I talked to my dad for quite a while tonight. We were able to talk about tons of stuff, and since many of you have told me that it's helping you know how he's doing, I'll go ahead and share the details from my dad. Here goes... just a warning, it's kind of long.
Jen and Dad were able to witness something pretty special this morning when they arrived at Spencer's bedside. Apparently, Jen leaned over to whisper that she was there and Spencer opened his eye and looked right at her with what Dad described as a happy and relieved look of recognition. Dad was on the left side and they both were prompting Spencer to squeeze their hands and wiggle his toes. He's getting better at following commands to move all his extremities and is starting to get REALLY annoyed with all the crap he's hooked up to. When Dad and Jen loosened the restraints on his hands, he was trying to take that stinking mitt off with his left hand. He hates that thing! Just let the guy scratch himself!
They're still keeping Spencer heavily sedated. I have to admit, it took me a minute to understand the difference between "unconscious" and "sedated". He's not unconscious or in any sort of coma (drug induced or natural). When they lower the sedation levels, he is responsive. He can recognize Jen's voice as well as my dad's. I was glad to hear that he's not on any narcotic pain killers at the moment (I say save those for when he's conscious enough to appreciate them!). But they're keeping him out of it to help him sleep as much as possible as well as to keep him from pulling out all the tubing.
Speaking of tubing, the respiratory therapist said they were planning on keeping him intubated until after the second surgery on his wrist this Friday. He is no longer on the ventilator, but every time he breathes in, he gets an extra puff of oxygen. The resp. therapist is confident that within a half hour after that surgery, he'll be ready to get the tubes out. I know I'm pretty anxious to get that intubation out of the picture and get him talking to us again as soon as possible.
They were able to speak to the hand specialist today. In an ideal situation (relatively speaking of course), they originally would have waited for the swelling to go down before attempting to operate on the broken wrist. But since it was a compound fracture of both bones, and they were puncturing the skin, he needed to be operated on immediately to prevent infection. Left alone, his hand will be fully functional, but he'll likely develop some arthritis within a couple years. The specialist is going to redo the surgery, tweak some ligament connections and likely delay the onset of arthritis by about 10-12 years. That is great news. This surgery is scheduled for first thing on Friday morning.
They also talked to the neurosurgeon again today. As has already been mentioned, we know of the hematoma (bruising) over the left temple. His body will reabsorb this, hopefully leaving little damage. Just to reassure everyone again, even with the bruising on the top right side of his brain stem, he's 99% sure it will heal itself. In the meantime, this brain stem bruise will likely cause temporary weakness on the left side.
Before they left tonight, the eye surgeon talked to Dad and Jen about Spencer's eye. He said the eye is more firm, indicating that it's building up fluid again! He mentioned that the left eye will slightly track light, but not as well as the right can. The doctor thinks the eye "looks good" but Dad said it looks really bad right now. Thankfully, doctors see things as they'll become, and he assured them that once healed, the eye won't look gross. Hey, I'll take that!
They were also able to talk to the Sheriff that the search and rescue teams report to. He reported that some officers were able to return to the accident site. They confirmed an initial vertical drop of about 30 feet, but according to measurements of the rope they used to pull him up the mountain, the total distance of his fall was about 65 feet. So, I guess we can already start embellishing the story. Soon it'll be a hundred feet!
Well, that's the gist of what I got from my Dad. He reported that Jen is doing pretty well under the circumstances. It's been very therapeutic to write everything down, so he said she's spending a lot of time documenting this process and Spencer's progress. I'm sure her notes are WAY better than the grapevine news I'm getting, but for now, this will have to do. Thanks again for all the prayers on Spencer's and our family's behalf. Please keep them coming because they are helping and he continues to make progress every day.
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5 comments:
It's amazing to read your first entry and then jump to today to see the miraculous progress he has been making. We'll pray that Friday goes well, so he can get on his way to coming back to you all more fully.
Sounds good. I am looking forward to him getting the tubes out on Friday. Hopefully all goes well with that. Good Luck! <3 M
Wow, the progress is amazing! I hope it continues like that, and the the surgery will be another miracle. More prayers.
Thursday Morning - April 2
This is written by Spencer's father. This morning when we came in, We said good morning and he opened his eye and looked at us. The rehab specialist said that he had done everything that he was asked to do ie: move various parts etc. We told him that he had fallen while hiking, and that he was in the hospital in Grand Junction. We told him about needing more surgery on his wrist and that after that the tubes can come out. I told him that we were staying with Gepharts and and asked if he remembered them. He nodded his head in the affirmative. We did not tell him about his eye. That can wait.
thanks for continuing with the updates. Keep it up; it's encouraging. We continue to pray for all your family. I hope for a good Friday.
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