Batman_@SRM

batman · Post by **batman** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:05 pm

Sora,

Hope your father is doing well. And thanks for all the good wishes, prayers and positive thoughts. I am back at work part time now. I try to get out to see my wife twice a day, but with my youngest in physical therapy for a few more weeks, it is tough.

My youngest (13 yrs. old) shattered hip has healed pretty well, although is was a compound fracture and she has a nasty scar. Ah - to be 13 and be able to heal quickly. She is partial weight bearingright now and should be off crutches by the end of the month.

My older daughter (14 yoa) is doing well, although her nose has changed and she will probably need to have another surgery once she is done growing.

I am doing OK, although my wrist is still not healed and I found my shoulder actually was dislocated by the impact with the seat belt or steering wheel and then it popped back in on the rebound against the door during the accident. The pain has grown since the accident in November and also the lack of ability to move it well has also grown. Of course the ortho surgeon suggest rehabbing it for 4 weeks to see if it improves. I will try physical therapy for a week or so and then, if not better -- get surgery (at least that is what I am planning right now).

My wife is steadily improving. She had a trip from the skilled care facility to the ER to remove a pelvic pin (external) that became infected. While she was there, they decided to remove the other pelvic pin plus two external pins she had in her right heel. She also had the splint on her right had removed.

On returning to the skilled nursing facility, they told us she had an MRSA 'colonization'. Lost alot of sleep on that, until the blood cultures came back and said she had not 'internalized' it, so she did not have an active infection.

With all four of us having been hospitalized, it is an incredibly frustrating experience to deal with doctors and specialists, with NO ONE being responsible for overall care. My wife has had at least 7 or 8 doctors during this event (not counting the 15 or 20 different residents working for these doctors). None of them appear to be cognizant of what the other ones are doing or prescribing. The nursing staff try to follow orders, but most days there are conflicting orders. I am so frustrated, I want to scream at them. But I try not to and just keep working on making sure the right had is looking at what the left hand is doing.

I am now just starting to deal with insurance stuff (and I have two friends who are attorneys that are helping me). I sense this is going to be alot of fun as well.

OK -- enough bitching -- but had to let it out somewhere. We are truly lucky to be here. I was driving an SUV. Even though we suffered very serious injuries, I am thankful we were not driving my wife's passenger car. We would probably have both been killed in the head on collision. When I saw our vehicle, I realized how close we ALL came to serious injuries. If one of our heads had been an inch to the right or left, we might not be here.

Our family, friends and neighbors have also bee a blessing in all of this. I needed folks to sit in with my younger daughter, who was confined to a wheelchair, while I was at the hospital with my wife. For one month straight, we had friends and neighbors come over to our house to do this. We had more than 20 people who did this at least one time. We have also not cooked a dinner since before Thanksgiving, as other neighbors and friends have been doing that for us. If one of us needs a ride (daughters to or from school, etc.) I have only had to ask once and someone has made it happen. We have had many offers of financial support, as well. We are not taking folks up on that, however, as we have insurance that should (hopefully) cover most of this. (I am meeting with the attorney's tomorrow to discuss the financial aspects of all of this - not really looking forward to that).

Reading all of you comments and thoughts and good wishes only makes me realize even more the importance of friendship as you make your way through your life. This incident has really made me realize the importance of having the ones you love with you and the importance of friends.

Once again, thanks for your kind thoughts. I will keep you guys posted on our progress periodically, although I wont have much time to be playing any games for the foreseeable future.

guitarism · Post by **guitarism** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:22 pm

If the lawyers don't want to play ball, let us know. I'm sure we can arrange a beating session for you.

deschain · Post by **deschain** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:14 am

My best wishes to you all.

CrackBaby · Post by **CrackBaby** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:26 pm

injuries to young girls bother me extra for some reason. sucks that her nose thing can't be done till past her teen years - are they sure about that?

batman · Post by **batman** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:52 pm

CrackBaby wrote:QUOTE (CrackBaby @ Jan 15 2008, 12:26 PM) injuries to young girls bother me extra for some reason. sucks that her nose thing can't be done till past her teen years - are they sure about that?

Yeah -- plastics surgeon doctor said that she would have to stop growing, otherwise it would just have to be done again. It is not 'disfiguring', but it is different from what it was before. The plastic surgeon said that because of the way in which her nose was broken, as she grew there might be a left curve to it. Right now, there is no curve, but her nose is slightly more upturned.

Next week is a big week for the wife (should be getting remaining 6 external pins out of her foot) and my younger daughter - she should be able to go full weight bearing and doing more sports rehabbing. She is partial weight bearing right now and rehab is more gait 'retraining'. Right now she uses one crutch and I call her Tiny Tim /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I changed doctors on my hand and wrist. It is still swollen and sore -- 2 months AFTER the accident. Just had 2 more MRI's done -- will see what they reveal on Monday. My shoulder Doc has me in physical therapy to stretch the muscles. I have a labral tear (tear of the labrum) and it includes the area where the biceps tendon attaches. It is a huge pain (literally) and I can only get about 4 hours sleep a night, so I am thinking I better push for the surgery sooner rather than later -- i am really dragging.

We all continue to heal, but we still don't know what functionality my wife will have when this is done.

blackrob · Post by **blackrob** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:59 pm

Hang in there batman!

Archangelus · Post by **Archangelus** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:23 am

I hope u and your family recover well dude. We will be waiting your coming back.

Andon · Post by **Andon** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:29 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQBobrCBTNI

And I'm glad to hear you're getting better, even if slowly. It could have been much worse.

DrBeginner · Post by **DrBeginner** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:26 pm

drive slowly from now on.

asheron2k · Post by **asheron2k** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:43 am

Best wishes to you and your family.

*kicks self for not reading general more*