Hello Everyone!,
Last night I stayed the night at the hospital with Donnie and he did not have to wake me up at all. I did get up a couple of times to check on him but he was sleeping and ok. I heard him refuse his morphine a couple of times which is a good sign but then about 6:30AM he called for some because the pain in his right leg and foot were catching up with him. It is much, much less pain that it used to be now that his back is sewn together. At 6:45 AM Dr. Sohn came in to check the back wound. I quickly jumped up out of bed to see him and watch him do his work. He said I didn't need to get up but believe me, I wanted to be sure to talk with him and see the wound as it is now. It looks good and just needs a couple weeks more to heal completely and be solid. I asked him about the report that the Charge Nurse gave us last night about skin grafting on Don's ankle. Dr. Sohn looked rather surprised and then looked at the two wounds left on the right leg. He announced that the body would easily heal those and there would be no skin grafting. I think that the notes were put in Don's file back when Dr. Sohn did the 1st plastic surgery and was doing a quick look at what he was facing with Don's case. We are so happy to know that this was not something he was thinking about currently!!! Praise The Lord!
The Physical Therapy lady came in very early...just before 8AM with the wheel chair. Don wasn't even dressed yet so we quickly got his shorts and shirt on so he could get into the chair. It was quite cool this morning like around 50 degrees for the low. We poked our heads out the mail lobby doors and decided to go to the cafeteria so I could get a quick bite to eat and some Naked Juice for both of us. Nobody ever told us that patients are not allowed in the part where you get food so we were in there looking around and the cashier came in and told us that patients were not allowed in there. There were not more than 4 people in there so I just got my food and she came again and kinda yelled at us. Donnie quickly wheeled himself out past the cashiers and apologized for not knowing about this rule. It wasn't posted anywhere either. Gosh, we have been here so long that they think Mom and I are employees you'd think they would cut us some slack. Donnie could be out in the eating area but not where the food is. Guess they don't know how many anti-infectious oils he has inside and on the outside of his body, do they? We got a chuckle out of it anyway. Heck with the personal care Mom and I give him, he is the cleanest, best smelling patient in the whole place! I'd bet money on it, wouldn't you?
Mom and Aunt Detta came in about 9:15AM all dressed for church. We visited for a while and we worked some on the puzzle together before they went on to church. We had about 300 of the 500 pieces of the puzzle together and it was a cheapy! They cut several of the pieces exactly the same but as you would go along you would suddenly see that in some of the areas that were like grass or an area where there was a lot of the same color that the pieces would have to be pulled out of one place and switched to another. Then there would always be a piece or two that didn't quite fit right. Well, we got to laughing about how crazy it was after about 5 different rip outs that we decided the best thing to do was put it in the trash can. So I pulled up the can and dumped it. This puzzle came in a box with 5 different puzzles in it (yes, they were individually wrapped in separate bags) so I got out another one with lots of flowers and a real cute house on it. I started it myself and when Mom and Aunt Detta got back I had about 1/3 of it done! We worked on it very diligently all day and by 10PM we got it all done! How's that for a puzzle marathon and a half?
Don didn't help us much on it as he was feeling kind of nauseated. They gave him so much different stuff to move his bowels that he was just flat miserable. We were very patient with him and just let him rest and sleep as much as he could. We did have an explosion later (actually a couple of them) and he feels so much better now. The morphine is really a problem with causing constipation and that is what is giving him trouble. Don has refused all of his morhpine all day today and it is now 11PM! This is great! He did just say that he is going to take one dose of morphine just to get his leg to stop hurting so he can sleep better. He has had a very big day today and he really should sleep well.
Tonight is Mom's last night with us and in the morning she flies back to Florida on a nonstop flight. This time we definitely gauged it better for her leaving. Everything here is much better under control and both of us feel like we can handle it from here on out. We are hoping that within a couple of weeks we can go back to Mesa, Arizona. At least we should be able to celebrate Thanksgiving at home! It truly will be a day to be thankful for when we can get in our own vehicle together and go home!
This week should be very busy and interesting as we anticipate a move to a rehabilitation facility near by. Lots of changes and big steps toward recovery for Sugar Bear. He is really a trooper and is handling his condition so well. You would all be so proud of him!
Please keep up those awesome prayers...we sure need them!
