I am back at the hospital after having dinner wih Rhiannon. We ended up going to Zio's instead of Olive Garden. She is resting right now, so I prayed a rosary and am just sitting quietly with her.

We did another CPAP this afternoon and she did really well. Her breathing was very good and her blood chemistry at the end was also good. However the chest X-Ray they took earlier showed too much fluid in her lungs so they have delayed removing the ventilatior and breathing tube until that is under control. They have her on lasix tonight to try and get the fluid build up down. She is draining a pretty large amount of fluid from her cheat riht now. It looks like over 1000ml a day. If the lasix doesn't control it, then they might switch back to suction on the chest. I did ask the head nurse about her injuries and learned that she also has a broken breastbone which may also be part of what is causing the fluid buildup. The target for 24 hours is 150ml so she has a ways to go.

The tiger has been a good present, she has it under her hand all the time and the nurse told me when they turned her tonight (every few hours, they rock her from her back to angled to one side or the other so she is either flat or tilted left or right time) she held on tight the tiger

The music is a big help as well. We have listened to Fleetwood Mac, Enya, Enigma, and Loreena McKennitt. I have not played any of the Evanescence yer and may hold off on that for now. She loves it, but it can be a little dark.

I won't say that I have fallen into a routine, because I haven't, but I am very used to the STICU ward now and almost everyone here knows me.

Here is a photo of Al showing Mommy his cast.

He is now ensconced on his crib mattress in front of the TV with Paw Paw and is slowly becoming more cooperative. In the past, changing his diaper has been a struggle as he would run away and you would have to catch him and hold him down. Now he can't get away and is actually helping us change him.

Enough for now. More tomorrow.

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Got to sleep about 1:30 last night and got up about 7:45. Unfortunately a cold front is trucking through so my sinuses are actig up. I have been forgetting to take my Zyrtec and Flonase, So I rinsed by sinuses and took my flonase (forgot Zyrtek again). I feel a bit better.

Today I spent the morning over at Roberta's parents watchig Al so that they could get over and see Roberta together. Her morning cpap didn't go so well so she is still intubated. They will check again tomorrow and if it doesn't go well they will start thinking about a tracheotomy. Over time that is less damaging the leavig the tube in.

Talked to the insurance company. They are still investigation but no decisions yet. They are trying to find out if there really was an ambulance or not. If not, then they will pay for the car and that will be it. Roberta as the driver who would be "at fault" would be responsible for her own medical bills. She also would not be eligible for any other compensation. Al, as a passenger, is eligible, but since he is our son they will not allow him to sue us for medical bills. He may be awarded some compensation for pain and suffering, but it will be placed into a trust that he would not have access to until he was 18. I guess I reall should have added medpay to my insurance. I will chalk that up to a life lesson. I have good health insurance, but it's still going to be expensive.

I got Roberta a stuffed tiger that she likes.

Not sure what we will call him just yet. He is really cute though.

I talked to WOAI news today. I wanted to find out the names of the gentlemen who stopped and helped my wife during the accident. It was very nice to talk to one of the people who works in the office and she remebered the story and wanted to know how Roberta and Al were doing. They are researching the two and the reporter called me back to let me know that as soon as he hears anything he will let me know. They also want to do a follow up story on the accident and see how Al and Roberta are doing.

Tonight Rhiannon and I are going out to dinner, just the two of us. Itnwill be nice tonalend aome time with her and perhaps we can pretend that this never happened for an hour or so.

Rhianon's martial arts school is going to pick her up from school the rest of this week to make it easier on everyone. I spent some time yesterday with the Arnolds and yesterday morning at home. I needed the time to reharge. This has been very draining.

We are going to try another CPAP while I am here so I am going to leave this here now.

