Jack dropped me off this morning and headed to the hospital for his pre-op appointment to get the bloodwork, chest x-ray, etc. before his surgery on Monday.  The appointment was scheduled for 8:30 and they estimated it would take about 2 hours.  He calls me at 9:00 saying “it’s over.”  What?  That was quick!  Nope… they demanded $2,000 up front before they’d even do the tests.  And no $2,000 meant no surgery!

WHAT?!?!  The coordinator in the surgeon’s office told us that insurance was covering 100%!  The INSURANCE company told us they were covering 100%!  WTH people?!?!  Apparently what they failed to tell us is they cover 100% AFTER our out of pocket…. which is $2,000!

Now, this would be no problem… had they told us a month ago, or even two weeks ago!  But no, they wait and tell us this THREE DAYS BEFORE SURGERY!  YIKES!!

So after much panicking, much distress, a little bit of yelling, and yes, even some tears (on both sides), we figured out how to come up with the money.  Wasn’t fun, wasn’t easy, and we’re still holding onto shoestring hope that it’s all going to work out, but the important thing is… Jack’s still on for surgery on Monday…. hospital be damned!

I miss Baylor!

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Since Jack’s accident he’s had trouble getting around due to pain and swelling in his leg and foot.  He’s built up his stamina, but it’s been a catch-22 – his injury prevents him from a lot of physical activity, but his weight and lack of physical activity hinders the healing in his leg.

For the past six months, Jack has been seeing the doctor, the nutritionist and even the psychologist, in prepation for having LapBand surgery.  Well, the six months are up, the information has been submitted, insurance has been approved, and now it’s time.

Jack has the final meeting with his surgeon this week, and they’ll schedule his surgery.  We’re hoping they’ll be willing to schedule it for next Monday, March 3rd.  He’s already starting on the preparation diet… soft foods for a week, then liquids only for the 2-3 days before.  We’ll find out for sure on Tuesday when the surgery will be.

It’s strange.  Jack has had so many surgeries.  But they’ve all been necessary, not elective.  And… they’ve all been at the same hospital, we’ve known what to expect.  This time, it’s all unknown… unknown place, unknown people, unknown processes.  So it will be interesting.

Keep us in your prayers.  I’ll be updating here as we know more.

~Heather

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Jack’s going back in for more surgery next week.  Outpatient surgery, but nonetheless, it’s another surgery.  I think we’re up to number 19.  Dr. Kelton, the plastic surgeon, wants to do a flap and see if that works.  We’ll see how it goes…. please keep us in your prayers!

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I guess it’s time to post again!  lol

Staying busy, working on some graphics projects for a client, doing some scanning for another… just busy, busy!  Catching up for all the time that I was sick!

Saturday night was our company banquet. I did a special video where I taped a bunch of employees and then put it all together into one DVD.  Everyone LOVED it! I was very proud!  Oh, and I got an award too, so that was nice. Now I turn to planning the company golf tournament in May, so that should be fun.

Jack’s doing good.  The doctor considers his left leg (the MRSA) closed. YAY! The right leg, after being open for over 2 years, is FINALLY looking like it’s going to close!  DOUBLE YAY!!! They finally ordered a jobst garment (compression), and that had to wait until it was closed, so the doctors have confidence too!

Other than that, we’re just living life!  I’m preparing for the MS Walk. I’m selling soldered charms to help raise money, so if you’re interested, email me!  They make GREAT mother’s day gifts!!

~Heather

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So Jack had his bone scan and white blood cell tag this week… very interesting how technology works and what it can show us about our own bodies… anyway, so the good news – there is no osteomyelitis in Jack’s leg!  yay!  That was the infection he had right after he got out of the hospital, resulting in 6 weeks of daily IV antibiotics.  So… what IS there?  Well, we don’t know that so much at this point, and the infectious disease doc is out of the country until after the first of the year (oh to be young and wealthy! lol). So we wait, and see, and pray really hard.  God is in control!  We believe that completely!

Fantastic news at the doctor this week… he recently changed my meds and they are now working properly!  Yay! Hence the 15lb weight loss in the past month!  Double YAY!! It’s nice to feel healthier.

Did Christmas with the family this evening before everyone heads off in their own directions. Presents, lights, singing, and good Mexican food.  That’s what Christmas is all about folks!

Other than that, we’ve just been busy, busy, busy.  Jack’s off to California for work stuff in a week or so (we just found out yesterday!), and I’m super busy at work with tradeshows, websites, brochures, and all that other fun stuff.