Until tomorrow, take care and stay tuned,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
P.S. I have attached a picture from the champagne (spiced apple cider, really) party and also another picture of Mom and Don playing Skip-Bo by the side of the bed so you could see how we spend a lot of our time keeping Don occupied.
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 28, 2011
Last night was a perfect night! Mom said that Don did not wake her up even one time. They went to bed about 11:30PM and Mom was able to sleep the whole night through! Yippee!
I was able to get over here by just a little after 9AM and Dr. Sohn was just finishing up putting the dressing back on Don's back wound. He said that the right lower part of the wound was still looking a little delicate but that the tissues underneath were healing well. We are just watching that area and he did slightly sluff off some of the tissue there before re-bandaging the area. I noticed that Don had on his new shirt and shorts that I bought him yesterday. He looked so much better being clothed and he felt so much better too.
I came in early because I knew Don wanted his hair washed and also we got the items we needed at the beauty supply house yesterday to get a hair trim and beard trim on him while he was up in the wheelchair today and I did not want to miss the Physical Therapy people when they came in to transfer him to the wheelchair. I hurried up and got his hair washed and blow dried and also gave him his shave and boy did he look and smell good! He wanted to look his best for the wheelchair people. Well, we waited until almost 3:30PM before they came in. It is Saturday and the Physical Therapist that was here said she was alone today and had a lot of people to see so that is why she was so late in coming. We didn't waste any time at all getting him in the wheelchair and he got his driving gloves on for wheeling himself. He headed right out the door and into the hallway and today we got him right on the elevator so he could get outside and get some fresh air and sunshine. It was a beautiful day and Don loved being outside! Of course we took lots of pictures and I am attaching some of them for you today, I hope you are able to view them. We stayed outside for about 25 minutes and then headed up to his room so I would have enough time to trim his hair and beard. I am not a cosmetologist, to say the least, but I have cut a few people's hair and have cut Don's a half dozen times before. His hair wasn't perfect, I'm sure, but it sure looks so much better and he looks so sharp now. The nurses were surprised that Mom and I can do so many personal care stuff for Don. They never know what they are going to walk into when they come to our room, that's for sure!!! Today it was a barber shop! I guess I am The Queen of Everything, right?!
Mom and Aunt Detta and Don played several games of cards today and then Mom and Aunt Detta got out another 500 piece puzzle. They got real focused and stayed with the puzzle for several hours and got over 1/2 of it put together while I took a nap here in the hospital room. Donnie was dozing in and out in his bed with the football game on because of course, OSU was playing. I got up and helped Mom and Aunt Detta work on the puzzle and then we took off to have dinner together at Marie Callenders. On the way back, Mom wanted to be dropped off at the hotel to take a shower. It was already 7:25PM and the Main Lobby doors lock at 8PM so I suggested that Mom stay tonight with Aunt Detta since she is leaving in the morning to go back home to Phoenix. Mom jumped at the chance and so I just changed into a jogging outfit to stay the night with Don. This will be a good test to see what next week will be like when I am here alone again. Hopefully everything will go off without a hitch. At least I am not at my witts-end without sleep and Don is not at his witts-end without sleep and in pain. In fact, his pain level is really diminishing and slowing down since he is healing more. That is so wonderful!!
Tonight about 11PM Tess, the charge nurse, came in and said that she noticed in Don's chart that Dr. Sohn noted that he may have to do some skin grafts on Don's right ankle and ankle bone where he still has two bandages where the wounds are not totally healed. We were quite shocked to hear this because he did not mention any of this to us when he was in here. He must be waiting to see what the back wound is going to do before he makes that announcement to us. Oh well, at least we know about it being a possibility. Let's pray that it will just heal nicely on its own and we don't have to do more surgery. Don is totally maxed out on his surgeries.
Today was a day to truly celebrate! Thanks for your undying love and constant prayers!!!
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
P.S. Enjoy the photos attached.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
October 27, 2011
Hello Faithful Praying Friends and Family!,
Last night was a little reminder of days past. Don had to wake Mom several times to get his foot and leg massaged to help get rid of the tingling. He sat up a couple of times on the side of the bed for short times to help relieve it. We are hoping this is just a one night thing and not something that is going to keep up. Especially with Mom leaving on Monday we need the nights to improve and not go backwards.