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• I am tired. 
• Roberta did not have surgery today due to a UTI.
• Surgery on Thursday if UTI clears up
• UTIs are evidently not uncommon in ICU due to type of catheter
• Al is doing quite well with Grandma and Paw Paw
• He really wanted to go with me to see Mommy
• Rhiannon and I are going to dinner tomorrow night
• I found a new way to look at the joyous mysteries tonight
• Paul Arnold came by the STICU to see Roberta
• Roberta and I have worked out a fairly decent commo system
• She really appreciated Paul stopping by
• She is still intubated
• Her CPAP trail went fair....perhaps tomorrow she gets the tube out and the ventilator removed
• I realized that she is going to miss most or all of the Olympics which is her favorite
• I saw the accident site...she was going southbound which means that she was leaving speech therapy not going
• Still no clue as to how it happened
• Forgot to ask at the hospital about directed donations
• Donations can be sent via PayPal to my e-mail david.broussard@broussard-sa.net.  If you have a linked back account there is no charge for a gift transfer via PayPal
• Joked with the nurses about how this will be Valentine's Day this Sunday and as a result Roberta will need something romantic.  I suggested liquid chocolate IV
• Set up boom box with about a dozen CDs for her (Enigma, Loreena McKennitt, Enya, Evanescence, Fleetwood Mac)
• Still amazed by outpouring of love and support from all quarters
• Suggested to Tagg that next week makes more sense to visit
• A few people I thought had heard appear to have not heard
• Am suggesting that this weekend is TENATIVELY a good time to visit (will update if it isn't, assume it is)
• Going to try and sleep now.  I think I need to get a pillow to put on Roberta's side of the bed.

She has a UTI and so the surgery has been pushed to Thursday. Still intubated. More details after I talk to the Docs.

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Tonight will be my first night sleeping at home since the accident. The kids are still with Roberta's Parents and I am in the house by myself. Its odd...familiar, yet alien to me. I was alone briefly yesterday to take a shower and I had a chance to let the barriers down for a little while. For the most part I can handle the medical stuff. It is straightforward, I understand it, it is somewhat impersonal, and I can go into lecture mode once I have absorbed it. After all, I need to write it here (cathartic) and I will be relating it to multiple people face to face and via telephone. Honestly the medical stuff has been getting better since Thursday.

( This is a long description of what I have been though. )

I have posted a fair amount about this stuff already, but I wanted to write some stuff about how I felt.  I need to talk about it...even if just to myself.  There is a great deal more that I want to talk about, and I have learned some really amazing things about myself and about why some things have happened over the past year that prepared me for this even though I didn't know I was being prepared.  I will post more about that later.  I have learned about the value of community, and the power of prayer on a personal level and on a larger level.  The journey isn't over by a long shot, but I have been in training for this now, and with the support of everyone around us, we are going to make it.  I am finding reserves of strength that I never knew I had, and while I still choke up when people offer to help and show their love, I am starting to realize that I needn't be so surprised that people really do care about us. 

So far I have only had a little time to myself and I am still bottling up a bunch of this.  It will come out eventually I am sure.  Tonight my next door neighbor saw that I was home and brought over a plate from their Super Bowl party (they are huge Saints fans) and he had his shirt, his towel, his beads and he wanted to check on me.  Before he left he asked if we could pray and he gave the most wonderful heartfelt prayer that left me in tears.  I appreciated it, just as I appreciate all the prayers that everyone has been sending.  By my estimates I would be surprised is less then 5,000 people are praying for Roberta, and Al.  It might be more.

I have been burning music for Roberta that I will deliver tomorrow, and think I am going to crash now.

I was walking in this morning and a patient was standing outside. He asked me how my wife and child were doing. He had been in the ER when they arrived and recognized me. It really touched me how complete strangers have reached out in support.

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Here is Al when he got home. H was so happy to see everyone and was showing off his toys.

Here he is showing off Sideswipe to me. He looks to be past the worst of the pain now.
Here is a view of the helipad from Roberta's floor

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Roberta got through her surgery quite well. They closed the laparotomy and are letting it heal from the outside in. She is still intubated and on lots of meds and has a ton of tubes in her, but she looks better every time I see her. Next surgery will be tomorrow to repair her hip and hopefully after that she will be off the ventilator thatbus helpin her breathe. Thy have been testing her on a CPAP which is what she will go to after the tube is out. I am hopeful that she will be able to have visitors mid week.

