Honey, We're Home!

Stefann was released from the hosptial today. He may also have something wrong with his right ankle, so he has been instructed to stay OFF that foot completely, now weight bearing on it!

After we left the hospital, we went and saw the car....

This used to be the front end of Tony's car.

This is the passenger side, where Tony was sitting.

This is the driver's side. Can you believe Stefann's 5'11" was in that seat?

And here is where Sarah was sitting.

And they all "walked" away from the wreckage.

Praise be to God!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

It looks like maybe tomorrow (October 9, 2008) we will be going home! One year ago, on October 9, 2007, we brought Grunt home. It is only appropriate that we go home that day then, right?

Had very little oxygen today. Walked tonight around the unit with no oxygen and saturation stayed up to 97%! Hooray! Even took a few steps without the walker. Not completely steady yet without the walker, but will be going strong in no time.

Had an MRI today on both knees. The imaging is in a building across the road and Stefann had to ride in a Medi-Van to get there. First they wheeled him from his room on one street, across the hospital to an exit on a different street, then transported him in the medi-van back to the first street two buildings up on the other side of the road! Took ten times longer to get there than if we would have just wheeled across the street in the wheel chair ourselves, but that is not allowed! Crazy.

Don't have the results from the MRI yet. Probably will get them in the morning. We are ready to get out of here!

Not Going Home Today

Still struggling with the O2 saturation. Won't be going home today. :-(

Refreshing

First of all, a little news on Sarah. She had a follow-up doctor's appointment today and she does have 2 fractured ribs. She will be returning to school for half days tomorrow, but no gym for 4 to 6 weeks.

Stefann finally got a full shower today and felt very refreshed! Afterward he wanted to let his wounds air out a bit and I took this picture.

Wayne (Stefann and Sarah's dad) took Sarah for her X-Rays today - that was a blessing from God that he was here to do that. Then they came down for a visit with Stefann again. Uncle Larry, Aunt Kelly, and Arianna came to see Stefann too. That was nice. Not just for Stefann, but for me also because I got to leave the room for a couple hours and spend some alone time with Tommy.

Today pretty much wore Stefann out. It is now 10:15 pm and he is out like a light. When you see him, ask him about his prune juice. Yummy!

I still cannot say thank you enough to everyone reading this blog daily and praying for speedy recoveries for all three kids and for the woman who was driving the PT cruiser.

Trying to Make a Run for It!

Diane from PT came to take Stefann to the stairway to see if he could do 3 steps - that what it takes to get into our house. As long as he can do that, PT will note that he is moving enough to go home.
So he left the room...

"Ran" for the exit...

And "did" the stairs...

All in his cute little "dress."

It's a Band New Day.

Last night was MUCH better. Stefann's dad, Wayne, came from Florida. He will be back today to spend the day with Stefann and I'm going to go find something else to do for a while - eat, read, relax...

Stefann asked for a breathing treatment just before bed and I believe that helped a LOT. It is like he all of a sudden has REALLY bad asthma. He slept most of the night and took the oxygen off at least twice without even knowing it.

So far this morning he has already had another breathing treatment, saw Dr. Isenberg (pulmonary doc), had a chest X-ray, ate breakfast, had his oxygen turned down to 2L, and is off IV fluids.

Goals for discharge:
1. SHOWER, the boy NEEDS a shower - a shave would do him good too.
2. Walk up three steps - prove he can get into our house.
3. Breathe without added oxygen, and keep his O2 saturation in the 90% range.

Right now he is sitting up in a chair, playing the PSP, and drinking a Mountain Dew.

Thank you all for your prayers. We appreciate them. (The food that has been sent to my house is wonderful too. Now, if I could just get my husband to bring some of it to me down here...) That really is the least of my problems. There are places around here to get food.

Good Times

Here is what we look like when Stefann is feeling good....

Had another chest and lower CT today. The pulmonary docs are a little worried about a clot. Again, no results yet, but once he was up and moving around, he felt a bit better. Just gotta figure out how to do that before 3:00 pm!

Oxygen...

Stefann still cannot keep the oxygen saturation up on his own and his heartbeat is too fast. Had an ultrasound of his heart this morning. No results yet. Concerned about a bruised heart now were the words that I heard.

Long night last night. Stefann only slept about 20 minutes every hour. Held my hand ALL night.

Crash Dummies

Tony and Sarah came to see Stefann today. Here are our crash dummies...

Mornings Suck!

This morning was a killer for Stefann. At 6:00 am the vampire came to take his blood which started a coughing fit. Good and bad. Good because it brings up yucky stuff, bad because it hurts.

At the end of his coughing fit he told me that he felt like he needed more O2 and I told him to just breathe deeper and slower. He calmed down and went back to sleep. A while later the nurse came in and brought him more fentinol which put him in a very sedated state and his stats fell drastically. When they came in to do his vitals at 7:00 am his O2 level was 75% - BAD, VERY BAD!