Before breakfast, Dr. Sohn came in to check the wound. It still looks like it is healing nicely with just one little corner that he is a tiny bit concerned about watching. He said that Don has to stay down one more day and then maybe Friday his activity can increase. Don is very happy with this news and is willing to stay down for one more day with the hope of getting out of the bed tomorrow. He is still restricted to NO WEIGHT BEARING on his feet until Monday, October 31st at the very earliest. We still have not heard any report about the X-ray reading but we are waiting out the time anyhow. Dr. Sohn also made the order that Don must stay on this air bed for at least 9 more days before he can go into a rehab facility. Only if a rehab facility has the expertise in staff to handle all of his special needs and the special bed could he be moved out of this hospital. He did say that Don will NOT be able to stay here at the rehab floor in Sunrise Hospital because Don is not able to walk and you must be able to walk and be somewhat independent to be on the rehab floor here. So at least we know what we are looking at for the near future. A rehabilitation company came by to drop off information about the several locations they have here in Las Vegas and also picked up all the information from the case worker here about all of Don's needs and unusual care he will require to see if they could handle him as a patient. The name of the company is Kindred and they seemed really nice. The one facility they have that is their highest level of care is only a couple of miles from here so it will work out nicely for where I am staying at Homestead Studio Suites. We will have to go check the place out in the next couple of days to see what it is like before we let them have Don as a patient. God is working out the details, that's for sure!
I did call Blue Cross and Blue Shield to find out if they would pay to transport Don to Mesa, Arizona so I could be at home and they said that if the doctor would call or fax in the information for a preauthorization as to why he could not be transported in a regular vehicle then possibly they would cover the transportation to a facility in Mesa, Arizona. I have a call into the case worker to come see me about getting this communication accomplished. It would be so nice to eliminate the hotel bill each week and also be home in my own bed. God knows best and we are content to do whatever has to be done. It sure doesn't hurt to ask regardless of the outcome, right? I thought about getting an air mattress to fit in the van but Don couldn't even begin to get into the van or out of the van to get on the mattress so that would be pointless.
The Pain Management Team came in and told Don that they were needing to get him off of the IV pain medicine and get him on to an oral medication at a certain dosage and then wean him off of that at a pretty quick pace. After only having his pain under somewhat of a control we weren't real excited to hear this but we also know that we don't want to be on this stuff forever. So they put him on an oral dose of morphine every four hours with the option of asking for a small dose every hour if needed. They gave him his first dose at Noon in apple juice. He said it tastes like vinegar! He did real well without asking for additional dosages until about 6PM and he was getting into some extra pain. He was sitting on the side of the bed playing cards with Mom and I and he thinks he sat up too long. He rang the nurse but we waited about 30 minutes before she came. Then she went to get the morphine and when she came back she said that what they had in the machine was expired for 3 months so she had called the pharmacy to bring more. Well, by the time the pharmacy came up with the medicine it was only 20 minutes before his 4 hour dose so Don decided to hold out for the regular dose. His pain had subsided once he got resituated so it wasn't like the end of the world like it was in days gone by. Don and Mom and I played cards by his bed while he laid down. I stayed way too late as it was about 11:30PM before I even left. I have to stop doing that. It makes it really hard to get up in the morning.
Tomorrow at midnight will mark exactly the six week mark of when Don arrived here in Las Vegas for the first time. Wow, how far we have come and how proud we are of him for all the bravery he has shown and the progress he has made. All of your prayers are greatly appreciated and you can see the progress from them, that's for sure.
We love you all!,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night was a little reminder of days past. Don had to wake Mom several times to get his foot and leg massaged to help get rid of the tingling. He sat up a couple of times on the side of the bed for short times to help relieve it. We are hoping this is just a one night thing and not something that is going to keep up. Especially with Mom leaving on Monday we need the nights to improve and not go backwards.
