Sept 14, 2010

In madison! This hospital is very swanky! I even have a bed right next to jimmy so I can finally stop sleeping in chairs! He is excited to be here, and he is excited for me to begin the apartment hunt and bring back lots of brochures for him to look at. I'll ask the nurse our address and post it!

Top 10 things about this hospital in no particular order:

1. It's on the UW campus; everyone we know in Madison is right here in town.

2. Hospital is newer and super updated.

3. Everyone here is super friendly, I love his doctors and nurses already.

4. The waiting room has a computer with internet (using it right now), a refrigerator, a vending machine, and a sweet fish tank.

5. The doctors and nurses here are keeping me really informed, I don't feel like i have to chase anyone down and pester them for information.

6. I have a bed in Jimmy's room!!! Best sleep I've had in weeks!

7. They let me use my phone in his room. Makes it easier to keep in contact with everyone and keep the facebook updated.

8. The room has a big window, and there is a ton of natural light! Excited to reduce use of those flickery fluorescent lights.

9. Rehabilitation is here in the hospital so we will not need to be transferred anywhere.

10. And the BEST thing about this hospital is that Jimmy likes it and feels comfortable here.

Sept 13, 2010

Today is the day! We're flying out this evening. We'll be on a crazy fast jet so our flight time will be only 3 hours! See you later central valley, hello madison!

This is the craziest facebook update I have ever done! I am riding in the front seat of an ambulance on route to the stockton airport! Jimmy is in the back with our flight crew...they are very skilled nurses!!

They gave jimmy some zofran into his IV to prevent nausea. I was like, "can I get some of that?" And they gave me a pill. Anyone who knows me well knows that I get car-sick a lot, and I always feel icky on planes. We are flying to madison on a leer jet, so we will be going ultra fast! They also offered me some anti-anxiety meds, but I want to be alert. They hooked jimmy up with some good stuff so he'll be nice and comfy during the flight. I'll do enough worrying for the both of us!

Sept 12, 2010

Hey everyone! The neuro unit at UW hospital is full, so we won't be leaving California until a space for Jimmy opens up. Maybe Monday, maybe later than that. All of our stuff is packed up, so it feels like we are on-call. Crazy stuff!

Sept 11, 2010

Medical flight will most likely be tomorrow (sunday) at 9AM. Jimmy is excited to get back to wisconsin! His doctor says we're ready for transport, and she sees him everyday. I'm confident in her assessment, and I know that the medical flight is super safe, but I've always been scared of change. But this is what Jimmy wants, so we're going to go for it!

Sept 10, 2010

Not 100% sure when we'll be making our way back to Wisconsin. The insurance company is pushing for today, but his doctors here in California think he needs a couple more days to heal. So it probably won't be today, but it could be tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day... I hate not knowing...

Jimmy was also much more awake last night. He is mouthing his words again, and I was able to talk to him a little bit more about our upcoming flight back to Wisconsin. He is excited to get back, we both consider it home. As soon as I find out when we're headed back, I'll let you all know!

Yesterday was so overwhelming since I found out that we had to come back to Madison. Don't get me wrong! I love Madison and all of our friends there, but it is hard to leave our family and friends here. I was really freaking out, and upset that the insurance company was just now letting me know this information. I talked with Jimmy about the medical flight, everything that is going on, asked him if he was okay with these decisions, etc. I think he realized that I was pretty upset with all this insurance company BS. He looked right at me, and mouthed "I'm alive". I was like WHOOOOOOOOOOA! All morning I had been so wrapped up in my frustrations with insurance that I had temporarily forgotten what really really mattered. He put me back in the right frame of mind, like he ALWAYS does! He's such a great guy!

Sept 9, 2010

Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since the last update! Jimmy is still doing just fine. He is catching up on rest. He was unable to sleep for a couple days before the surgery, so he is pretty exhausted.

We literally JUST found out that we need to move back to Wisconsin to get back into our insurance coverage area. I have talked to a couple of attorneys about this, and there's really nothing we can do about the situation. We can go and be covered, or stay and deal with the bills ourselves (Medicare cannot guarantee that they will pay for all of it). Jimmy's medical bill as of yesterday was $750,000, and thank God our insurance is paying 100% of that. We have no deductible, and no co-pay, so that's a very good thing.

