It’s easy to lose track of time...

 Bennett bobbing head jar decorated for the holidays at North Beach Grill, Tybee Island GA

It’s easy to lose track of time when you are spending it day in and day out in the hospital.  Bennett’s accident happened 4 days after Thanksgiving.  Now it’s Christmas Eve.  He will have been at this hospital 4 weeks this coming Monday.   This has been a week of big improvements and scary setbacks.  Yesterday he ate solid food for the first time since his accident.  He was craving fruit and the first thing he ate was a tangerine.  Then he had half of a green apple espresso brownie.  These are by far the best brownies I’ve ever eaten.  They were hand delivered from Tybee (thanks Cindy!) at least 2 weeks ago, and it hasn’t been easy saving any for Bennett, but I held on to some and he was glad that I had.   Next on the menu was a brothy asparagus leak and salmon stew Bennett’s Dad made.  Yum.  

This past Tuesday Bennett had surgery to put the permanent plate on his right femur and set his right Clavicle.  I didn’t even know he had a broken clavicle until about a week ago.  I guess his docs thought that it was small potatoes compared his other injuries so they just left it off the list.  He also had a washout done on the inner thigh where the infection has been and the wound vac reapplied. Unfortunately there was some puss found in the wound vac area but the surgeon didn’t think it communicated any more ( had passage to) to the femur area.  

Bennett’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr Desai , reported after the surgery that Bennett is growing new bone at a remarkable rate.  He explained that patients with traumatic brain injuries and fractured bones sometimes experience enhanced osteogenesis (bone growth). Somehow the body secretes a hormone that enhance the production of a protein that promotes calcification (don’t ask me to take a test on that.  I wasn’t taking notes).  Evidently Bennett bumped his head hard enough for that to happen, but not hard enough to cause brain damage.  Thomson swears that his mind is sharper now than it was before the accident.  Hmm.  Back to Dr. Desai… he said that this bone growth is a good thing and it produces a lot a blood flow which helps fight infection.  Hopefully it will also help the bones around Bennett’s hip socket harden up and heal more quickly so that he can have his total hip replacement sooner rather than later.  More on that later.     I found out today (or was it yesterday?) that an undesirable side effect of this enhanced osteogenesis is called heterotopic ossification.  This is when bone forms in soft tissue, where it shouldn’t be.  On Wed a CT scan was done of Bennett’s pelvis and hip areas and it appears that this is happening.  The Critical Care doctor that mentioned this to us said it is treatable, but we’re still waiting to hear how it will be treated.  The CT Scan was done to try and determine where the infection is originating from.  They were looking for pockets of fluid but instead of seeing signs of infection they saw signs of heterotopic ossification.

Bennett has had several ultrasounds of his arms and legs to check for blood clots.  His legs have been fine and I mentioned in a previous post that he had blood clots in his arms that the doctors weren’t too worried about because they were in superficial veins (close to the surface) as opposed to deep veins that carry more blood.  Last night I noticed that Bennett’s right arm was swelling and alerted the nurses.  Another ultrasound was done and a clot in Bennett’s right subclavian vein was identified.  This is a deep vein running under the clavicle and is serious.  It must be treated with blood thinners.  The last time Bennett was treated with heparin (blood thinner) his blood counts dropped so much that they discontinued it.  Last time wasn’t so critical, but his body was in much worse shape and still oozing a lot of fluids.  Hopefully now that he is more stable this will not be a problem.  I am concerned though.  He received a unit of blood Wednesday.  

Today Dr. Reynolds (plastic surgeon extraordinaire)  washed out Bennett’s inner thigh again where the infection has been.  He said that it looked pretty good in there but is concerned about it being open for so long.  He felt that the arterial graft was safe and the tissue around it healthy, but found that the infected area communicated with the pelvic area and femur.  We just have to hope that the infection doesn’t start living on the metal plates and screws.  Time will tell.  Dr Reynolds is hoping that he can do another washout on Monday and on Wednesday close up the thigh and do the skin graft.  After today’s surgery Bennett was started on a heparin drip.  The medical staff will closely monitor his blood count and hopefully the heparin will blast the new blood clot to oblivion.  

Bennett’s hospital social worker, Maggie, has been trying to find out when he’ll be heading up to rehab.  He can’t start rehab until he’s out of traction (right leg) and yesterday Maggie was told that he will be in traction until he can have his total hip replacement.  That could be months, so it was a tough day for Bennett.  It’s hard to imagine being in bed and in traction for that long.  Next week Maggie will gather Bennett’s team together so we can get a clearer idea of what is in store for him over the next few months.  He has so many different doctors on his team and it will be interesting to have them all together and hear what they have to say.  The primary team members are trauma, critical care, ortho, plastic, neuro, & vascular.  I’m probably forgetting someone.  Back to his total hip, for several reasons the orthopods have determined that the hip socket (acetabulum) is inoperable.  The primary reason is that repairing it would require a lot of manipulation of the leg which could put the arterial graft at risk.  Another reason is fear on infection.  Dr Desai says that Bennett would probably need a total hip at some point anyway.  If they try to repair the acetabulum they would have to use plates and screws.  Bacteria loves to live on metal because there’s no blood flow and if the area gets infected he won’t be able to ever have a total hip.  So there you go.  Bennett is waiting for his body to be strong enough for a total hip.  Because the acetabulum is shattered there’s nothing to keep the leg from moving up into the pelvic region, thus the traction.  

Yesterday Bennett’s friend Ashley stopped by with a Christmas tree.  Today while he was in surgery I decorated it with the origami that the kids had made his first week in the hospital.  It looks great.  Then some gifts were delivered (thanks Santa Glo!), so we not only have a Christmas tree in Bennett’s room, we have a Christmas tree with gifts under it.   Bennett has had lots of other friends visit this week.  Today Thomson, Steven and Jason all stopped by on their way back to GA.  Safe travels Boys.  We love you.  This evening  his snowmaking buddies, Todd and Rick dropped by with snowmaking photos, a gameboy, some books, sketchpad, snowboarding videos and a 2012 calendar of the US Women’s Rafting Team (Tastefully unclothed. Talk about muscles!  Sheesh!).  Later this evening Vince stopped by who hadn’t seen Bennett in a couple of years.  Wednesday 4 of his Snow Cat buddies  (including his boss) stopped by and presented to him the first place prize money from the snowflakechallenge.   Monday Megan Sandra and Ariel came.  Over the weekend one of his bosses from snowmaking dropped by.  I know I’m forgetting some folks but please know that it means so much to Bennett (and me) to have you visit.  Please continue to drop by.  Bennett is also taking phone calls.  Thanks to everyone who continues to make Bennett’s days better by visiting, sending cards, calling, praying and sending positive vibes. 

With much love and gratitude,

Libby