Before breakfast, Dr. Sohn came in to check the wound. It still looks like it is healing nicely with just one little corner that he is a tiny bit concerned about watching. He said that Don has to stay down one more day and then maybe Friday his activity can increase. Don is very happy with this news and is willing to stay down for one more day with the hope of getting out of the bed tomorrow. He is still restricted to NO WEIGHT BEARING on his feet until Monday, October 31st at the very earliest. We still have not heard any report about the X-ray reading but we are waiting out the time anyhow. Dr. Sohn also made the order that Don must stay on this air bed for at least 9 more days before he can go into a rehab facility. Only if a rehab facility has the expertise in staff to handle all of his special needs and the special bed could he be moved out of this hospital. He did say that Don will NOT be able to stay here at the rehab floor in Sunrise Hospital because Don is not able to walk and you must be able to walk and be somewhat independent to be on the rehab floor here. So at least we know what we are looking at for the near future. A rehabilitation company came by to drop off information about the several locations they have here in Las Vegas and also picked up all the information from the case worker here about all of Don's needs and unusual care he will require to see if they could handle him as a patient. The name of the company is Kindred and they seemed really nice. The one facility they have that is their highest level of care is only a couple of miles from here so it will work out nicely for where I am staying at Homestead Studio Suites. We will have to go check the place out in the next couple of days to see what it is like before we let them have Don as a patient. God is working out the details, that's for sure!
I did call Blue Cross and Blue Shield to find out if they would pay to transport Don to Mesa, Arizona so I could be at home and they said that if the doctor would call or fax in the information for a preauthorization as to why he could not be transported in a regular vehicle then possibly they would cover the transportation to a facility in Mesa, Arizona. I have a call into the case worker to come see me about getting this communication accomplished. It would be so nice to eliminate the hotel bill each week and also be home in my own bed. God knows best and we are content to do whatever has to be done. It sure doesn't hurt to ask regardless of the outcome, right? I thought about getting an air mattress to fit in the van but Don couldn't even begin to get into the van or out of the van to get on the mattress so that would be pointless.
The Pain Management Team came in and told Don that they were needing to get him off of the IV pain medicine and get him on to an oral medication at a certain dosage and then wean him off of that at a pretty quick pace. After only having his pain under somewhat of a control we weren't real excited to hear this but we also know that we don't want to be on this stuff forever. So they put him on an oral dose of morphine every four hours with the option of asking for a small dose every hour if needed. They gave him his first dose at Noon in apple juice. He said it tastes like vinegar! He did real well without asking for additional dosages until about 6PM and he was getting into some extra pain. He was sitting on the side of the bed playing cards with Mom and I and he thinks he sat up too long. He rang the nurse but we waited about 30 minutes before she came. Then she went to get the morphine and when she came back she said that what they had in the machine was expired for 3 months so she had called the pharmacy to bring more. Well, by the time the pharmacy came up with the medicine it was only 20 minutes before his 4 hour dose so Don decided to hold out for the regular dose. His pain had subsided once he got resituated so it wasn't like the end of the world like it was in days gone by. Don and Mom and I played cards by his bed while he laid down. I stayed way too late as it was about 11:30PM before I even left. I have to stop doing that. It makes it really hard to get up in the morning.
Tomorrow at midnight will mark exactly the six week mark of when Don arrived here in Las Vegas for the first time. Wow, how far we have come and how proud we are of him for all the bravery he has shown and the progress he has made. All of your prayers are greatly appreciated and you can see the progress from them, that's for sure.
We love you all!,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
October 28, 2011
Hello Everyone!,
Last night was great! Don only got Mom up one time! He turns himself from side to side using his trapeze bar. This is awesome!
This morning Dr. Sohn was in real early and was still a little concerned about the one area of the wound but says it is coming along nicely. He emphasized that Don has to stay in this bed for at least 8 more days. He made the orders that Don could be placed in a wheel chair for 1 hour but only 1 hour! This was such a day to celebrate!!!!!!!! The first time in 6 weeks to get out of the bed. Wow! Mom quickly got out the pajama shorts that I had brought from Lexington and a tee shirt and the physical therapy team came in to transfer him to the chair without letting him put any weight on his feet. He was so thrilled to get in that chair. He got out in the hallway and tried to find someone to race wheelchairs with but nobody was up for a race! I think he watches too much Nascar and Indy Car Races, don't you? He actually got a slight blister on his hand from working the wheels on the wheel chair. He says that he is really getting soft from no activity. The staff brought him some special gloves with the finger tips cut off that are like driving gloves to use to prevent blisters. Nice that they brought it after the damage was done. Crazy! Mom and Don played cards during the rest of the time he was in the wheel chair. I didn't get here until about the last 30 minutes of his freedom from the bed and I was taking tons of pictures as a reminder of this day of celebration!