Happy Holidays!
~Heather

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Brrr… it’s getting cold out there!  Two days ago it was 80 degrees outside.  Right now, it’s a chilly 34 degrees!  Holy Cow! But I love, love, love cold weather.  We don’t get much of it here in Texas, though.

I went with Jack to his doctor’s appointments this past week. He’s scheduled to go back next week for the bone scan and a white blood cell scan.  These will help to show if the infection is bone or tissue.  Once we know that, we will have a better idea of what the treatment will be. So yet again, we’re waiting… for tests, for doctors, for prognosis. And of course with the holidays, I’m sure the waiting won’t be short!  lol That part I do remember!

Jack and I were talking the other day about spending the holidays in the hospital two years ago.  My mom and dad brought us Thanksgiving dinner at the rehab hospital (a friend brought us leftovers just so it would be authentic! lol), and then we were lucky enough that Jack was discharged a couple of days before Christmas. I remember putting up the Christmas tree in Jack’s hospital room, wondering if that really was where we’d spend Christmas. I am so thankful for the doctors and nurses who took care of Jack during that time.  There were times that I felt so lost among the medical terminology, the treatment options and the pressure of it all, but every single person was so kind, patient and understanding. I’ll never forget them.

Ok, so sorry about that little trip down memory lane…. we’ve been doing that a lot around here!

Gotta run… been baking cookies like crazy today, something about the holidays brings out the baker in me! :o)
~Heather

P.S. Awesome news… I’ve lost over 15lbs in the past month!! Yesterday I had to go buy a size smaller pants!!  I’m so, so, so thrilled!! I’ll post later about all of that though!

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So it’s been over two years since Jack’s accident and you’d think our hospital days would be over by now…. Yeah right!

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 Well I finally decided to move *my* blog over here rather than just letting it be a digital playground.  So I’ve imported all of my blogger posts, you should see all the categories over there on the left.  I wanted to make sure I kept all of the information about Jack’s accident, etc.

Speaking of which… this past weekend was the 2 year anniversary of Jack’s accident.  Crazy!  It seems so long ago, but just like yesterday.  Current status…. he’s doing well.  Getting around pretty well, still can’t walk real long distances, but he’s getting there.  He still has an open wound… isn’t that insane?!?!  He’s still seeing Dr. Kelton, the plastic surgeon, about every 6 weeks.  He’s recently started seeing a dermatologist who had some great suggestions that have helped a lot.  So we still deal with the repercussions of the accident every day, and will probably deal with them for the rest of our lives.

The weather’s getting cooler… it’s so nice… I love this time of the year. Definitely feeling more and more like fall every day.  And my favorite holiday is coming up… Thanksgiving!  I’ll post more later about why it’s my favorite.

I’m still teaching classes at The Scrapbook Pad.  In fact, on December 1st I’m one of the teachers for this cool make & take day… there’s 10 different projects that you can complete, all having to do with the holidays.  It’s very cool.  I’ll post a photo of my project.  The digital classes are still going strong!  I’ve got two digital classes – Digital Scrapbooking 101 and Photo Editing for Everyone. 

Other than that, not too much going on.  I promise to post more often!  :o)

~Heather

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So, I’m very happy to announce that I’m a new Digital Assistant at The Scrapbook Pad! They have an awesome digital center, complete with digital kiosk, a couple of computers, and everything a digital scrapper could need to actually take their scrapbook OUT of their computer! Very cool! So I’ll be working there a few nights during the week, and then on Saturday nights, helping people in the digi world.

Status on the medical front… not much really. I go back for a follow up on Monday, so I’ll post more then. Thank you for all of the comments and emails that I’ve gotten. It really means a lot to me. And on Jack’s medical front… he goes back to the plastic surgeon in a couple of weeks. If there’s still no progress on the final spot closing up, then he’ll send Jack for hyperbaric chamber treatments.

Ah, so that’s it for a rainy Saturday. I’m trying to spify up the house this weekend, and of course I’m going cropping tonight.

~Heather

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So, back in December, Jack bought me this for Christmas. And it has sat on my desk, with the cover on it ever since. Now, you have to understand, I have never learned how to sew. My mom used to sew (I say used to because I know she hasn’t pulled her machine out in a long, long, LONG time! lol). But I never had an interest in learning. And to be completely honest, that didn’t change in December either. I wanted a sewing machine so I could do those cool stitches on my scrapbooking layouts – yes, sewing on paper, it looks cool, I promise!

