Hi Everyone,
It has been 2 weeks since Nicolas’ accident. Amazed at how he has handled the ups and downs of this adventure.
We where waiting for days for a surgery that we decided not to go ahead with.
This surgery was to fuze his neck from C3 to C7 vertebrae, to stabilize his neck. The Surgeon believed that the ligaments in his neck would not heal enough to allow them to function.
He took Nicolas case to the Head of Spinal, and he has seen the ligaments heal in a young person, so I said I wanted Nic to have that opportunity. His motion would be greatly affected if we chose to just fuze. We may still have to, but we are going to wait for 12 weeks to see how Nic does with his muscles and ligaments.
He had a pretty great turnout for his 17th Birthday. Mitchell< Brittany and I came early and gave him his IPAD (that Leanne, Erin and Addison loaded with software, music and movies!) and he loves it. He was on it when he isn’t sleeping. Communicating with some friends.
We had asked for a birthday tracheotomy but that came a day later, and it is so wonderful to see his beautiful face. This was another step forward.
His progress…is 2 steps forward 1 step of quiet (I call it a quiet day instead of a bad day)
Today was a rough one for Nic. His bottom left lung collapsed and he needed a camera and suction to go down into his lungs to help him (bronchostimy?). His oxygen levels plummeted and they worked on him most of the day. Then physiotherapy to loosen up and beat the phlegm outta the little bugger. My girlfriend Heather (Physio as well) comes Mondays and Fridays to help him and me stretch him….So he is just pooped.
Dr. just came in, both sides of his diaphragm are working after his ultra sound…great news!!!
We have to get him off this ventilator,asap. That’s our goal.
Nic is using his triceps and has wrist expention and abdominal muscle movement. This is really important as all of these functions are past the c5 vertebrae injury. They are into the T1 area, which I believe means that some of the information from the brain is moving past his injury and travelling to lower areas such as c6,c7,c8, and now the T’s. No one tells us anything for sure, but this is pure hope for Mitchell and I.
So the world is our oyster. I am listing the house tomorrow and getting some things buttoned up in the north for a day and to see my puppies.
Then we work on everything day by day.
Thank you everyone for all of your love and support…
Tammy