Right after Don got placed back in the bed so much was happening here in the room. The case worker nurse came in and got the phone numbers of the people I was talking with at Blue Cross Blue Shield so they could discuss the preauthorization for the possible medical transfer to Mesa, Arizona. She also informed us that she was working on getting Don placed at the proper rehab facility that had the right kind of care available. She is trying to find one that would take his air bed and trapeze but so far we are going to have to be here the 8 days as Dr. Sohn prescribed. She advised us that we want to save as many of the days of insurance coverage for rehab for when he is well enough to actually gain from the exercise because the coverage only lasts for so many days.
Right after the case worker came in then the financial lady came in and we had a bill from another surgeon from the first night Don was here and she had to call them for us and let us know what to do with that bill and the deductible. She came right back with the answer and gave us clarity on what to do.
Then the Pain Management Team came in to check how the oral pain meds were working. They discussed between Mom, Don and I and the three of them how to proceed. It sounds like they are going to be cutting down the dosage some everyday. He will probably be off of the morphine by mid week next week altogether. We will be able to handle the pain totally with Young Living Essential Oils of Vetiver and Valerian from that point on. We do give him 20 drops of each of those oils everyday two to four times a day and that is probably healing him inside as well.
This afternoon when I took Mom back to the hotel room to rest I went out to get some more pajama pants for Don since we only had one pair. I also had to go to the post office and I had to go get some sparkling cider so we could celebrate Don's first wheel chair experience! While I was gone, the Therapy Dog came in to visit Don. He was very pleased to see the dog and he got to pet him and visit for about 10 minutes or so. Don is a real animal lover as he grew up on a farm and had all kinds of animals. I had called a couple of different times to have a Therapy Dog come in but they never came. I had just given up on the idea and shazam...he shows up!
The case worker called back while I was out shopping and told me that she talked with Blue Cross Blue Shield about the transfer to Mesa, Arizona and she said that the policy clearly states that it is only to the closest facility so we know for sure that we will be here in Las Vegas at least until Don is well enough to get into my van on his own. The case worker said that his extensive injuries and wound care are such that we will have to do follow up care with the surgeons that have worked on him here anyway and so Don really needs to be here for now until he can get a full release. That's fine with us, we love the surgeons here and trust their judgment and so for now we know and understand that Las Vegas will be our home for a little while longer. With Don's determination and strong muscles, we know it won't be long before we will be able to safely take the 6 hour journey back home to Mesa, Arizona.
Later this afternoon my Aunt Detta that was here several weeks ago from Phoenix, Arizona, came back to visit while my Mom is still here. She will stay with me tonight and tomorrow night while Mom stays with Donnie. When Mom and Aunt Detta came into the hospital room I announced, "Party Time!" I quickly got out the glasses and the sparkling cider and of course took pictures again and we all had a toast to Donnie for this day of celebration! It was fun and we called the nurse with the call button to come in and take our picture together so the four of us could be in the picture together. She thought it was great and we had a lot of fun.
The World Series is on tonight and so Donnie is watching that and Mom, Aunt Detta and I are playing Skip-Bo together. Of course, I had to take a break so I would have time to write to all of you who are always waiting to hear what happened today. I am so excited to have so many that care and love us enough to keep up with our story. God love your hearts!
With much love and appreciation,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night was great! Don only got Mom up one time! He turns himself from side to side using his trapeze bar. This is awesome!
This morning Dr. Sohn was in real early and was still a little concerned about the one area of the wound but says it is coming along nicely. He emphasized that Don has to stay in this bed for at least 8 more days. He made the orders that Don could be placed in a wheel chair for 1 hour but only 1 hour! This was such a day to celebrate!!!!!!!! The first time in 6 weeks to get out of the bed. Wow! Mom quickly got out the pajama shorts that I had brought from Lexington and a tee shirt and the physical therapy team came in to transfer him to the chair without letting him put any weight on his feet. He was so thrilled to get in that chair. He got out in the hallway and tried to find someone to race wheelchairs with but nobody was up for a race! I think he watches too much Nascar and Indy Car Races, don't you? He actually got a slight blister on his hand from working the wheels on the wheel chair. He says that he is really getting soft from no activity. The staff brought him some special gloves with the finger tips cut off that are like driving gloves to use to prevent blisters. Nice that they brought it after the damage was done. Crazy! Mom and Don played cards during the rest of the time he was in the wheel chair. I didn't get here until about the last 30 minutes of his freedom from the bed and I was taking tons of pictures as a reminder of this day of celebration!