So anyway, there it sat on my desk. Until tonight. I finally pulled it out and with the help of the owner’s manual I learned how to thread a bobbin, thread the needle and yes, I sewed. I’m so proud, even if it was just random stitches on a scrap of fabric! There’s a reason that I wanted to pull it out though. I found a cool pattern for a knitting needle holder. I’ve been looking for one and can’t find one that is perfect, so I figured I’d sew my own! I bought the pattern at Joann’s – Butterick 5006. I want to do the straight needle holder and circular needle holder. My next step is to go find some cool fabric for it.

The other thing I did tonight was make my planner. I’d been tossing around the idea of what I wanted to do. I’ve been using a blackberry, but it’s just not working for me, so I’m going back to a paper planner. I downloaded some printable forms from DIY Planner, modified them a little bit, and printed them out for a 9×7 3-ring binder (the pages are a 1/2 sheet – 8.5×5.5). I covered the binder with some of my favorite Chatterbox paper and ribbon. Then I used the Fiskars Craft drill to drill a hole in both sides of the cover, and threaded a ribbon to tie it closed. The section dividers are Chatterbox cardstock, again in patterns I love (and match the cover of course!). Again, just like the needle holder above, I was looking and looking for a planner that was perfect, but couldn’t find it… and what I did find was incredibly pricey! So… I made my own! I wanted it to be something beautiful, and something that I loved. And yes, I can say that I love this binder! I need to find a solution for the spine (hopefully my coolio friend will have some ideas), and I need to die cut some tabs for the dividers, and then it will be absolutely perfect! :o)

In other news, just about the time we think we’ve cut the strings, they get tied back together. Yes, we… well, Jack, really… was back at Dr. Kelton’s office this week. If you remember, he released Jack back in March or April. Well, the one part of the wound that is still open, started getting deeper last week. Not wanting to risk anything, Jack called and made the appointment. Dr. Kelton doesn’t seem to concerned about it, at first, but wants to see it again in 2 weeks. And Jack has strict orders to stay off of it as much as possible, and to leave it uncovered when he’s at home. He had been keeping the bandage on until bedtime. So we’ll see where that goes. And here we were celebrating last time when we left the hospital, not expecting to be going back!

I think that’s about it around here. Happy Cinco de Mayo, National Scrapbook Day, etc.
~Heather

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My brother and his family were in town this weekend for Easter, so we decided to do the annual bluebonnet pictures on Saturday.

We found a great patch of bluebonnets, but there was one problem! It was 40 degrees outside, and SNOWING!! So the girls huddled up for the group photo, and while we took the individual ones, the other two were huddled under a blanket with mom and Grammy! Sheer craziness!

This one was a little… shall we say… moody. :o)

This one never seems to take a bad photo!

And when this one gave me a real smile, it was gorgeous! Such cute girls!

This one was Sunday morning after church. My sister in law made their dresses, but with the chilly temps, there was a mad dash for matching sweaters on Friday!

The beautiful family.

And the dash for the egg hunt!

Sorry it’s been so quiet lately… just busy, busy, busy. Jack had an appointment with Dr. Kelton today (the plastic surgeon, remember him? lol). He basically cleared Jack and said we don’t have to go back unless something goes wrong. Woo hoo! No more trips to Baylor! (Not that we don’t love the place, but you know how it goes!)

Other than that, I’m just knitting away. I’m working on a pastel bag for myself, then I’m going to start knitting baby caps for donation to a local hospital. Just want to do something to give something back.

Oh, congratulations to my buddy Heather and her hubby on their new house! So excited for them!

~Heather

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If you haven’t figured it out yet, Jack is out of surgery and out of the hospital. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to come back and post!

Everything went well. Dr. Kelton says it should heal ok. He’s kind of iffy about one spot on the back that might still require a pinch graft, but the front part should be ok. (For those that don’t know, Jack has two small spot in the skin graft that did not close.) He said that he had to go deeper than he expected to get the tissue to close… it was pretty tight due to swelling, etc. So Jack has a compression dressing on it right now that will stay in place until we go see Dr. Kelton on Tuesday. I’m kind of glad that I don’t have to do any dressing changes this time around! :o)

Other than that, we’re doing ok. Trying to stay warm during this freakish winter weather we’ve been having! I love cold weather, but I hate having to drive to work in ice and snow! C’mon, this is Texas people! lol

Oh, and for those who have asked, no, we haven’t seen or heard from Kitty. We are still checking with the city animal control, as well as local resue groups. We had a false alarm last week… one of the rescue groups found a Russian Blue female cat that was literally thrown from a moving vehicle! They posted her photos since she is available for adoption. Jack saw her pics on Petfinder.org and immediately called me because she looked a lot like Kitty! I called, and turns out it’s not her. Kitty was fixed and this cat wasn’t. It was rough because Jack and I both had gotten our hopes up. We’ve talked about adopting another cat… one that will stay indoors… but now’s just not the right time for us. We’ll see though.