I checked on blood donations and have to speak to the blood center tomorrow AM. I will post more as soon as I know. She has had a little over 2 units total so she is ok in that regard but donations are always needed and appreciated.

Cards, notes, drawings are appreciated and I will work out how we will get those to her. I am also looking at making a CD or recorded well wishes from friends to play for her so that might be something as well.

I will update again later.

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The most momentous thing about today is that I am starting to think in longer terms now. My future window has been really short these past 2 days. At first it was about 2 hours. As in, it's 2pm and Roberta is in surgery and I will know more in 2 hours. As time passed that stretched to six hours (the time between Al's pain meds). Today we are startin to think about a couple of days out. In fact, I even thought about some bills that are due before the end of the month tonight. All of this is a good sign that we are moving from crisis mode into...well, I am not sure whatbto call it yet. Perhaps it is still crisis mode, buts it's less critical of a crisis. I want to thank everyone for their support and prayers throughthis time. All is very appreciated.

First an update on Al. He is at home with Grandma and Paw Paw. He took the trip very well in his new car seat (gift of the hospital since his old one is no good anymore). Paul and his kids came to the hospital and we used his van to transport Al. He loved the attention from Laura and David. He appears to be past the worst of his pain issues and I am hopeful that he will not need anything stronger then the Motrin which is OTC. We still had his toddler bed and they moved that from our house to Roberta's parents. It has set up in the living room and Paw Paw will sleep wih Al all night. I have a sneaking suspiscion that he will be trying to walk very soon. He has a bunch of new toys courtesy of various people. A monster truck from Catapult Systems, one transformer from the hospital, two from co-workers, and another from Andrew, Jess, and Kat. When he got home his sister was very happy to see him and he had quite a homecoming party. The Mack's dropped by and helped out and everyone made the transition easy for him. I talked to Grandma and Paw Paw and they said he is settling in. They gave him some motrin and he looked like he would sleep soon.

Rhiannon is also doing well she and I had a long talk and I told her that as Al's Godmother I was going to need her to help out with him. She accepted that very well and said "in this special siuation, I will change poopy diapers". I also made sure that I brought her a gift home (to go with the present from Catapult and from two of my co-workers Travis and Riad). I got her a snuggie (which she had been really wanting). I also gave her a gift card to Olive Garden ( one of her fave places) and told her that next week she and I were going out to eat, just the two of us. We had promised that she would go to the Percy Jackson pre-movie party today at the Borders but with all of the stuff it looked like there was no way. In step Scott And Kathy Simpson who took Rhiannon out to lunch and to the event. She is doing really well right now. We look to have this upcoming week mostly handled. I think that she might go to Martial Arts for Wednesday through Friday when Grandma is at work. We shall see.

So that leaves Roberta. She had her surgery and according to the person I talked to (not a Doc, but a 4th year med student so almost), she did very well in surgery. She has not had to have anything important removed during these surgeries. Her spleen is OK despite the pounding it took. Kidneys, ureters, liver, bowels are all doing As well as can be expected. They did close up the laparotomy today, but have left it open at the skin level to allow for proper drainage. The ortho group was asked if they wanted to do the pelvis repair today, but they decided to wait for Monday as the best people will be here for it. The A-Team so to speak. That should be the last surgery. She is still intubated and will be until Monday. They have a chest tube in to allow for drainage but are not pullig stuff out. She woke up and told me (fingers) that she was in pain and the gave her some more meds. Her vitals are much better. Her HR is still high by normal standards, but is much better then it was. Her BP appears to be much better as well. Right now I am sitting in her room and she is sleeping which isnthe best thing for her.

