December Updates

Jay was doing pretty good today, NO TEMPS. Slow day BUT another day closer to getting his hands fixed!!

Slight temp but otherwise pretty good. Jason went to his Ears, Nose and Throat Specialist, his ears and his trach are in good shape.

Guess what? Tomorrow is his Botox injection for his left hand. This will allow his muscles to relax so his hand can be put into a splint to help straighten it out. While this hand is still broken, the break is not causing any pain nor will it interfere with a splint. We, Jason, can have this repaired in the future when needed. The splint will be needed to help stretch his tendons for mobility of the wrist and fingers. It will also allow the blood flow to his hand to be unrestricted. I.E. less pain.

So it starts. Today was the day! He had his Botox injection in his left wrist and hand. We should see some improvement over the next week or so. He should be able to receive physical therapy on his hand now. He should also be able to wear a splint. Hopefully this will help to get his hand mobile and be of use in the future.

Jason got blessed today, yup Father Charlie from Holy Name of Jesus Church came to visit with Joann White. They said a prayer and Father Charlie blessed Jason. Good start for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the big day!! Surgery on his right hand, should be around 11:45 or so. This is the hand that has a dislocated and broken wrist. They will re-construct the wrist.

Jason had his surgery between 12:00 and 2:30 PM. His surgery went well. No complications. They did put him under instead of a local. He bite his lip real bad.

Jason was more alert today than we've seen him. Looking all over the place. He freaked when the Dr's came in to check him out before surgery! He took one look at the Dr and immediately starting breathing twice as fast. WHAT does THAT tell you? We think he was fully aware that he was going to have surgery and when he saw the doctors he started to get real anxious.

The Doctor felt that they may be able to taper off the pain patch next week, starting Monday.

Quiet day today, Jay is resting peacefully. On liquids and pain medication but that's all for now.

Jason did go to the Dentist today to get his new mouth guard put in. Looks good and now he can't bite his lip anymore. Great!

Quiet day. No temperatures. Right arm and hand have swelled a bit. Jason opens his eyes occasionally.

Jason was pretty alert today. He was showing some signs of having more pain than usual. He is probably feeling the effect of the operation on his right hand.

Pretty quiet day, not many visitors either due to the weather or letting Jason heal with some time to himself.

Don't forget about his birthday and e-mail us if you are planning on being there.

Jay went to the Orthopedic Doctor today, basically received a clean bill of health as far as his left broken foot. It is healed and should be OK. He can resume therapy for the foot and leg again.

We think he was a little nervous today, he knew he was out and he remembers what happened the last time he was out.

Another fairly quiet day. Jay seemed tight, like he was in some discomfort. Could just be that he is more aware of his surgery. He was awake more today. Boy, his facial expressions when the respiratory therapist is with him is just god awful. But he is coughing pretty good (means that his lungs are getting stronger).

TOMORROW is Jay's 22nd birthday!!! I told one of the nurse's aids that and she had a tear coming down her face...I just said "Yeah... I know".

He had a good time. About 40-50 friends and family showed up to celebrate Jason's 22nd Birthday!

December 11, 2002

Happy Birthday Jason!

Jason and his family would like to say a big THANKS to all the people who wrote to the web page, attended his party and e-mailed us on or about his birthday with birthday wishes.

He had fun, was alert for most of the party and we actually think he may have enjoyed some of it. A special surprise from his girlfriend Sarah for being able to make it from St. Bonaventure.

Relaxing day for Jason, recovering from his night out at the cafeteria for his birthday.

We did find out that they were going to up his pain meds (Tablets) because of the discomfort that he will have for his intense physical therapy. Can't argue that point. Should not last too long, maybe a week or so.

Another good day for Jay. Had his hair cut and he looks good. He held his own head up after a while but that pretty much tuckered him out. He was sleepy afterwards. Mild temps otherwise pretty good.

Quiet day although Jason did have his neighbors over to his room. Wesley stopped by to visit.

He got to watch the last 2 minutes of the Bills game and to see them win for a change!!! He liked the Christmas tree lights and enjoyed himself for a while.

Jay had a sleepy day today, not unusual when he goes out of the hospital for a few hours. He gets pretty tuckered out. Running a slight temp, not sure if he's getting a cold, but the nurses are right on it for us. He's off the antibiotics.

Since there are no broken bones in his feet and ankles, he's getting some pretty intense therapy now. His left hand looks much better.

Met Wesley's mom Dianne today. Wesley has been a hand full for her but she loves him dearly. She says he's spunky and that's what keeps him going. He has been visiting Jason more in the past few days, not sure if it has to do with Sarah and Michelle but he likes to look in on Jason now and then. (Wesley is one of Jason's neighbors at MCH). Thanks Wesley for looking in on him for us.

Jason faired well today. Temperature was better and he looked pretty good. Still out of it for the most part but hopefully that will end soon. You see, he gets his stitches and pin removed tomorrow and we are expecting the Doctor to say he is ready for physical therapy on his right hand. With that we hope to see the pain meds tapered off. And we all know what that means! Something we have waited a long time for. A chance for Jason to respond.