Stay warm!
~Heather

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Jack’s in surgery. I’m in the waiting room. (Isn’t wireless internet cool?!)

Dr. Kelton said it shouldn’t be too long… like 20-30 minutes in the OR. Then recovery, then he’ll go in a room until he’s discharged, which should be this afternoon sometime.

I’ll post an update when he’s out.

Thank you for all of your prayers!
~Heather

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First let me apologize for not posting sooner. I got several calls of concern this evening because there hadn’t been an update. Everything’s fine… it’s just been a busy day!

The discharge nurse came by this morning to discuss Jack’s move to the rehabilitation facility. She said that as soon as they got the approval, they’d more than likely move him within an hour! Yikes! So I was on a mad dash to gather and pack all of the things he’s accumulated since we arrived. She also mentioned that the ET nurses would come by to change his wound vac. That was not so good news. Not because it’s a bad thing, but because it’s a very painful thing!

I should insert here that Jack’s mom and step dad arrived a little before noon today.

Around 1:00 pm the nurses came in to change his wound vac. They removed the dressing and Jack’s mom got to see it in all of it’s glory for the first time. I’ve seen way more of it than I care to! I told Jack today that I can now say that I love him from the inside out!! :o) Definitely a good anatomy lesson!

(By the way, for those who have asked, the wound was described by the wound care nurse as looking like a shark bite. Literally a huge chunk has been “bitten” out of the back and outside of his leg just above the ankle. If you’ve got the stomach for it, I’ve got photos! lol Anyway….)

While the wound was open, both doctors came to look at it and both were happy with the progress. There is already quite a bit of granulation, but there are some areas that need some more work… specifically where the tendon is exposed. Grafting it now would just cause the skin to adhere to the tendon and that would not be a good thing!

Before they put the wound vac back on, one of the drains needed to be removed. Dr. Jones’ assistant started to remove it and as she s-l-o-w-l-y pulled on it, it just hurt Jack worse and worse. So she stopped and went to get assistance. In the meantime, Dr. Kelton showed up and said he’d take care of it. He had the nurse give Jack and extra bolus of his pain med. Then he turns to Jack and said “Tell me when you start to feel the pain medication working.” A few seconds later Jack goes “Ok, I think it’s worki… OWW!” And then it was over. In one motion, Kelton had it out and Jack was fine!

Because of the wound vac change, and the drain removal, Kelton wanted to get his pain under control before moving him, so we are moving to rehab on Saturday morning at 10:00 am. We know he’ll be in Room 405, which is a private room. We’ll find out more about his schedule, arrangements, etc. when we get there tomorrow. For those who have the telephone number to the hospital room, that will be changing. (If you need it, call me or mom to get the new info.)

So as of tomorrow, we’ll no longer be on 6 Truett. It’s been a great home for two weeks, and we’ll be back within the next two weeks when Jack has the skin graft. The nurses here have been great and we will definitely miss them! Purnell, Linda, Scott, Katie and all of the others up here – thank you for taking such good care of my baby!

More tomorrow, from the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation (aka: across the street)!
~Heather

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Instead of going home, Jack will be going to the rehab hospital across the street here. It’s a Baylor facility and we feel that it would be best for him to be close by, that way if he’s ready for the graft early they can go ahead and do it rather than waiting to admit him, etc. They’ll do all of his wound care there and also work with him on his upper body strength and preparing for physical therapy on his “bad” leg.

We’re not sure when he’ll transfer over there… probably within the next couple of days.
~Heather

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Jack’s back from surgery. They did NOT do the flap.

The doctor came to talk to me about 45 minutes after they started the surgery and he still hadn’t located the artery. Every time they moved the tissue the area filled with blood. Dr. Kelton said that normally he’s in the artery at 10 minutes and loses 100 cc’s of blood over 4 hours. In Jack’s case, he’d been hunting for 40 minutes and had lost over 200 cc’s of blood. He was not optomistic at all. He said unless something drastic happened there would not be a flap. The veins returning blood from the foot were enlarged about 3 times their normal size and he said that the pressure (ventricular hypertension?) would not allow the flap to survive.

