Brigham Updates

Before I get into Brigham's impairment rating, I wanted to document something new we learned in November. Brigham had been having some new pains near the scar where the cut happened, and we were concerned that maybe this was a sign of a new clot. It is so tricky, for 2 reasons. First, he cannot feel all of his leg and second, clot symptoms are the same as what he feels in that leg every day. We called Sheryl to get her opinion and she said to book an appointment immediately. Luckily, he did not have any new clots and she told Brigham eventually he will learn what symptom means trouble.  For example, one guy always feels like he has the flu when he has a leg clot, so weird. She said it will take time.  Because Brig's injury is so unique, she will always see him if he feels something is off.  What we learned that day was Brigham has a chronic clot in the vein just above his right knee with clot strands extending a few inches past the clot. If he is ever seen at a hospital o...

Back in May Brigham requested his medical records from McKay Dee Hospital.  Here are some of the notes from the injury date 8/7/2020 Dr. C:  I was present throughout the time the patient was in the ED which was 16 minutes and spent an additional 5 minutes taking the patient up to the OR so the total time spent with the patient was 21 minutes.   Assessment/Plan  1. Shock due to trauma  2. Acute blood loss anemia  3. Contact with powered saw as cause of accidental injury  4. Injury of right femoral artery 5. Leg injury- major ---------------------------------------- Dr. H: HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS:  This is a 21-year-old male presenting here to the emergency department via LifeFlight. We have received urgent calls from them prehospital to alert us of the patient's initial concerns. We have assembled level 1 trauma team as well as vascular surgery at bedside upon the patient's arrival for emergent intervention. It is reported to me initially that t...

We left home August 6th for a Humanitarian Trip and arrived home late on August 14th.   We hit 2 anniversaries while we were gone.   August 7th: 1 year anniversary of the accident August 14th: 1 year anniversary of hospital release and coming home! What a perfect way for our family to celebrate Brigham's recovery!  God was in the details for us to be doing something we all love.  We spent the week serving the Martinez Family by building them a new home. None of us could have imagined that a year later Brig would be healed enough to return to one of his favorite activities.  This was the 3rd house he has built in 5 years.  Amazing view from the job site      Final building day with the Martinez family Taco Stand  Yes, Brigham used the Skilsaw while working.  Even though he couldn't do everything like he could before the accident.   He adapted. It wasn't easy but it felt good to accomplish this for the Martinez fam...

I truly don't know how to express or even know how to navigate my feelings today. I'm full of emotions.  I feel happy that we have more time together with Brigham. I feel more empathy for others and what they are going through.   I feel blessed that I witnessed a miracle and was aware of God's hand in my life. I feel more anxious because I know the unbelievable can happen to us. I feel stronger for what our family has been through and learned.  I know we can do hard things and see the tender mercies.  I feel guilty that we got a miracle and our son survived when others don't get the same outcome.  I feel deep gratitude for my beautiful life. For the people, for the experiences, for the lessons learned, for the love, for my faith, and even for the disappointments that makes the joys even better!  In true Brigham fashion he does not want a big celebration party or any recognition about the 1 year anniversary.  To respect his wishes we compromised....

 Today we CELEBRATE 10 months!  304 days!  7296 hours!  10 extra months together - what a gift 10 months of learning + growing  10 months navigating the unknown 10 months of memories + gratitude I'm one month into my #livefortodaychallenge.  You can follow my challenge on instagram @hangwith10 or join the facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/571798447546474.  If you wonder what I'm talking about...go back a few posts. It hasn't been the easiest month for me and I was grateful to be doing this challenge.  It stretched me to find the good and to live for today.  Even on our hard days we can take the opportunity to live for today by having gratitude, trying something new or simply enjoying the moments in our day.  Brigham as the best man at his cousins wedding. May 22, 2021 Teammates are there for each other even after the noise of the crowd is gone. - Jim Brown Adding in the coaches It is only fitting that an article I wrote abou...

A cool part about living in the same town as where Brigham had his accident is that we see the EMS team. Well, not me personally.  London (Brigham's sister) was working her shift at the Assisted Living center near our home (probably back in March) when she had to call the non-emergent ambulance line for a resident.  After the fireman assisted the resident and were leaving she asked the Captain if they were the crew that worked on her brother. She thought they looked familiar but wasn't sure. She continued with explaining that her brother was the one who had cut his leg with the skill saw.  Immediately with energy he said, "Skill saw dude?!  Yeah, this whole crew was on that call.  How is he doing?" London told him that Brigham is doing well and healing.  The kind Captain told her that he was impressed with how her parents handled the situation at the scene.  (Really, what he doesn't know is that we did not understand that it was life or death as they w...