Right after Don got placed back in the bed so much was happening here in the room. The case worker nurse came in and got the phone numbers of the people I was talking with at Blue Cross Blue Shield so they could discuss the preauthorization for the possible medical transfer to Mesa, Arizona. She also informed us that she was working on getting Don placed at the proper rehab facility that had the right kind of care available. She is trying to find one that would take his air bed and trapeze but so far we are going to have to be here the 8 days as Dr. Sohn prescribed. She advised us that we want to save as many of the days of insurance coverage for rehab for when he is well enough to actually gain from the exercise because the coverage only lasts for so many days.
Right after the case worker came in then the financial lady came in and we had a bill from another surgeon from the first night Don was here and she had to call them for us and let us know what to do with that bill and the deductible. She came right back with the answer and gave us clarity on what to do.
Then the Pain Management Team came in to check how the oral pain meds were working. They discussed between Mom, Don and I and the three of them how to proceed. It sounds like they are going to be cutting down the dosage some everyday. He will probably be off of the morphine by mid week next week altogether. We will be able to handle the pain totally with Young Living Essential Oils of Vetiver and Valerian from that point on. We do give him 20 drops of each of those oils everyday two to four times a day and that is probably healing him inside as well.
This afternoon when I took Mom back to the hotel room to rest I went out to get some more pajama pants for Don since we only had one pair. I also had to go to the post office and I had to go get some sparkling cider so we could celebrate Don's first wheel chair experience! While I was gone, the Therapy Dog came in to visit Don. He was very pleased to see the dog and he got to pet him and visit for about 10 minutes or so. Don is a real animal lover as he grew up on a farm and had all kinds of animals. I had called a couple of different times to have a Therapy Dog come in but they never came. I had just given up on the idea and shazam...he shows up!
The case worker called back while I was out shopping and told me that she talked with Blue Cross Blue Shield about the transfer to Mesa, Arizona and she said that the policy clearly states that it is only to the closest facility so we know for sure that we will be here in Las Vegas at least until Don is well enough to get into my van on his own. The case worker said that his extensive injuries and wound care are such that we will have to do follow up care with the surgeons that have worked on him here anyway and so Don really needs to be here for now until he can get a full release. That's fine with us, we love the surgeons here and trust their judgment and so for now we know and understand that Las Vegas will be our home for a little while longer. With Don's determination and strong muscles, we know it won't be long before we will be able to safely take the 6 hour journey back home to Mesa, Arizona.
Later this afternoon my Aunt Detta that was here several weeks ago from Phoenix, Arizona, came back to visit while my Mom is still here. She will stay with me tonight and tomorrow night while Mom stays with Donnie. When Mom and Aunt Detta came into the hospital room I announced, "Party Time!" I quickly got out the glasses and the sparkling cider and of course took pictures again and we all had a toast to Donnie for this day of celebration! It was fun and we called the nurse with the call button to come in and take our picture together so the four of us could be in the picture together. She thought it was great and we had a lot of fun.
The World Series is on tonight and so Donnie is watching that and Mom, Aunt Detta and I are playing Skip-Bo together. Of course, I had to take a break so I would have time to write to all of you who are always waiting to hear what happened today. I am so excited to have so many that care and love us enough to keep up with our story. God love your hearts!
With much love and appreciation,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Thursday, October 27, 2011
What Happened??
