Dallas had a very busy day! We had to pack up to get ready to go to clinic and travel back home to West Virginia. Dallas was VERY reluctant this morning to take a bath (this is something he simply didn't want to do today; even more so than usual). He has been saying that he wants to take a shower (which is getting back to his normal self), however, he needs a special shower head to enable him to take showers. So we will get him one of the handheld shower heads so he can start taking showers again.
Finally, after about half an hour of battling with him to take a bath, he got in. He screamed due to some spots being raw, and it stung for the water to touch those areas. There is one spot in particular that is beginning to worry me; a spot on his stomach. He was so itchy one day that he rubbed so hard, he rubbed a raw spot onto his skin. Well, over the days, it has progressively gotten bigger, and more painful for Dallas. After seeing it today, it is about the size of a silver dollar, and looks like an area where he rubbed the skin graft off. So now we're not sure if it is an area that will have to be regrafted or not. Dallas is also getting more raw areas on his donor sites (some due to itching, others due to sitting and movements like getting in and out of bed, a chair, his clothes rubbing, etc). Hopefully these will clear up sooner than later. It seems like when one area clears and is getting better, two more bad areas appear. The spot on Dallas' arm (where it looks like it could be an infection) also appears to have gotten harder. The hole looks a little bigger, and it's more swollen. Thankfully he's seeing Dr. Zeller today!
We had to take him to his clinic visit, back at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital to follow up with Dr. Zeller, Dr. Molnar, and his OT, Donna. After an hour and a half drive there, Dallas' anxiety rose. He was afraid the doctors were going to hurt him. But after arriving, some of Dallas' fear subsided, especially after seeing a woman that was there due to burns. Dallas looked at her and said, "Look, she was burned too. She's here to see here doctor because she's getting all better". It was a relief to see that he didn't look at her disfigurements at all, he saw her as being injured, he saw her as getting better, he saw the positives.
There was a moment when we checked it where I had to collect myself and calm down. When you go into the clinic, there is a board of doctors listed for the day and assigned to certain clinics. Two of the doctors names were Dr. Burn and Dr. Crisp. And one of the people who came in said that those doctors should be the "burn" doctors, since their names are Burn and Crisp. I couldn't believe it. How much compassion can one lack? It took everything I had not to walk over there and give them a piece of my mind. And to say something like that WITH burned patients in there? REALLY? Some people really amaze me!
Dallas' weight is up to 51lbs; a gain of about 3lbs since leaving the hospital! Great news! We were worried about this, especially since there are some days when he only eats a small meal, nothing more. But it appears that it's not affecting his weight gain (by much).
Dr. Zeller went came in to see Dallas and he was pretty reserved; only saying that he didn't want to take his bandages off. He was terrified of taking them off and the bandages getting stuck and hurting him. But Dr. Zeller wanted to see those areas, so we had to talk him into taking them off. We started with his torso; and he panicked. He was so anxious anticipating the pain, that it made it very difficult to remove the TubaGrip from his chest and stomach. Finally, we were able to remove it, and she had a look over his body. She said that everything was looking great with his back, his flank, and his chest. The granulated tissues on his upper back/lower neck are getting smaller, and she was happy to see that. She said that many of the areas are smoothing out nicely. We showed Dr. Zeller the area on his stomach that concerned us, and she said that it did look like part of the graft was lost there; she stated that the grafted skin is so much thinner than your regular skin, that it's easy to shear it, and cause graft loss. So she said that she will watch there area, but she feels confident that because it isn't an extremely large area (I guess to her, that's not a large area; to me, it's a huge raw spot), it should heal on it's own.
Next, we took off the bandages from his right arm. Dr. Zeller was again, impressed at how well it is healing. She looked over his entire arm; and while there are some raw areas, she said that overall, it looked very good. We had her look at the spot that concerned us, and after examining it, she noticed a small silver spot, it's a STAPLE! There's yet another staple that was left behind! No wonder it is hurting him so much! She said that sometimes, they get buried under the skin and will try and work themselves out; and it appears that this is what is happening. It's still too deep to take out right now, so she gave us a staple remover tool, just incase before his next visit, it's close enough to the surface to take out. Otherwise, she will either try and do it in the next clinic, OUCH; or she said she could set up the sedation suite to remove it. The downside to that, is that he will have to have an IV put in, he will have to be in a twilight sleep, he can't eat for 12 hours leading up to the sedation, and he will have to be monitored for 4+ hours after waking. So hopefully it will work it's way completely out, or at least enough to the surface that we can remove it. On a positive note, after Dr. Zeller examined his arm, she said rather than setting a date for regrafting some of the areas, she would like to watch it; that she feels some of the areas will heal on their own over time and won't require grafting. So he's not out of the clear on his arm yet, but it was definitely some good news to hear.
Same with his leg; she said the graft looks great. The small spot on his knee (where he hit it on the edge of the tub) is getting smaller and looking better. So she set a future clinic date for 2 weeks out, rather than just a week! That's wonderful. Great news for us.
After Dr. Zeller saw Dallas, Dr. Molnar examined his face. He said that things were looking good. There are some areas that concern him, such as the tightness in his chin, jaw, and neck; as well as the way his eyelids pull when he looks up or opens his mouth. But overall, things look well. It wasn't as thorough as an examination as what Dr. Zeller had with Dallas; but I guess it's good news for him. He also set his next clinic date for a month out.
Then Dana for Occupational Therapy came in. She had to do the last measurements for his pressure garments (as she forgot to take them when he was released from the hospital). She also checked his mask and made some adjustments to it (and there are more that have to be made). She said that he looks like he is doing well, he is getting around better, moving his muscles in his neck and arms better, and was pleased overall by his progress. She said there was a lot of tightness in his neck, chin, and jaw; so he should benefit from the Speech Therapy that his PT and OT docs want to set up here.
Overall, we feel that this clinic visit went very well. We had some good news, some bad, and some mediocre; but there are so many positives to be thankful for! Dallas continues to get better with each day, and we know that this is just the beginning of his recovery.
After clinic was over, about a 3 hour visit, we continued on our way home; another 4 hours to go. The kids wanted ice cream, and they did well at clinic, so we stopped at TCBY/Subway to get them some dinner and dessert. Dallas wanted to go in and eat; and of course, we noticed some of the looks. But Dallas just shrugged it off, he didn't let it bother him (at least not as far as we know). We spent about an hour there, so that added more time to the trip home, but it made them happy, and it was a great step in the right direction for Dallas; as it is getting him more and more into normalcy.
On the ride home, Dallas slept most of the way, Mac played his new video game, and Kiana read her books and listened to music. It was a good ride home, long, but went very well.
Overall, today went great! A few bumps in the road, but definitely a good day! Hopefully tomorrow will be good as well; considering he has physical therapy and his speech evaluation at 9am.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by to comment! Have a blessed day! :)
Denielle