It looks like visitors would be good perhaps next week. Call me first and I can give you details there are specific hours and other limitations. If you want to send audiobooks or similar I think thatbwould be great. I have a boom box that can play CDs and we can always burn mp3s. If you know someone locally coordinate with them to get them. Inhave offers of the complete Harry Potter series unabriged, the Dresden Files, and Tagg has ofered a bunch from Kristen. If you wantto provide you can email me and I will arrange things.

I asked Rhiannon to draw a picture for Mommy and write her a letter. I also asked her to consider recording a voice message for her Mommy. I think that if others want to provide the same, that would be great as well. We can burn a CD of friends well wishes for her. Cards and flowers appear to be OK as well we have gotten some already (thank you Callalands and Stephen and Jim). I know that David Norris is also looking at perhaps a fund and others have mentioned it as well. If that is what you want to do, then I have a paypal account and that might be simplest. I am fairly certain it is on my gmail account but let me verify and I will post again. I feel wrong to even talk about it *sigh*. It's hard for me to think about what this is going to cost I just am so happy that she is getting such great care from everyone at University Hospital.

Her room is 1066 if you do want to send something. There isn't a lot of extra room and she is going to be in the hospital for a very long time. I am going to head to my hotel room for the night and try and sleep. I haven't had any real time to myself since the accident and I think I need some.

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So part of the fun today has been getting Al ready to go home. They took his catheter out which wasn't too much fun. We alsog ot him into a wagon for a ride around the ward.

Together we explored and found the play room which has a ton of toys. He played with the trucks, the trains, the fire trucks, the monster truck, and lots more. It was a big struggle getting him out of bed and into the wagon but he has loved being in it. Eventually he fell asleep and that is the photo I took. So cute!

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Al has been cleared to be discharged. He will be riding home to his Grandparents house where he will be staying. We still have his toddler bed and they took that over to their house and set him up downstairs.

They called me about 11am to get consent for Roberta's surgery. She should be in this afternoon and may already be. The plan is to clean and repair again and close up this time. I will update as I know more.

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Whew am I tired. Al first this time. He is still having some pain in his leg but it seems to becoming more manageable. We have moved him from Tylenon-3 with Codeine to Hydrocodone. These are both oral doses and the idea is to get him using the hydrocodone instead of the morphine he has been getting as needed for pain. Since we won't have an IV line at home we need to be able to manage his pain with other means. The problem so far has been that the T3 was flavored like bubblegum and Al liked it. The new stuff tastes terrible and in his first dose I doubt he got 1/2 down. The nurse is going to try putting some Crystal Light in it to make it easier to take. He is also now taking his antibiotic orally and it is not flavored. They will try flavoring with Crystal Light as well. Al has been determined today to take off as much stuff as he can. So the blood pressure cuff got removed by Al today and he wants his catheter out as well. Well the BP cuff proved to be an issue. They wanted to rake his BP and Al fought them hard. So hard his IV started to bleed. They tried to repair it but ended up having to take it out. Now it was going to come out anyway tomorrow and since he is now on a regular diet he no longer has to get IV fluids so it was really only for the morphine. And thus we come to the fact that Al got his dose of hydrocodone at 8:30 and cannot have his next until 12:30. At about 11:15 Al started to complain about his pain level. He could have gotten morphine, but with no IV line, no morphine. Since he didn't take most of his pain killer dose at 8:30 he was hurting. So, they gave him some motrin to tide him over. It seems to be working. Now if the new meds can be made to taste decent we will be fine. The problem is that as he sleeps he startles and flexes his leg and it hurts him.

I saw Roberta a couple of times as well. As those of who k ow her can guess she is fighting through her meds that are supposed to keep her sedated. Every time I go up to see her, and the nurses say she is doing it even me or her Mom are not there. She keeps trying to write out things to them. When I am there she spells out letters in my hand. I am terrible at it and I frustrates her which makes me upset as well. Tonight I did get her to tell menthatshe hurts very much (I told the nurse and they have given her a bit more pain medication). She also said that she thirsts, but not much to do about that until they take out her breathing tube. The plan tomorrow is that they will have a surgery to do some more cleanup and repair. When they are done, they plan to close her up.