Hi Everyone,
It has now been over 5 1/2 weeks since the accident in Don Schirr's beautiful 2011 Kenworth T660
18-wheeler on September 16, 2011 at 11:58PM near Kingman, Arizona at the 82 mile marker on I-40 Eastbound. So much has happened here at Sunrise Medical Center where Don was airlifted from the scene of the accident. Many of you have written or called asking "What Happened?" so I will attempt to give you the story of the accident itself for your own clarification. For those of you that have not seen any pictures of the accident thus far, I have attached the Word Document that shows the "BEFORE" and "AFTER" pictures of the truck. No photos of Don's injuries are included because most people would not be able to handle the graphic sights.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE TRUCKING ACCIDENT STORY:
Don and I were planning on taking a week's vacation the first week of October, 2011 and usually when we take vacations Don just parks his 18-wheeler and we go on vacation. Well, he had just acquired a dedicated run from Noel, Missouri to Riverside, California and back to Ocheleta, Oklahoma each week. He had previously just driven all over the United States, coast to coast, and every run was quite different and not predictable. He really loved this new route and it afforded him the privilege of being home for about 1 1/2 days every week for the first time in 42 years of driving. With Don and I just being married 2 years on August 28, 2009 this was a dream come true for us! He got to thinking that he would like to keep this route going even while we were on vacation but he never trusted anyone to drive his truck before. He announced one day that he had an idea that we both thought was great. He would ask his long time friend, David Terry, to drive the route during the week we were on vacation. David was a veteran truck driver with 40 years of accident free driving and was retired from the same company Don pulls his loads for. David was retired for about 4 years and Don and David used to convoy together over the years when David was trucking cross-country like Don. Don really enjoyed David's company and knew he was a very safe driver and was neat and clean and Don knew he would take excellent care of our new truck.
THE TRUCKING STORY AS IT BEGAN:
On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, Don took me to the airport early in the morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma as I had been out on the truck with him for about 6 weeks and I was flying back to Lexington, Kentucky for a couple of weeks before flying back to Tulsa when I would meet up with Don to go on our vacation. That same day Don went to his insurance agent and added David as a driver onto the insurance policy and then he proceeded on to Noel, Missouri where David Terry met up with Don for a familiarization trip to California to see where Don dropped his loads off and where he picked up his new load to return to Oklahoma. David was so excited that Don had asked him to do this route for him and they had such a wonderful time together on their journey to California. It was a pretty easy route for even just one driver so now that they had two drivers it was easy for them both to just stay awake together and then sleep in the bunks at the same time. Donnie had talked with me on the phone and said that he just couldn't sleep while the truck was moving because he was not used to that. He said that he doesn't sleep like I do and since it was a route that didn't require an extra driver they just stayed up together and caught up on old times.
They got to Riverside, California on schedule to deliver early on Friday morning and by late afternoon they were loaded to go back to Oklahoma. The usual stop on the way out of California was in Barstow, California where they both took showers (as Don and I always did) and ate a nice meal there at the truck stop. Don called me as they were leaving the truck stop and walking back out to the truck for the night of driving back to Oklahoma. He told me that David was going to drive from that point and that he would probably drive to Flagstaff, Arizona or a little further. Don said that he was tired and he said his good night speech he gives me every night and off they went on their journey. Since they had two drivers the two of them decided that they would drive on through as a team and get to Tulsa, Oklahoma by Sunday morning and then they could get in the pickup and Don would drive David 1/2 way to his home in Southwest, Missouri where David's wife Kay would meet them and take David the rest of the way home.
Don then went into the sleeper part of the truck and went into a deep sleep. The driving time from Barstow, California to Kingman, Arizona is about 4 hours. The accident happened about 30 miles past Kingman, Arizona (East of Kingman) at mile marker 82. Nobody really knows what happened because THERE WAS NO OTHER VEHICLE INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT. Also, David Terry and Don were both thrown from the vehicle and David Terry was killed instantly. Since Don was sleeping he has no idea what happened. In fact, as far as his memory goes he went to sleep in the sleeper and woke up in Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The autopsy of David Terry will not be released until November so until that is released the cause of the accident is not known. What we do know is that the road takes a pretty sharp curve to the right and is in a 75 MPH zone and David did not take the curve but went straight. When the truck hit the dirt in the median he tried to steer out of it and then the truck rolled, the trailer separated from the tractor and then the cab rolled again on its top and slid for quite a distance. Don was found with the trailer on a metal grate in the ground on a bunch of the lettuce that was spilled out from the load and David was over 100 feet away in front of the tractor.
Officer Timmerman of the Arizona Highway Patrol received only one call saying, "there is an accident at mile marker 82 on I-40 Eastbound in the median and there is smoke coming from the wreckage." That is the only call that came in at all on this accident as it is very dark and in a very mountainous area and not real visible with very little traffic at night. Officer Timmerman reported to me in person that he drove 120 MPH to get to the site. It took him about 12 minutes to get there. He said it looked like a war zone and he knew there could not be anyone alive in this wreck. However, he did call out, "Is there anyone out here?" Don called out, "I'm over here, I need some help." Don did talk with the officer for about 40 minutes while the helicopter and paramedics were on the way and working on him. Don only mentioned that he was cold so the officer put a blanket on him. Don had 5 huge lacerations on his head alone and a huge hole in his buttocks. The officer did not expect Don to live after seeing him in all the blood and packed with dirt. The helicopter flew Don to the best trauma center in the area which was Sunrise Medical Center even though Phoenix, Arizona was closer they knew he would need extra special care. We are so thankful they flew him here even though we live in Mesa, Arizona and it would be close to home.