He'll go through rehab in Wisconsin and we'll go from there! We will be on an ultra fancy medical flight and Jimmy will have 3 specialists watching his every breath. This flight is equipped with everything you would find in an ICU. I can fly over with him, and we'll be going straight to UW Hospital. His doctors want to keep him and get him more stabilized for just a couple more days. It's all happening so fast my head is spinning. Jimmy was awake for a while today and I let him know the whole situation. He agreed that this is the best decision we could make at this time, so it made me feel better that he's okay with it.

Wisconsin folks, we'll see you soon! Thanks to all who helped with the house packing, and will be helping with the move tomorrow! The house is 2-story, so we'd ultimately have to move out of it anyway....just going to be moving our stuff into storage, and when Jimmy is going through rehab I can start looking for apartments. And don't worry about me being homeless...Kate Frigo is very nicely going to let me stay with her in her awesome new apartment.

Sept 8, 2010

6 hour surgery complete!!! Went without a hitch, and he remained stable the whole time! Now that his neck is stabilized, they'll be able to sit him up and get going on physical therapy! So happy!

Sept 6, 2010

Jimmy is still progressing! His oxygen is at 35%, so we are getting there! They also changed the mode on his ventilator so that he is doing all his breathing on his own. They have to get his muscles strong again, and then they'll be able to take that dang tube out! He's REALLY over the tube, he wants to talk!

...

Breathing tube is out!!! He can finally talk! I spoke to his doctor today before the took the tube out, and he told me that if Jimmy asks about his family I should just be honest. He is taking it surprisingly well, and he's also taking the paralysis well too. It may take quite a while for all of this to sink in... I'm just so happy to hear his voice again!

Sept 5, 2010

Jimmy is at 40% oxygen, and they have turned off his sedation completely! His shoulder muscles are very tense, so they have him on a muscle relaxer. He is still doing the majority of his breathing on his own! His arms are still pretty darn strong for laying still for a week and a half. His nurse extends his arms and holds onto his wrists, and he then does a bicep curl and pulls her in. She had me do it so I could see how strong his biceps are and he yanked me so hard I lost my footing. Wasn't expecting that! His right arm is weaker than his left arm, but of course he's going to be getting even stronger when he gets to rehab!

He is also back to his old self! Even though he can only answer yes or no questions by shaking his head, he's still very sarcastic! He rolls his eyes, and is being very sassy.

The two of us had a dance party last night! He wanted his music on, and a song that he really liked came on. All the sudden he starts moving his arms and shoulders. I was about to sprint out the room and get his nurse, but his facial expression looked really calm. Then I asked him, "Are you dancing?" and he shook his head yes. So we had a little dance party for 2 songs, and then he took a nap. The nurses probably thought that we were insane, but mini dance parties are a part of our normal lives at least weekly!

This morning I came in to check on him and he winked at me. Very sassy! ;)

Funniest moment of the day yesterday, "Blink once if you want to listen to Britney Spears" and then he blinks like 20 times really fast. HILARIOUS!

Sept 4, 2010

Hi everyone, Jimmy is doing so well today! His oxygen was taken down to 50%!!! And he's looking great. They showed me his chest x-rays today and they look so much better! He is still wide awake, and is starting to smile and he has been mouthing words. Today he mouthed "I love you" which was wonderful! He also mouthed "Corey" (his bff). You should have seen Corey strutting around the hospital, so proud that Jimmy asked for him! Today was awesome, we just need to break that fever!

Jimmy is still wide awake, and we can ask him lots of yes-or-no questions. Last night he wanted me to stay with him while he fell asleep. Stood for an hour, in flip flops, at midnight! My feet were all swollen and red from standing still for so long. He kept waking back up, and eventually, he was okay with me going to lie down. I think he saw that I couldn't keep my eyes open. Got some good sleep in the waiting room (you can only sleep in the room if the patient is under 18...whatever). Came back in to check on him this morning, and his oxygen had been taken down to 45%! YES!!! So happy!

Jimmy is still looking awesome! Oxygen still at 45%, and still very awake. He's taking a lot of breaths on his own, hopefully they'll take that tube out of his mouth soon!

Sept 3, 2010

Jimmy did awesome yesterday. His blood pressure was right around 120/70...a lot of healthy people WISH their blood pressure was that good! His oxygen was taken down to 70% over the course of the day, and last night around 9 or so, it was down to 65%. I slept in his room last night, and when I left this morning at 6:20, it was still at 65%. He's breathing great! He's also wide awake, looking around, making eye contact! He can reply to yes or no questions by shaking his head, I always feel so much better when I ask if he's in pain and she shakes his head "no". Feels so look into his eyes again, and we can kinda have conversations!