One thing that Roberta told me is that she is bored. She is allowed to have a radio in her room so I am going to see if I can set up some of her music or audiobooks in her room and see if that helps.

Rhiannon is raking this pretty well her school knows what I have told her teacher (well the faculty do at least). She was quiet at school today and obviously worried about Mommy and Al.

Keep up the prayers, thoughts etc. They are helping!

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Al is watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang right now, as the patient rep finally found us a working TV and DVD player. They have also finally given Al something to eat and drink. Clear liquids only, but it's a start. They also found him a transformer to play with so he now has Bun Bun, a transformer, and a monster truck courtesy of Catapult Systems.

He still has a fair amount of pain in his leg and cries whenever it is touched and moved. I talked to the Dr and expressed worry about getting him into a car seat and driving him home. We decided to keep him tonight as well and see if we can get his pain manageable before we take him home.

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First, thanx to geordie a news report from woai on the accident.

http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=794386@woai.dayport.com&navCatId=5

Now an update. Roberta is recovering. They have decided to delay her next trauma surgery until tomorrow. I have been up to see her and held her hand. She wanted to communicate am can't talk (she is intubated and on a respirator) so we tried writing (of course). She had some trouble with the writing as she is on some heavy duty pain meds and we next tried an alphabet where she could point to letters. This worked fairly well but she kept expecting a QWERTY layout and this wasn't. She asked how long she had been there and what happened. After the last surgery they were unable to close her laparotomy up (the incision into her abdomen) because of the swelling from the trauma and also because they intend to go back in again. I also talked to the orthopedic doctors and they said that they intend to start the pelvic reconstruction on Monday and that she will be here all next week and likely into the next. Afterwards she will have to go to a rehab facility for some period of time. Weeks or even months, I am not sure. The good news from all of this is that for the first time since 11:18 yesterday I am starting to think in terms of longer then a couple of hours.

So, what can everyone do to help? Many of you have asked if you can visit, send flowers, or provide anything else. Right now Roberta isn't up for visitors. She is still open and the risk for infection is high. That should change after tomorrow but she is likely to stiill be in STICU and it's not pretty. Next week after the ortho surgery I hope that she will be more able to see people and be aware of visitors. She is going to be in a bed for a long time and will need reading materiel I suspect. As soon as she can talk we will get her a cell phone as well. maxxtx suggested audio books perhaps and while Roberta has never gotten into those, this might be a time. I will look into it.

Al is still doing OK. His leg is hurting him and he is having trouble sleeping.

( Read more... )

http://foxsanantonio.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/vid_1151.shtml

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As I wake up this morning, things are getting a bit better. Al had surgery yesterday to repair the cut on his head and to set his broken leg. Due to his age and the amount of time needed to repair the scalp injury they decided it was better to put him under. He is still in some pain but getting better. The doctors think the he likely will be able to go home today.

Roberta is still in critical condition. She had some very serious internal injuries that included a ruptured diagphram that allowed some of her organs from her abdomen to be pushed into her chest. This was repaired in her first surgery. She also broke both of her pelvic bones as well as her left hip socket. There was a lot of bleeding due to the broken bones and she has lost a lot of blood. They performed a procedure after the surgery to try and stop some more bleeding. Last night she went back into surgery for more repair work. They repaired a great deal more damage but not all and wanted her to rest and recover before more surgery today. His is exclusive of the orhopedic surgeries that will be required in the future. She is in the Surgical Trauma ICU and will be for several more days. They doctors tell me that she is stable and that her blood pressure is better but not good yet. She lost a lot of blood and this is stressing her body. She is not out of the woods but appears to be on the right path. I was able to see her briefly a few times and she recognized her Mother and I so this is also a good sign. It seems that this is going to be touch and go today but I am hopeful that she is getting better. Roberta is a fighter and has an indomitable will, not to mention being quite stubborn. We all appreciate the outpouring of love and care from everyone and as soon as she is aware I hope to let Roberta see some of the myriad notes, text messages, e-mails, and offers of assistance Eventually she will be able to get phone calls and visitors and her recovery is going to be long due to the pelvic surgeries. We are going to continue to need you prayers and support in the days, weeks, and months ahead. We will also need assistance I am certain, but what and when is uncertain.

