a pretty good day

Mom had a pretty good day today. She had surgery again this morning. She did really well in surgery. A couple of days ago, when they operated, they had to remove a lot of dead tissue. They told us then that they would have to operate every two to three days for a while. Today though, they hardly had to remove any tissue at all. Because of that, they haven't scheduled another surgery. They are just going to change her woundvac every couple days at her bedside. They won't operate again unless her body shows signs that the infection is back. Mom's temperature and white count were both down, which is good. Most likely, removing all that tissue on Monday took care of that. Because her body isn't fighting the infection so much, she was much more aware today. She is still very sedated, but today she opened her eyes quite a bit. She could make eye contact. She was squeezing our hands. She could shake her head yes and no to answer our questions. It was nice to see her interacting a little. She has made some progress on breathing. They said that she is only about two steps away from getting the breathing tube out. She is mostly breathing on her own, with only occasional help from the ventilator. They are really hoping that it will come out tomorrow. Once that comes out, they will decrease her sedation even more and she should be able to talk to us a little. So, all in all, today was a good day. We had a lot of good news. We are constantly being reminded that she is not out of the woods yet and that she still has a long ways to go, but it is always nice to get good news. We have started receiving some birthday cards today and her room is already looking more colorful and cheerful. We appreciate all those cards and your continued thoughts and prayers.

today's surgery

There isn't a whole lot to report today. Mom had surgery today. She was last on the list, so she didn't go in until about 6:30. She just got out a few minutes ago. The doctors said that she tolerated surgery well, which is good. They removed a little bit of tissue, which is expected, and cleaned everything out really good. They put a new type of wound dressing on. Basically it uses a sponge-like thing and a vacuum. It gets the fluid out and makes it so that they don't have to change the dressing a couple of times a day. They said that they will have to operate every two or three days for the next little while, to keep cleaning things out and to replace the dressing. Our next surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. Besides that, things are about the same. She has had a pretty nasty fever the last couple of days, sometimes getting over 104 degrees. They have her on some new antibiotics to take care of that. Because of the fever, she has been sleeping pretty soundly today, not really opening her eyes or responding much. They said that is just because her body is working on fighting the fever. They are hoping tomorrow to work on getting the breathing tube out. It will be really nice when that gets out. Then, they will be able to sedate her a little less and she can wake up a little. They reminded us today that this is a marathon, not a sprint. We have a long road ahead of us, but we are doing good We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.

birthday wishes

So, mom would yell at me for telling you all this, but Friday, December 2, is her birthday.

Her room, in the burn unit, is going to be home for quite a while, so we would like to decorate it a little bit for her. We would love to get as many birthday cards and well wishes as we can, to decorate her walls. Once she is awake, I think it will be a great comfort to her to see that so many people are thinking about her.

If you would like to send mom a birthday card, get well card, or well wishes, send them to me.  If you don't have my address, send me an email of leave a message here and I will get it to you.

I will get them up on her wall and let her know that you are thinking of her.

where we have been and where we are now

First, just a disclaimer.  I make no guarantees that any of the medical information here is correct.  I have had a lot of information thrown at me over the last few days and it is hard to keep track of everything.  Here is the situation as I know it though.

On Tuesday morning, at about 4:00 am, my mom was taken by ambulance to the hospital in Evanston.  She had been sick for a couple of weeks, with what she thought was the flu, but had gotten progressively worse.  She also had a sore on her leg. When she got to Evanston, they ran a few tests and quickly life flighted her to the University of Utah Hospital.

At the University Hospital, they did a CT scan and decided to quickly get her to surgery.  They diagnosed her with a necrotizing infection, in her leg, which is basically an infection which causes tissue death.  The infection makes it so that blood and oxygen cannot get to the infected area, which means white blood cells can't get in to fight it off.  It is very fast moving and had spread all over her leg and even into her abdomen.  They told us and her, before they went into surgery, that they would have to treat it very aggressively in order to save her life, and she would quite likely lose her leg.

She was in surgery for over 4 hours.  In surgery, they amputated her right leg, including her hip.  They were able to get mostly above the infection, and get most of it out.  She had surgery again on Thursday morning.  They went back in, just to clean things out and make sure they got all of the infection.  They will operate again on Monday for the same thing.

Mom is being operated on and kept in the burn unit at University Hospital.  They said that the infection and amputation wound act like, and need to be treated in much the same way as, a burn, so that is the best place for her.  We are very grateful for that. The burn unit at the University Hospital is one of the best in the country and her surgeon is one of the best as well, so she is in very good hands.

Mom has a long road ahead of her.  Right now, she has a breathing tube and a feeding tube. She is on lots of antibiotics. They are keeping her sedated, at least until the breathing tube comes out. They were hoping to take her breathing tube out for a couple of days now, but she just isn't quite ready yet. She opens her eyes a little bit sometimes, and reacts to sounds and things like that, but mostly she is unconscious, because of the sedatives.

The latest update, as of today, is that she is mostly the same. She has a little bit of a fever, which could just be from the wound, but could also indicate another infection somewhere or some that they didn't get. They are going to take her in for a CT scan today, to check for more infection so that they know what they are looking for tomorrow during her surgery.

We really know nothing about long-term plans at this point. We have no idea how long she will be in the burn unit, or in the hospital, or anything like that. We pretty much are working towards short-term goals. Right now, the goals are to get through surgery on Monday and to get the breathing tube out. They are hoping to take the breathing tube out on Monday as well, but we'll see. They want to be cautious with that and be sure that she is ready.  Once they take it out, they don't want to have to put it in again. We don't know how many more surgeries she will have, but they will keep doing them until they are confident that they have the infection taken care of.

We are very thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers.  We can feel your love and support and know that mom can to.

keep updated

We are starting this blog just to keep everyone updated on what is going on with my mom.  We know that there are a lot of people who are thinking about her and who want to know how she is doing.  It is difficult for us to keep track of who we need to update, so hopefully this will simplify things a little bit.

You are still welcome to call, email, text, or facebook us.  Don't worry if we don't answer your calls or texts immediately. Emily will have to get back to classes next week and my dad is often with mom or trying to figure out how to make the cell phone work. I am probably the easiest one to get a hold of. We will try to post to this blog as soon as we can, any time there are any updates or significant changes.

We truly appreciate all of your love, support, and prayers.  They mean a lot to all of us.