Sleeping in chairs sucks! But it feels nice to come home, shower, and update facebook on a nice comfy bed. Will be leaving for the hospital again in just a few minutes!

Sept 1, 2010

Jimmy still looked good when I left he hospital tonight! He is still at 65% oxygen, and his blood is nicely saturated! Whooo hoo! I talked with his nurse about today's chest x-ray, and the bruising in his lungs is starting to clear up a little bit! The collapsed lung looks better, and the pneumothorax (air pocket between the lungs and the chest wall) that formed when his lung collapsed is gone. All good news!

He is a strong guy and he has so much going for him. His age, he doesn't drink much, he doesn't smoke, and he very very rarely gets sick. We had a pretty darn good day today. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming!

Jimmy's surgery is going to have to be pushed back. The neurosurgeon said maybe Friday, but we'll have to wait to see if his lungs improve. Let's hope the surgery is soon!

Aug 31, 2010

First, the not-so-good news: Jimmy's lungs are still in pretty bad shape. He's fighting really hard, though! The bruising in the lungs will need time to heal, and then hopefully it will be much easier for him to keep his oxygen saturation up.

Second, the good news: They took him off his final blood pressure medication today! His blood pressure looks great! AND he actually does not have pneumonia! They will keep checking him for pneumonia tomorrow and the next day just to be on the safe side. They were able to turn his oxygen down so that the machine is giving him 80% oxygen instead of 100% oxygen. The air we breathe is like 21% oxygen, so the goal is to get his machine giving him less and less oxygen. He was able to keep his blood saturated while being given 80% oxygen, so that is definitely better.

Although his lungs look pretty bad still, there were a LOT of high fives today. Me, the families, and our nurse are all pretty excited about his progress today!

Jimmy is looking really good right now. Blood pressure still looks great and they were able to lower him to 65% oxygen and he's still keeping the amount of oxygen in his blood looking really good. Yay!

Aug 30, 2010

Jimmy got pneumonia today, which he is already predisposed to since he is on a ventilator. Right now he can't cough the bacteria out of his lungs, so that's why he got the pneumonia. They have him on a course of antibiotics, and we should start to see improvement in about 1-2 days, and they expect his chest x-rays to clear up 1-2 days after that.

Today I asked to sit down with his doctor, his PA, and his nurse. They let me see all his x-rays and CT scans. It was really scary to actually see his fractured bones, but I think it's better for me to be fully aware of every single injury. He gets a chest x-ray everyday, so I had them go through all his chest x-rays and explain to me how things in his lungs have been progressing. I will definitely be keeping an eye on all the CT scans and x-rays they do in the future, and having someone explain to me what's going on.

Whenever I'm in the room with him, I'm keeping an eye on his blood pressure. I went in to his room after a late dinner at about 8:15PM and his systolic blood pressure reading was about 130. I started talking to him and giving him lots of kisses and it shot up to 152, and the machine started to beep because it was getting so high. I backed off him and let him settle back down to about 130 and then I started talking to him again. It went back up to 150, and again, the machine started to beep. I went out to talk to his nurse to ask if maybe I should leave him alone and just sit in there quietly and not touch him. She explained to me that his blood pressure is going up because he realizes that I'm there, and that I should touch and talk to him as much as I want. She also explained that everyone's blood pressure fluctuates naturally, and it always changes when we are interacting with others.

Before I said goodnight I asked Jimmy to blink for me (even though his eyes were still closed). He totally blinked! I kept on asking and asking and he kept doing it! Then I started to tell him how much I love him, and I asked him to blink if I could give him some kisses. He blinked, and then I went to town smooching his forehead.

Oh, and a very interesting tidbit of info that I learned today! An orthopedic nurse came in today to check on his broken foot, and she told me she was there when he was first brought in. She said "You must be Ashley" and I was thinking she must have just read his paperwork and seen my name somewhere. She then mentioned that he was very talkative when he was first brought in to the ER, and she told me that he actually gave them my name and phone number when he came in. He actually gave her a couple of phone numbers of people to call. The fact that he was so aware that he could recall multiple phone numbers is amazing! I am so amazed by him!

Aug 29, 2010

Hi everyone. Jimmy's left lung collapsed early this morning, but they fixed it, and he's back to where he was yesterday. The lung collapse sucks, but his lungs suffered a lot of bruising, which I've been told is probably because of the seat belts. This is just a setback, and we'll get through it. His lungs had been looking and sounding pretty strong for the last couple days, but a lot of times things get worse before they get better. It's hard to accept that, but it's something that I will work on coping with.

