Phil's Story ~ Day 4

TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015

         Tuesday was another day of surgery. JaNea and I left Delayna’s early and waiting with Phil as they got him ready for surgery. Dr. Higgins was the surgeon and they were operating on his left leg, just under the knee. It was scheduled late morning and went more smoothly and without complications.  That was a relief. It was also nice to see that the tracking was finally gone from one leg. Seemed like a huge step to getting him looking back to normal. It was good to have JaNea with me to pass the time. She was such a good sport and did whatever I needed, got me food, ran here or there. The new goals were to work on extubating Phil. Wahoo! Although there was talk of getting Phil to surgery on his right leg as early as Friday which meant leaving the vent in. Uhhhh.

         Soon after surgery while Phil was still under the anesthesia, they took him for a bladder scan to make sure the accident had caused any damage to his bladder or urethra. The results were positive. They also did an x-ray on his leg and placed a PICC line in as well. I was glad that he was still pretty sedated while they did all those tests.

Spending time together with the vent in was good but becoming more difficult. Phil was getting more anxious and even more frustrated that his hands were tired down. It was also getting harder to read what he was trying to write on my hands because of the anesthesia from surgery. After a little near panic attack from Phil because I couldn’t figure out what he was saying, we finally communicated enough that I understood he wanted to have his arms untied. The nurse without trying to understand him further just told him that his arms needed to be tied down because of the vent. It was annoying to me that she didn't even seem to want to consider what Phil was saying. He didn't give up trying to communicate and I asked him questions to figure out what he needed. He kept pointing his thumb up towards me. Finally we figured out that he wanted to be untied so he would be able to give me a hug. It was so sweet that he wanted to do that. The nurse untied him and we were able to embrace and feel close to one another. It was good to feel the love and the unity that we share and hadn’t been able to show in a physical way. It was wonderful to feel his touch, and not because I was the one holding his hand, but because he wanted to hold me. It was a boost that I needed.

This was the first night I really started to notice Phil having some anxiety. It wasn’t fun to watch him go through that and if I would have realized what he was really going through at that time, while still being intubated it would have been even worse. The same nurses from the night before were back. I felt good that there were two and I had gotten a good impression from them so I decided since there wasn’t more than a wooden chair in Phil’s ICU room, it would be a good idea to get some sleep. So JaNea and I headed back to Delayna’s for some sleep. Unfortunately, it was those very nurses that were adding to the anxiety that Phil was having. 

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    §  10:40 AM: Phillip is back in surgery again. Today they are working on repairing the fracture under his left knee, part of the bone the femur sits on. Surgery is scheduled again for 6 hours.

A lot of good things are going to start after surgery so both Phil and I were anxious to get on with it. Hopefully later they will be able to extubate him, remove his c-collar, and then start him on some liquids to try to get his gastrointestinal tract functioning again.

This morning he was alert and asking questions (again by spelling them out on my hand). He asked about his accident, told me to always tell him the truth, and told me he loved me so much. He just wanted to me to keep talking to him, which was actually really hard. My mind can't process anything but him right now and it was a struggle for me to come up with anything else to talk about. So if any of his friends and family have any cool or funny things to share with him, send me a message and I'll read them to him. thanks for all your love and prayers. Yesterday was pretty rough, but today already feels better.

    §  4:04 PM: Phil is back in the ICU. Dr, Higgins repaired his knee using 6 plates and a bunch of screws. He said that there was severe soft tissue damage which can be dangerous and puts Phil at risk for losing skin in that area. They will watch him for compartment syndrome over the next few days and unfortunately they saw signs of arthritis in the cartilage of the knee. We still have plenty to pray for Phil and specifically this leg (okay and everything else) while he recovers. His right ankle is the worst out of all his fractures and will need time before they can operate on it. Hopefully it will give him a few days off of the vent. Thank you for following his progress and continuing all the prayers and support for Phil and our family.

    §  11:59 PM: So Phillip had a good evening. Soon after surgery they took him for another pelvic x-ray, did a bladder scan, and he had a PICC line placed as well. All of that was some while he was still heavily sedated. The bladder scan look great.

The goal is to get him extubated. However I have heard Friday as a possible day for surgery on the right ankle and if that happens then they will most likely keep him intubated.

through the night they will lower the vent every two hours and watch all his levels to make sure he's handling the change. By morning we would like to see him breathing on his own through the vent, his lungs a little more clear, and more fluid flushed out of his body. He has already lost a good amount of fluid from the Lasix so that is progress and should help his lungs and his comfort level.

Phil and I had a tender moment together where they allowed his arms to be untied so he could give me a hug. It took a lot to not just crawl up on the bed and lay with him. But it felt so good to feel close to him in that way, to feel his arms around me. Even though he can't communicate, that caring, romantic, loving man is still there. I'm anxious to get the rest of him back!!