The ambulance took us to Regions. Sam liked me to hold his leg. IV was started in the ambulance and pain meds started and continued in the ER. In the ER we were put in the same room that 2 years ago Sam's oldest brother was put in after a tree fell on him while we were at a family reunion. I had to fight back tears when I realized this. More meds, nurses and doctors came in. One doctor took his history down and was amazed at how long it was. We finally went for x rays. They took me to a waiting area that was two rooms and down a hall from the x ray room. I could hear him screaming as they positioned him for the x rays. When they finally came and got me and we went back to the ER room, the nurse told me that Sam said, "That was horrific!" when it was over. It was broken right where the bone graft was. A lot of waiting and finally I was told we would be admitted to Gillette and a Dr. Ogilvie was going to operate first thing in the morning and put in a plate. That didn't sound right to me.
When we got up to our Gillette room, I talked to the nurses and told them what I was told of the plan in the ER and that I was not happy with it. I wanted Dr Healy's input before surgery happened. A couple hours later, the nursing supervisor came in and told me that she talked to Dr Healy and that he was able to take over the case from the other doctor. Dr Healy would come in on his day off and do surgery! I was so relieved.
The night was about keeping Sam comfortable. At one point he wet the bed and that was a rough change of bedding with 5 people helping. The morphine he was being given via IV was starting to make him dizzy. He would grab the sides of the bed and scream for everyone to stop moving the bed.
The next day surgery was delayed twice, first Dr Healy pushed it back from 10:30 to noon and then an emergency came in and pushed it back until about 3. I think it was close to 4 when they finally took him back for surgery. I had been playing a bedtime relaxation album I had on my old phone for him and he took it back to the OR with him. It was the first time I was not able to go back. I was told by a couple of people afterwards that they were impressed with how much it helped him and how relaxed he was going off to sleep.
The surgery went well, though it did take a couple tries and bent nails to get through the sight of the bone graft, but they finally did without opening the sight of the fracture. Drugs were switched to help with the dizzy spells. We finally went back to his room. by bed time he was able to start on oral meds and other then another wet bed had a fairly good night.
Sunday was spent keeping comfortable. Sam feel asleep right as PT came by and took a 3 hour nap so it was put off until the next day. Monday he seemed a little worse off. He took three different naps and hated PT. Two years ago PT was focused on me being able to safely move him. Now he is bigger and my back is worse off so PT was focused on him getting up and walking with the walker short distances to be able to move to bathroom and bed and such. By the end of the evening his temperature was up to 102, but it fortunately was short lived. It did explain why he was so out of it for a good portion of the day though.
Tuesday we did one more PT and finally was able to go home. Once home he spent some time downstairs Tuesday. It took us about a half hour to scoot up the stairs. Wednesday and Thursday he spent the whole upstairs in bed. Friday morning he finally seemed to turn the corner and improve. He asked to come down stairs and did not need pain meds as much.
June 12 we had seen Dr Healy and Sam was cleared from most restrictions. I was finally beginning to let down my guard so to speak and think we were in the clear. I was even thinking about getting him a two wheel bike. Now all that has changed. This post has taken a couple of days to write out. Yesterday, 12 days after the accident, he realized, with tears, that he can't go to a water park now. I assured him it was just for a little bit.
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