Today is the 9 month anniversary of Brigham's accident and  3 months until his 1 year anniversary In celebration of this anniversary I'm doing a LIVE TODAY CHALLENGE for the next 90 days. Through Brig's accident and recovery I have learned I want to live for today  because we don't know what tomorrow will bring.  Would you like to join me?   I would LOVE an army of people doing this challenge as we ALL celebrate the life we have by living it! Create your own goals and as many as you want. This is about YOU living your life  today and not waiting for tomorrow.  Here is what I'm doing:

  The blood thinners are working and breaking up those nasty clots in his leg vein. Yay! Just what we wanted to hear. There was still strands of the clot in his vein that they hope will continue to go away with use of the Eliquis.  The notes in his file from his visit: Patient will be on Eliquis lifelong. We will reimage in September. If all looks well we will do biannual imaging for the next 2 years. At that point will be able to switch to annual imaging if everything looks good. If there is any dilation of the bypass then we will increase the frequency of ultrasound. >>Next follow up will be in September and if there is no clots or complications then they think that will become his new vascular health baseline. Tidbits from the conversation we had with Sheryl: He can travel but needs to wear his compression sock when flying or on long car rides.  This will help prevent blood clots. Sheryl (Vascular NP) told us that people at Mckay Dee still ask about him. "How's s...

This past Wednesday (March 24th) Brigham had another follow up with the Vascular doctor. His last one was 3 months ago at the end of December. I almost didn't go but decided to get a list of questions answered. I'm glad I did. This time they gave him these awesome disposable shorts to wear. They were huge on him and we couldn't stop laughing! The ultrasound took longer this time and then we moved rooms so they could get a different view on a different machine. I started getting the feeling that they were concerned about something and after a shorter ultrasound in the new room they moved us immediately to the exam room.   Usually we wait about 1 1/2 hours between the ultrasound appointment and exam room so the doctor has time to read the images captured in the ultrasound. Not today!  So, I can't say I was completely surprised when Sheryl came into the room and after asking Brigham how his leg felt, she told us he has 2 blood clots in his thigh. Bummer! Last time he had a...

When Brigham was released from the hospital (8/14/20) this Biohazard ziploc was in his Personal bag along with ice bags, gauze, tape and other medical supplies.  The sticker on this bag reads: ZZMK, XERASIA- C   |   DOB: 01/01/1999   |   DOS: 08/07/20  10:24  |  Male 21 years This was Brigham's identity at the hospital as he went into surgery. In an emergency event there is no time to get information like name, birthdate, age, immunizations, medical history, allergies, etc.  I had never thought about how they identified the emergency patients until this day as we were running into the Emergency Department.  As we explained that our son was life flighted here, the nurse interrupted, "21 year old male? " We quickly learned they did not know his name, age or that it was a skill saw not a chainsaw cut.  As they were cutting his clothes off before surgery they cut out the left pocket in his shorts and threw it in the ...

Today marks 6 months since the accident. Yes...that is the saw Brigham was using when the accident happened.  He used it again for the first time in January. He says it felt normal and it wasn't scary or difficult.   He has stood next to the saw horses and tried to figure out how he even got cut.  He and Jeremy cannot figure out how it happened. It just doesn't make sense. As our friend says, it doesn't matter how it happened.  It happened.  I think it was an experience meant for more than just you.  Your story + miracle has touched so many people.    *WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES OF THE ACCIDENT SCENE* AT THE END* DAILY As I imagine with any life changing injury there are a lot of lonely times and struggles.  So many wonderful, kind people continue to ask "How is Brigham?" We don't want to be a downer or to have to explain all the details so you find yourself responding, "He is doing good."  And that isn't a lie, Brigham is doing good bu...

Throw Back 8/14/20 A few hours after being released from the hospital.   We were so happy to have him home and feeling completely incompetent in caring for him.  *WARNING* Graphic photos coming up After the last post I decided it would be cool to see the progress of Brigham's fasciotomy sites in pictures. You know what they say...a picture is worth a thousand words! It is INCREDIBLE to see these changes.   It brings me anxiety remembering the 3 times a week Wound Vac changes. The whole house dreaded it especially Brigham who had to live through the intense pain. The girls would put their ear buds in and turn up the music to drown out the yelling. Ugh!  It was horrible.  How did we survive?  I'm impressed with our strength. I am so proud of Brigham, he has been through some really hard things in the last 5 months. He has been brave and has a good attitude.  Some of these pictures we have never shown because at the time Brigham did not want to ...