Jimmy and I have a friend who is a really amazing trauma nurse. She cares about Jimmy very much, and she took it upon herself to call me and get my permission to call and his nurses and doctors. She explained a lot of things for me very well, and I really appreciated it! She also recommended that I start keeping a journal and include things like which medications he's on, what that particular medication treats, how much he's getting, how his breathing is doing, etc. It will be nice to keep track of those things for myself. She also gave me a list of questions that I should ask his doctors and nurses every single day, and I will start keeping track of their answers. I'm so happy to have her be able to think of these kinds of things for me. My brain is a wreck, and she helped me get some things on track today. I am so thankful for her!

Today my sister met me at the AT&T store near the hospital. She bought me a Blackberry so that I can have internet access at the hospital. (The hospital does not have wifi). She's added my phone to her account, so she's very nicely paying for not only the phone, but the bill too. Right now, I spend about 1 hour when I wake up and about 1.5-2 hours before I go to sleep to check and respond to e-mails and do facebook updates about Jimmy's recovery. I have only been sleeping about 4 hours per night and it's been really exhausting. She got me the phone so that I can keep people updated during the day, and try to get a bit more sleep at night. The more sleep I get, the stronger I will be for Jimmy!

Once I get this internet-on-the-phone thing figured out, you guys can look forward to daytime updates instead of middle of the night ones! I think that's it for now! I will talk to you guys tomorrow!

Aug 28, 2010

Hey everyone! Jimmy had a wonderful day at the hospital today! He was still being kept sedated and he is on a lot of pain meds, but he was opening his eyes when he heard voices around him! He is still very stable, and his neurologist is thinking that he will be able to have his neck surgery late next week. After his neck surgery, we'll be in the ICU for 4-5 days, and then they'll move him straight to a rehabilitation facility. It's all moving so quickly, but this is how they always do it. They sooner we get his muscles moving, the better! He is also kicking butt and doing a lot of breathing on his own!

Thanks for your thoughts and well wishes, everyone!

Aug 27, 2010

Hi guys, thanks for the messages! It is nice to know that we have our friends behind us. Today, Jimmy breathed on his own for an hour and a half! I was so proud of him. They also took him off of one of his blood pressure medications and he remained stable. They are starting to wean him off his final blood pressure medication, and he is still doing great.

I asked the nurses to teach me what all the numbers on his monitors mean, and what is the target number for each thing. I'll bet they regret teaching me, because if something starts to get too low or too high I am in the hallway grabbing whichever nurse is closest so they can check on him.

He had a 5-10 minute procedure done today that placed filters in veins just in case he is forming clots in his legs. He stayed completely stable during the procedure, and the nurses were all super proud of him!

Thanks so much for the thoughts and prayers guys. Keep em comin'!

Jimmy's Recovery (copied from the Facebook group)

Hello everyone, thanks for joining the group! I will try to keep it updated as often as possible! Thank you for the calls and texts, and I'm sorry if I haven't been able to get back to everyone. I thought this page would help keep you all notified. Right now, Jimmy is surrounded by my family and Corey's family, and his aunt and uncles are on the way!

He's at Doctor's Medical Center in Modesto, CA on the neurology floor in the ICU. He is able to respond to yes or no questions, and for the time being does not want any visitors in the room beside me. I ask him every few hours if he wants to see anyone, and he says no. The ICU is also for family only, but given his circumstances with the loss of his parents and brother, they are being a bit more lenient with who can come in. Feel free to come down to Doctors between 8AM and 7PM to hang out with my parents in the waiting room, I'll be there from time to time and can update you directly.

Jimmy is awake now, he can open his eyes, and he recognizes our faces. He can shake his head yes or no, and the nurses say that it's fine to ask him questions. Right now, he doesn't want any visitors except for me, but feel free to come hang in the hospital with my family. Doctor's Medical Center, Modesto CA, 3rd floor, neurology. I am in the waiting room from time to time, and I'd love to see anyone who is able to come visit!

New Chocolates!

Someone on Etsy bought one of my custom chocolates! She told me that she likes chocolate buttercreams and chocolates with raspberry filling. She said she likes sprinkles, but that drizzle would be fine too...

This is what I came up with:

I wonder which one she will like the best!



Here is a photo of all the chocolates that I currently have. They make me hungry!

Luna!

Here is a photo that Pete and Lea sent of baby Luna wearing her bear stuff! She's so cute!!!! I can't wait to meet her!