Healing of Skin Grafts * pictures

Tuesday Brigham had his final follow-up with Dr. Hobson regarding the skin grafts.  The grafts are looking good + healing good.  He no longer needs to keep them covered but he chooses to wrap it at night so it doesn't ooze or stick to his other leg etc. Every morning he applies Neosporin around the edges and then applies Aquafor ointment to the center of the graft. Dr. Hobson explained that he will never have hair or sweat glands in the skin graft area.  This means those patches will always be drier and need more moisturizer. 

Tuesday evening we went and watched Brigham's friends play indoor soccer. I know this scoreboard picture is not that clear but they renamed their team Brigham.  This mom got teary eyed- but what else is new? I was a touching gesture of support + kindness.

He was surprised to see his friend Chase (they played HS and college soccer together) playing as a sub this week.  This is them catching up after the game.  

You will notice that Brigham is wearing 2 shoes! And that he wrapped his calf that night.  He didn't want to gross everyone out. However, last night we found ourselves back watching indoor coed games and he decided to leave it unwrapped.  As we walked in and up the steps to our seats at the top I noticed that a early 30ish man + a woman had noticed his leg and were talking about it. After a few minutes the man came over to chat.  He asked Brigham if he had a fasciotomy.  He continued to tell us how when he was 16 he had split his shin bone in a JV soccer game.  They put rods in his leg to hold the bones in place and he was also given a fasciotomy. He showed us his scars.  Which wasn't much because they were able to stitch his closed instead of doing skin grafts. After 4 months they removed the rods out of his leg.  The man said he has never met someone else who has had a fasciotomy. He wished Brigham the best in healing and getting back on the field.

This is a current look at the skin grafts on his fasciotomy sites.

Front view

Inside view- Jeremy likes to say this one looks like a fish caught on a fishing line.

Outside view

He still has a bit of swelling- maybe due to the clot or maybe from his being up + moving around.     The compression sock helps.  Once the grafts are healed he is thinking he may wear a calf/heal compression sleeve.

Brigham is healing so well + rather quick.  Monday is his assessment visit with the physical therapist and he cannot wait to see how far his leg can heal in mobility.  We see improvement almost everyday at home. He keeps himself busy with pushups, walking around the house, up + down the stairs (yes! he can slowly + carefully do stairs), and ab workouts.  Once he is cleared to drive he plans on spending time at the gym doing whatever he can to improve his fitness. 

We are thankful for all the happy news in his recovery.  We are blessed by so many that have served us. We have had angels on earth lifting burdens and lightening our load. God bless you.