Day Three Part Three

Don has not had a good evening. He had a visitor around 5:00 this evening and was joking and having fun. His dinner came and he wanted to eat only his jello. After just a few bites he began to get sick and wanted to stop eating. He even asked for the trash can because he that he was going to vomit. He began to get very restless and very hot. His vistor left and he asked to be uncovered as he was sweating. He said his left foot seemed to be turning out to the left again and asked me to straighten it up. I tried but felt it was something for the nurses as that is the leg that has the rod through it and is in traction. The nurse came in and said he was right that with all the moving around today it had gotten twisted. She got the nurses assistant to help her adjust the weights and traction line and reposition his leg. When I came back in the room, he was feeling even worse. He had big beads of sweat on his forehead and was talking a little abnormal and asking questions like he had no memory of some of the events of the day. He just continued to get hotter and we had the nurse to come in to take his temp. His temp was 98.4 but Don's normal temp in only 96.8. He asked me to remove all the cover from his body and to place a towel down his chest underneath is gown to absord the sweat. He just keeps saying he needs something but he doesn't know what and that he doesn't know what to do. It is 9:20 now and I can hear him snoring again and am thankful that he seems to be resting again. Please pray! He really needs some relief.

Day Three Part Two

The ortho doctor came by this afternoon and said that there was a possibility that Don may have surgery on his left hand Monday. If surgery doesn't happen on Monday it will be Wednesday before they are able to schedule it. They would like to coordinate the additional surgery on the elbow to happen at the same time. Don tried to eat some jello with fruit in it for supper and he was unable to finish it. It even made him a little sick. Please pray that he will be able to eat more soon. He has had very little since he came in on Thursday.

The school where we work sent cards, along with other items for the family, that the students made on Friday at school. They are so wonderful and thoughtful. Some are so funny too! We have laughed and cried while reading them. I asked the nursing staff if I could place them up on the walls around his room and they said yes. Don's mother, Doris and I hung every card in the room. There are cards on 3 walls. They were counted and there were 67 cards from the students.

Thanks to everyone, for everything they have done and are continuing to do. Please keep praying for all of us.

Day Three

Day 3 - Saturday, December 6th

Don rested well last night. It was up and down until about 3:00 AM but he slept pretty solid until 6:00 AM. When he woke he was in a good amount of pain because he is on a PCA pump with Dilaudid. Because he was sleeping so well, he didn't use the pump and that is the only pain medication that he is getting. They have been struggling to get blood, as all of his veins in his arms (that are not covered up with bandages) are "blown". They have been having to take it from his foot and even that is a bit of an ordeal. After the poking and prodding he ate a bit of grits for breakfast and had a few visitors. The ortho doctors came in to change the cast on his left thumb to allow the end of his thumb to be exposed and usable. They stated that he had an issue in the back of his hand that a ligament was causing the bones to separate and that they would need to do more x-rays to find out exactly what was going on. If it is indeed an injured ligament that is causing the bones to separate, they will operate on that when they repair his thumb. The doctor said if this is the case as they suspect, the ligament issue is worse than the thumb. After changing the cast he was bathed and bed linens were changed. This was not only very, very painful, but tiring as well. By that time it was lunch and he ate a few bites of a grilled chicken sandwich and some more pudding. He is drinking plenty but is not eating much at all. After lunch he is sleeping really well, according to Kristi.

Day Two

Day 2 - Friday, December 5th

After arriving in his room, we were told he would have to have yet more x-rays because his left ankle was turning blue and he was hurting below the knee. He was taken for those tests and came back to his room around 5:00 am. Most of the morning he rested but was not able to eat or drink in case they were able to do the surgery. He had a few visitors that morning but around 11 :00 am he wanted to reposition himself and the Nurse's assistant was trying to help him and he dislocated his left (broken hip). From 11-3:00 we waited on the doctor to come in to help re-align that hip. We were told that he would be in around 12:00 to put the hip back in place. Finally the doctor came in a stated that there was no way that his hip could be out of place but Don insisted that something was definately wrong. They agreed to take an x-ray and about 4:00 told Don that he was correct, that his hip was out of socket (not in the usual sense), but that with the hip being broken in that area the hip was higher causing his pain. The doctor stated that he would have to put Don's left leg in traction to "realign" his hip. About 5:00 the procedure was complete, and you could tell immediately the relief in his hip by the look on his face. They were then able to put his bed at a 30 degree angle allowing him to sit up a little. Then we were told that he was able to eat and drink again because the traction could possibly help the hip to heal which would post-pone the surgery. He finally ate some puddind around 7:00 this being the first thing he had eaten since lunch on Thursday. He has a few more visitors but could not stay awake the entire time, he was finally able to get enough relief from pain to sleep but only for about 10-15 minutes at a time.

Day One

Day 1: The Accident

Don was heading towards Lincolnton on Hwy. 27 West on a motorcycle around 6:30 on Thursday, December 4. An older model truck headed in the opposite direction turned into a gas station in front of Don. This caused Don to hit the passenger side of the bed of the truck. He was rushed to Cleveland Regional that evening where they told us he had a shattered and dislocated right elbow, his left hip was broken in 2 places, his left femur was broken, his ribs were broken, his thumb on his left hand was broken and dislocated in 2 spots, a small gash to his left cheek, and his spleen had a nick that was causing internal bleeding. He was in a cervical collar and back board because they were unsure of, although doubtful, if he had spinal or neck injuries. After CT scans and x-rays, we were told that CMC - Cleveland was not equipped to provide the treatment he would need for the leg injuries and that he would need surgery. They transported him, by ambulance, to CMC - Charlotte about 9:00 PM Thursday night. On arriving at the new hospital they again took CT scans and x-rays and stated that he would need a lot of surgery on all the broken bones. He was moved to a room around 4:00 AM Dec. 5th.