updates on Kim

 

Thank you for praying with us for Kim and her family…

 

Day 44, January 2, 2014

Posted 25 minutes ago

Kim's jaw wiring is now off. It was an absolutely excruciatingly painful procedure. She was told it was a bed-side procedure and would be just like getting braces off her teeth. When the jaw-wiring was done on December 4, the screws that hold the wires together were inserted into the bone structure above and below her teeth. 8 to 10 screws were used. Some of these screws and even the wire were now grown over and completely covered by gum tissue. The screws that were visible didn't cause too much pain. After half an hour of working at the screws, we convinced the doctor to use something to numb her mouth, but it still took 2 of us to hold her down while he probed for the screws. He eventually had to cut some of the tissue to get at the screws and wire. Afterward he said he has never seen a situation where the tissue had grown over so many of the screws.

She is being monitored for pneumonia once again. A chest x-ray and mucous culture were taken - results won't come back for several days.

She has also lost about 10 pounds - she was pretty petite before the accident, so she doesn't have spare pounds to lose.

A heart-wrenching day as a parent. We are reminded she will continue to take some steps backwards as she moves forward.

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6 Weeks, January 1, 2014

Posted 2 days ago

Therapy sessions are progressing, though she has a break for today.

Occupational therapy has worked on having Kim do her own laundry - using the washer and dryer, then folding and putting away her clothes. She is very happy that she can now wear her own clothes!

Physical therapy continues work on her walking, balance, and strength. She has especially enjoyed the visits from the 2 therapy dogs who have visited her - "Zombie" and "Samantha".

Speech therapy works on concentration and memory - generally using games. Her long-term memory is much better than her short-term memory. She wanted to write a story and remembered to use quotation marks around a quote. Her attention span is quite short so her "story" had only 2 or 3 sentences. One of her rehab doctors explained that short-term memory takes much longer than long-term memory to "wake up" after brain trauma.

Doctors are trying a different approach to her agitation and pain. It seems to be helping as she isn't crying as much. We are also trying to distract and re-direct her when she fixates on one thing - more walking seems to help some.

Insurance approved a visit from an opthalmologist - she was assessed on Monday. The doctor did not see any blood clots in either eye. Kim could see some letters on an eye chart - each eye separately. The left eye continues to not open, and when manually opened, does not move to commands. This is due to damage to the nerve that controls up, down, left & right movements, pupil dilation, and lid opening. She has some eye damage that may require surgery, though there is nothing that can be addressed at this time. Eye and nerve injuries take a long time to heal.

Plans are to take off the jaw wiring on Thursday (1/2)- a big step in her recovery. This is a bed-side procedure. An Ear/Nose/Throat doctor from UW hospitals will come to Meriter to do the procedure. Her trach can be removed when she can tolerate it being capped for 3 days.

Thank you for all your prayers for Kim.