham would prefer to have cool scars to show off what he has been through.