That’s when I posted my last post, and started making phone calls for some seriouss prayer.

About 3:30 pm Dr. Kelton came back in and said it was over. There was no way a flap would survive due to not being able to graft into an artery and the lack of blood return. Next question is… what now? According to Dr. Kelton the foot is ok.

Dr. Kelton is going to let the wound heal for about 2 weeks. The healing will create a “granular bed” for a skin graft to adhere to. So in two weeks we’ll be looking at a skin graft. The wound will be more delicate than if he had the flap to protect it. However Dr. Kelton feels that once the new skin has thickened, it won’t be any more susceptible than any other skin on Jack’s body. He will be able to walk and do everything else, but he might have to use a brace or leather sleeve around his leg for an extended period of time to protect the skin. The other thing is that they will have to secure the ends one of the bones where there’s a section missing.

So we’re not out of the woods, but they are talking about discharging him in a few days so he can be comfortable at home until the skin graft rather than staying here in the hospital.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us today! We could definitely feel God’s presence today. When I posted earlier, my impression was that if this flap was not viable, the other option was amputation. I was absolutely terrified of having to make that call. But God is good. He is faithful. And He is watching out for us. I know that HIS will is being done in this situation! There is a reason that God wouldn’t allow them to take Jack’s abdomenal muscle. But we are praising Him that Jack will go home with his own foot! Even if he’s got nasty looking toenails! :o) (It’s the little things, right?)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!
~Heather

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Things aren’t looking good. Please pray… they need to find the artery, and they are concerned about the pressure in his veins.

Please just PRAY right now wherever you are!
~Heather

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Jack’s in surgery. They got delayed about 30 minutes and took him in at noon. The surgeon said he thinks it will be about 5 hours. They are going to see if they can find and hook into one of the arteries that was damaged. They should know within an hour if that will be possible. I won’t hear anything until they are done and I’ll post once I can. In the meantime, I’m hanging out in the hospital room. Getting everything straightened up and ready for him to come back in. I’ve gotten to the point where I know exactly what he’ll want when he comes in…. water (he’s always thirsty), lip balm (for the dry lips), a wet wash cloth (he sweats really bad in recovery and is usually still “moist” when he gets up here), and a ginger beer (the ginger helps with the nausea… it’s not alcoholic, think root beer made from ginger).

So I’ll leave you with the last picture I took as they were about to wheel him out of pre-op and into the OR. They gave him his trusty green cap to put on and away they went. He’s nervous… even a little scared. But he’s strong. And he’s got a lot of prayers going up for him right now. He knows that, and he’s holding on to that.

~Heather

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The scrapbooker in me is coming out now! lol I’ve been taking photos of Jack’s wound for insurance and future needs, trying to document the injury and the process, etc. But today, I took scrapbook-able photos! :o)

Recognize this guy? lol Jack shaved his chin… I almost didn’t recognize him when they brought him back from surgery last time! He’s watchiin “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” on the laptop to pass the time before surgery. (I finally found a copy last night!)

This is the view out Jack’s window. The parking lot, and out towards north Dallas. We’re just East of I-75 and North of I-30. If you could look to the West, you’d see downtown Dallas.

These are the plants, flowers, etc that have been sent to Jack. The far left is the Christmas Cactus his mom brought him. Then a card from my local scrapbooking friends (they made it for me at the crop Saturday night that I missed. Such an awesome group of ladies!), then a card from my office co-workers. There’s a toy motorcycle that my mom brought him… it’s the closest that he’ll get to another bike!! The pink square used to be the floral arrangement I brought him earlier in the week. It was beautiful… roses and peppers… yep, peppers! Unfortunately it died pretty quickly! Next to that is a photo of our dog, Angel. She’s staying with my mom and dad right now. The big plant is from Jack’s office. I’m doing my best to keep it alive! lol Jack is the one who usually takes care of all of our plants at home! :o) Behind that is a fall flowering plant that mom brought in because she thought the room needed some color! I totally agree! You can’t see it in this picture, but behind that is a basket of fresh fruit that mom sent too.

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Jack’s surgery will start at 11:30 in the morning. They’ll probably take him down there around 10:30 am and I can go stay with him in the pre-op area until right before they move him into the OR.

I’ll post more in the morning after he goes in. Right now he’s in pretty good spirits. We’re both a little nervous, but we know that tomorrow is the beginning of the road home. And wherever that road leads us, I know that we don’t travel it alone.

Here’s to a good night’s sleep for both the patient and the doctor!
~Heather

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