Jay had his trach plugged today for about ten minutes. He did ok but the Respiratory therapist thought it would be better if he had an even smaller trach. They are going to try that and see how he reacts.

Jason had his stitches out today, soft cast is gone. His hand looks good! What a difference. They left the pin in his hand and wrist for now. They will take it out on January 16th. Still pretty out of it but that should end soon. The Doctor ordered less pain medication.

Jason had a pretty good day. He had a podiatrist appointment today and he got his SMALLER trach today. Just another step. His hand looks good. He still looks out of it but they started to wean him off the Vicaden and he will get a lower pain patch tomorrow. Things are looking up.

Jason had a good day. He was more alert today even though his new pain patch was still at the higher dose. Later in the day he had his trach plugged for 1 hour the first time and 45 minutes the second time. He faired well. He made a lot of different sounds, some of which scared him as well as those near him. But his breathing was fine. This is good but we were reminded by the respiratory therapists that it is still a long road to having the trach removed. That's OK as we would not want to rush Jason and cause other problems. But the point is that he is another step closer to getting better.

Only kidding Wesley! Let Sally know that we talked about her and her big dog on the web page. She'll get a kick out of it!

Jason seemed to have a tough day, very uncomfortable. Not sure if it is his right arm where he had the wrist repaired or not. He has one hell of a knot in it. Other than breathing a little heavy from time to time he tolerated his smaller trach pretty good. Temps were OK.

Well let's see, Jason is kind of a slug today. The nurses said he was very uncomfortable last night and was up most of the night. They think it may be the splint for the right hand causing the discomfort. So they left it off today to see how it goes. May be working as he was sleeping nicely in the AM.

Took him up to the 6th floor game room anyways. Wesley, Sarah, Cindy, Joanne and Robbie went with him. We had a good time, busting chops (Mainly Sarah's). Cha cha chia or something like that.

Jason was much more alert today. Didn't get any Vicoden today. His arms still seem to bother him but he didn't act as though he was in alot of pain. Was "talking alot" (as his mother would tell it) making sounds, some of which seem to scare him sometimes. All in all doing pretty good.

A quick update or actually a warning. Jason's floor (Friendship one east) has had an outbreak of a stomach virus. They have closed the floor and are asking to restrict visitors. They suggest that the very young and elderly avoid visiting until this passes. (Approximately 2 weeks)

We did it! Jason came home for about 3 1/2 hours for Christmas. What a great present! He did really well, a little sleepy but still did well. He liked watching the Christmas tree. He even got a taste of salsa and some beer. He hated the salsa and loved the beer. (Everybody is still trying to convince Sarah to flash him, that'll get his blood flowing!)

When we were on the Liftline going back to the hospital I thought that Jason had a tear in his eye...so did I.

Karen did come in for Jason's speech and said he has been tuning her and the therapists out for the last three weeks. The only thing he would do was respond to the tastes. She said today was the best he has done in a few weeks at yes and no questions. she was very happy and told us to keep working with him to get clear answers from him.

Jason was better today, started off a little rough, nervous I think, but was better as the day worn on. He was king of kings tonight, he had all the girls fussing over him. He got a new massage machine from Cindy and the girls were having a blast with it. On him of course. You couldn't get near him. He seemed to enjoy some of it.

We set up his new fish tube tank, fake fish of course, think he liked it. Changes colors too. Had to re-arrange his room a little so he could see it better. He also got a new VCR and it works well.

Jason was kind of out of sorts today. Made all kinds of different faces. Alarmed, scared, concerned and of course sleepy. But he was doing pretty good. No temps, a little low in fact. Sarah and Michele worked him pretty hard today. He needs that. At times they looked like a couple of monkeys cleaning one of their own, picking at his head and what not.

Jason was so-so today. It started off a little rough, the night nurses thought that Jason may have had a broken arm. It was the same knot in his arm that we had seen earlier. But they were concerned about it and ordered an x-ray. Turns out that the pin that the Doctor put in to keep his wrist straight may have shifted, alot. So we need to make another appointment with the Dr to have that pin removed. Could be why Jason has been shutting down lately.

Jason was pretty good today. Had a chance to see him early. He was more alert and responsive. Didn't seem in much pain though his right arm did bother him. Temp was about 100 which is pretty good for him.

Here's the scoop. Jason had an x-ray over the weekend because he had something protruding out of his arm to the point that someone thought that he may have broken his arm. He went the the Orthopedic Doctor today to access the concern. After reviewing the x-rays and looking at Jason the doctor thought he was looking good. Nothing was out of place, the only reason that anything was seen protruding was because Jason has lost so much weight. With his arm being skinnier the "hardware" was showing through. It is a very long rod! This is good news as we didn't want him to go through another surgery.

He still has a tendency to shut us out from time to time, though Sarah makes that hard for him to do.

Jason did well today, temps OK, arms still a little stiff but that will go away as we work with him more.