LoVeloVelovE

          Coworkers and buddies of Bennett Bacon (not pictured here) spent about 95 hours creating their piece, which one first place, to help him with his medical bills he has after a snowboarding accident.

December 19, 2011

Bennett has been surrounded by so much love and positive energy; it’s having a visible healing effect.  His friends and colleagues in Breck have been amazing and it’s been a treat to meet his Colorado family.  The link below is just another example of the wonderful friends that he has cultivated out here.  I love you guys.    

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20111218/NEWS/111219839

Bennett has been in a lot of pain in the last few days, though I think his mind is more in tune with his body.  He has stopped all the sedatives which had started backfiring on him.  He is now getting more pain meds but his mind is clear and he’s finally sleeping.  It appears that the infection in his thigh is under control.  Tomorrow the orthopedic surgeon will place a permanent plate in his right femur and set his right clavicle. 

Last week Bennett finally got an MRI.  He hadn’t had one because of the traction, but they temporarily took it out so they could get an MRI and put it back above his knee (it was through his lower leg).  The trauma surgeons had identified a basilar skull fracture when he came in but the MRI showed a C1 vertebral fracture.  Just typing this makes me feel a little sick.  The MRI also showed that there was no deep brain injury.  Today the Neurologist from Craig Hospital released him saying that it looked as though all of his rehab will be orthopedic.  Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado is exclusively dedicated to spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation, and research.  

Yesterday Bennett’s restriction was removed on how far up he could sit.  Previously he was restricted to sitting up at no more than a 45 degree angle.  Now he can sit up at 90 degrees which also enables him to swallow liquids and food!  ( I think this increased mobility is also contributing to his increased pain) Last week he “flunked” his swallow test (twice) but passed with flying colors today.  Bennett’s Dad, Jerry has bought lots of groceries to make his famous seafood stew.  He’s determined to fatten Bennett up.   While the speech therapist was giving him the swallow test she also gave him some cognitive tests and he did “above average”.  Thomson teased him that his mind might be sharper since the accident.  I know his mind is sharper than mine after hearing the questions from the speech therapist that stumped me.  It reminded me that I need to start taking some ginkgo but I’m sure by tomorrow I will have forgotten.  

We’ve had so many visitors and each one makes Bennett so happy.  We thank you all. 

Will comes bearing gifts from Old Crow

December 17, 2011 afternoon

Bennett has had an exciting day and it just keeps getting better.  He is so stoked.  This morning his critical care doctor decided he was ready to move off the ICU to the step down unit.  He also agreed to remove all the sedatives that are supposed to help Bennett sleep, but seem to be having the opposite effect. 

Uncle Bill stopped through on Thursday and yesterday Will and “honorary Dad”, John flew in.  Then Ani and Thomson reappeared this morning after an adventurous road trip exuding their love and positive energy.   Bennett is extremely grateful for all his friends and family that have been here to visit him.  He is so happy to see his cousin Will.  They’ve always had a special bond.  Will came bearing gifts from Old Crow Medicine Show including a signed EP.  Pretty sweet.  _____________________________________________________________________________________

Rest for the Weary

December 16, 2011 morning

In the last 6 days Bennett has had 2 more washouts of the wound vacs and besides being anesthetized for about 2 ½ hours for each of those procedures he has slept maybe an additional 7 hours.  This has been heartbreaking to see, and is evidently something that can happen to patients that have been in ICU for a prolonged period of time.    The term for this is ICU Delirium or ICU Psychosis.  My understanding is that it’s caused by the combination of drugs and the fact that in ICU there is continues activity…24/7.  It’s hard for the patient to tell the difference in night and day and the sleep cycle is interrupted.  The combination of sleep deprivation and multiple drugs may cause hallucinations, and In Bennett’s case he is hallucinating off and on.  It’s worse at night and early morning.   The first 2 nights were the worst.  He had a lot of congestion that he was able to cough up, but it would then have to be suctioned out of his mouth and he seemed to be afraid to fall asleep because of the risk of choking.  Since then it’s cleared up some and he is able to suction himself, but he is still hallucinating and not sleeping.  His hallucinations aren’t scary.  Some of them are even comforting, but most cause confusion.  Even when he’s hallucinating he knows where he is, what month and year it is, and who we are.  Bennett thinks that the very drugs that are supposed to help these symptoms are the ones that are causing them and I am beginning to suspect that he’s right.  He lays in the dark, eyes darting back and forth.  I'll speak to his doctor in the morning about stopping these meds.    

While all this sounds scary, Bennett is making remarkable progress.  The infection in his thigh area near the arterial graft seems to be clearing up nicely.  Dr Reynolds preformed the washout today and was prepared to close up his right calf and do a skin graft.  He was actually able to close up the calf completely without a skin graft.  Future plans include another washout on Sunday and on Tuesday the permanent plate in his right femur.