The nurse (morning nurse, night nurse was gone for the day now), Laura came in and turned his oxygen back up high and put him on a mask. They called for his breathing treatment - was for 8:00 am anyway - and after that his O2 level started to rise again. About 4 hours after receiving the fentenol he was back to a functional state.

Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy came and he got OUT OF BED! Hooray! He was up for a couple hours, ate his lunch in the chair, while watching NetFlix, went and had another chest X-ray (in a wheel-chair) and not has gotten himself back in bed for a while. He said he will get up and eat dinner from his chair again.

Here he is in his chair with his heart. The heart is what he squeezes when he has a coughing fit. It acts as a sort of "splint" for his ribs next to his lung.

Netflix is a savior.

Well Netflix and Vicodin. {snicker}

Got a breathing treatment shortly after getting the last set of pain pills and THAT felt a lot better. Rested a little after that and then watched CSI (last season's final show). Mom set up her laptop to get Netflix online and started Spiderman 3. Stefann watched the whole thing and ate about 3/4 of a hamburger while watching it. YES!

Right after Spiderman was over, asked for more pain killers and it was time. Got more, then another breathing treatment, bringing up some yuck - but it felt good and Nurse Sally said it was good.

This is what I (Mom) am calling progress. I'm going to make him eat something, anything before getting any more vicodin. Then Nurse Sally walks in and says they are putting him on a different pain medication that is non narcotic so he may stop getting the headaches.

No PT so far...

Here is the "Monster" leg...

So, today hasn't been a great day... We tried to start PT, but that didn't work because the pain was so great in Stefann's chest that they ordered another X-ray. Just got the results and there is no change. That is good news. The Physical Therapist is being notified, not sure if he will return today or not.

Just ate 1/2 a donut and got some more pain killer.

Zero Food + Pain Medication = YUCKY!

Stefann is having trouble with nausia again. Trying to keep from vomiting is the task at hand. Please pray he will feel more like eating and drinking more than just water so that the pain medication can work.

Oxygen a MUST

10:30 pm - Nurse Sally decided that since Stefann was resting so easily, she would turn the oxygen off and see how he did. Seh came back in about 15 minutes later to check on him and his oxygen level was down to 76 so she turned it back on in a hurry.

Healing prayers for Stefann's bruised lung are needed most at this time.

Thank you all.

In God's GREAT Love,
Katy

Stefann and Sarah as of October 3, 2008

For those of you who are just now finding out about Stefann and Sarah's car accident, here is the story as I know it.

October 2, 2008
Stefann was driving Tony Little's car to a catering event when an oncomming car veared into Stefann's lane. Stefann swerved to miss the oncomming car, but they collided head on. Stefann and Tony were taken in one ambulance to Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, NY. Sarah was airlifted to Aronot Ogdent in Elmira, NY, and the lady in the other vehicle was taken to Upstate in Syracuse as far as I know.

Sarah was released by 6:00 pm on October 2 and my friend, Cindy, took Sarah and me to Wilson to be with Stefann. Tony was released later that evening, but Stefann was admitted.

October, 3, 2008

Sarah mainly has lots of bumps and bruises. Tony has lots of stitches in his face, some in his hip (maybe, not sure on that one), and possibly a bone chipped in his ankle.

Stefann has a broken right leg (not the weight bearing bone, the smaller one between the knee and the ankle), stitches in his left knee and it is swollen very badly, and a bruised lung. He is being kept for observation mainly on the bruised lung, but he had to wait for a HUGE brace to be put on his right leg to limit mobility.

Today Stefann slept most of the day. Between sleeping, he would be nausious. Finally, the nausia calmed and he was able to eat some chips, part of a Snickers, and drink some soda. THEN he got some pain medication orally and is starting to feel a lot better.

Alex and DH came down tonight and brought us clothing, my laptop, and some hygene stuff. Thank you to them both. Now I'll be able to document better what is going on.

8:30 - 8:45 pm: Alex and DH leave to go home. Tommy left to return home for the evening. Stefann got more pain medication and almost immediately went soundly to sleep.

9:45 pm: Nurse Sally turned off Stefann's Oxygen - goal #1 to go home is to go without the O2!
Nurse Sally also got a recliner for me to sleep in tonight. I'm already WAY more comfortable than I was last night, but it was midnight before we got to Stefann's room last night.

Now, I'm goint to try to get the word out to everyone what happened and I'll send links to this page.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and good thoughts.

I'll leave you with this thought. Although I am not happy that Stefann is still in the hospital, I am glad he was the one driving. Tony is a much smaller person than Stefann and I'm afraid that with the bruising that Stefann has on his lung that if Tony would have been driving maybe he would not be with us today. God works in mysterious ways. Thank you, God that all lives were being watched over by you in this accident. - Amen