Thank you again.

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As I wake up this morning, things are getting a bit better. Al had surgery yesterday to repair the cut on his head and to set his broken leg. Due to his age and the amount of time needed to repair the scalp injury they decided it was better to put him under. He is still in some pain but getting better. The doctors think the he likely will be able to go home today.

Roberta is still in critical condition. She had some very serious internal injuries that included a ruptured diagphram that allowed some of her organs from her abdomen to be pushed into her chest. This was repaired in her first surgery. She also broke both of her pelvic bones as well as her left hip socket. There was a lot of bleeding due to the broken bones and she has lost a lot of blood. They performed a procedure after the surgery to try and stop some more bleeding. Last night she went back into surgery for more repair work. They repaired a great deal more damage but not all and wanted her to rest and recover before more surgery today. His is exclusive of the orhopedic surgeries that will be required in the future. She is in the Surgical Trauma ICU and will be for several more days. They doctors tell me that she is stable and that her blood pressure is better but not good yet. She lost a lot of blood and this is stressing her body. She is not out of the woods but appears to be on the right path. I was able to see her briefly a few times and she recognized her Mother and I so this is also a good sign. It seems that this is going to be touch and go today but I am hopeful that she is getting better. Roberta is a fighter and has an indomitable will, not to mention being quite stubborn. We all appreciate the outpouring of love and care from everyone and as soon as she is aware I hope to let Roberta see some of the myriad notes, text messages, e-mails, and offers of assistance Eventually she will be able to get phone calls and visitors and her recovery is going to be long due to the pelvic surgeries. We are going to continue to need you prayers and support in the days, weeks, and months ahead. We will also need assistance I am certain, but what and when is uncertain.

Thank you again.

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moonsinger is out of her latest surgery. In this surgery they repaired a rupture in her bladder (minor) and the OB/GYN did some work as well (minor). The trauma docs did more work as well repairing her. They decided to leave the laparectomy open again and are going to some more work on her Friday. Her leg is in traction to relieve the stress on her fractured hip socket. Both of her pelvis bones were fractured and that is going to be more surgery in the near future. They think they have most of the bleeding under control atthis time but are watching very closely. I got to see her briefly and she recognized my voice and her Mom's. She wanted to hold my hand, so I held it until she fell asleep. Now I am back in Al's room.

Al is doing well. They expect that if nothing goes wrong he will be able to go home on Friday (evening). If anyone local wants to come visit between 8am and 8pm. He is in room 977. No one under 18 is allowed in right now. He is still hurting. It the cast on his leg is a big help and they are giving him some pain killers. He will be in the cast for about a month and will likely require future surgery on his forehead to reduce scarring.

He had Bun Bun with him and that has been very good for him. In the ER they put a fake IV into Bun Bun just like Al. Whenever the nurse asked him if he wanted Nything for the pain he said no. When she asked if Bun Bun wanted anything he said yes. Then he got his and the nurse pretended to give Bun Bun some as well. This worked for the surgery as well. Al told the nurse that Bun Bun was hurt just like he was (head and leg). So she put a gauze bandage on Bun Bun's head. She was going to put one on his leg, but Al got mad because he didn't have one. When he came out of surgery, both he and Bun Bun had their legs in a cast. Al is OK with that.

I made a trip to Walmart and got a couple of t shirts and a pair of sweat pants. I also picked up an outfit for Al to wear home. It's an Excavator and has a pair of shorts as well which should accomodate his cast. I also picked up an iPhone docking station that will charge my phone and play music off it. I hope to let Al listen to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tonight.

I am google to try and get some sleep. More later when I know anything. Thank you everyone for all the support. This is goig to be a very long road for us all. Roberta is likely to be in the hospital for a number of days in the ICU

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