It’s a slow process…

December 3, 2011

Recovery from Bennett’s accident will be a slow grueling process but I know that he’s up to the challenge.  This process is so slow that it’s difficult for me to see since I’m with him most of the time, but friends who have stopped by today after not seeing him for a few days see a big difference.  

Since my last update 2 days ago Bennett has started responding more to friends and family and he’s staying awake for longer periods of time.  Britt and Cy arrived yesterday and he gave them a huge smile.  It’s hard to tell the difference between a smile and a grimace because of the ventilator tube, but his eyes say everything.  Two nights ago his grip became really strong.  We all love that strong grip.  

Bennett had a break from surgery yesterday.  Today he went in for wound vacs on his fasciotomy and inner thigh.  These wound vacs set up a negative pressure and help the blood vessels regenerate quickly plus it’s a closed environment that has a lower risk of infection than regular dressings.  The inner thigh area is where his right femur exited and also where the arterial graft was done.  Both areas will likely need skin grafts and the wound vac helps get the tissue ready to receive the graft.  

A bit of good news today was that the surgeon was able to close up the fastiotomy on his inner calf because the swelling has gone down and only had to wound vac the outer calf.  The wound on his inner thigh was more complicated but they were able to successfully apply the vac.  

He’s running a fever and today it broke that threshold that makes the medical staff concerned about infection so they took blood, sputum, and urine cultures.  Hopefully nothing with show up and it’s just his body fighting the trauma.  

Happy moments ~ Thomson always makes Bennett laugh.  He’d better stop! ~ Andrew started chronicling Bennett’s hospital journey today.  We’ve had quite a few discussions about this and while it seems a little weird we are certain that Bennett is going to be curious about what he was dealing with in the hospital.  The photos will be available if Bennett wants to see them. Thanks Andrew! ~ Guy drove up yesterday from Arizona through a snow storm in his Karmann Ghia with no heat.  We are so thankful he made it safely and not permanently frozen. ~ Nichole taught Guy how to crochet today and they are busily working on a patchwork throw for Bennett.  ~ The rest of the crew has been busy creating an origami menagerie that will soon be hanging all over Bennett’s hospital room.  ~ Sean flew in from Vermont tonight and it’s great to see him!  ~ Marcus was telling Bennett tonight about a snowboarding video he’d just gotten and Bennett’s eyes lit up.  ~There’s about 8 inches of snow on the ground in Denver! (That’s a big deal for us Georgia folks)

Thanks so much to all of you sending Bennett positive healing energy, loving thoughts and prayer.  

With much love and gratitude,

Libby