Don arrived here in Las Vegas about 1:15AM. In the meantime, Officer Timmerman was digging through wreckage to try to find identification or cell phones or something to work with. Don was sleeping in his underwear and his wallet was never recovered so they did not even have positive identification of him. He was listed at the hospital as Trauma Chad until we could get a picture ID of him to prove who he was. Officer Timmerman found a blue cell phone and looked through the list of names and found a listing named "Sweetie". He called the number from his own cell phone and it connected with me in Lexington, Kentucky. It was now 3AM Pacific Time which was 6AM Eastern Time in Kentucky. I was sleeping but answered the phone. When I answered all he said was, "Who am I speaking with?" I said, "Who are you?" He said, "I am Officer Timmerman from the Arizona Highway Patrol, do you know a Leon David Terry?" I said, "Well, I didn't know his first name was Leon but I know of a David Terry, why?" He said, "There's been an accident and I need to contact the family do you have a phone number or address for a Leon David Terry?" I said, "AN ACCIDENT??!!!, what about Don Schirr?" He said, "How do you know Don Schirr?" I said, "He is my husband." He said, "Oh, Don is in critical condition and was flown to Las Vegas, do you have any information on Leon David Terry?" I said, "What happened to David Terry?" He said, "He was killed instantly." I said, "Oh My God!!!!!!! Oh, no!!! I don't know what to do!" I did not have even a phone number for David and it was a Saturday morning so I could not even get in touch with the insurance agent or anything!!!!!!! This was terrible!!!
From that point on I tried to find anything at all on David Terry but knew nothing. I didn't even know where he lived exactly. I thought he lived in Oklahoma but it was actually Missouri. I knew his wife's name was Kay and I knew their ages only because we had talked about it the week before. I searched the Internet, files my computer and could find nothing. In the mean time I was hyperventaling about Donnie. I called my Mom in Florida and was panic-stricken and told her what happened and that I didn't know what to do. I was trying to find information for the police on David Terry and I needed to get a flight to Las Vegas and I was in tears and was in a panic!!!!! My Mom said she would book me a flight a
nd call me back. In the meantime the officer was calling me every 10 minutes to see if I found anything out about David Terry. After about the 4th call I answered enough questions for him and he finally found the right address so he could send officers out to the house to tell Kay that her husband had passed away.
At 7:00PM my Mom and my baby sister Julie arrived at the airport from Winter Haven, Florida and I arrived 4 minutes later. We rushed to the hospital with our luggage in tow and found out that Don had just been taken into surgery just 15 minutes prior to us getting there. He was bleeding terribly from the wound in his buttocks and had to go to surgery to stop the bleeding.
The rest, as they say, is history. As you will see from the pictures, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE THAT DON IS ALIVE.
For "The Rest of The Story" on a daily basis and pictures please visit our blogsite at:
http://schirrecovery.blogspot.com/?spref=gr#close=1
Keep the above link so you can keep up to date on a daily basis with what is happening and see any additional photos as well.
It has now been over 5 1/2 weeks since the accident in Don Schirr's beautiful 2011 Kenworth T660
18-wheeler on September 16, 2011 at 11:58PM near Kingman, Arizona at the 82 mile marker on I-40 Eastbound. So much has happened here at Sunrise Medical Center where Don was airlifted from the scene of the accident. Many of you have written or called asking "What Happened?" so I will attempt to give you the story of the accident itself for your own clarification. For those of you that have not seen any pictures of the accident thus far, I have attached the Word Document that shows the "BEFORE" and "AFTER" pictures of the truck. No photos of Don's injuries are included because most people would not be able to handle the graphic sights.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE TRUCKING ACCIDENT STORY:
Don and I were planning on taking a week's vacation the first week of October, 2011 and usually when we take vacations Don just parks his 18-wheeler and we go on vacation. Well, he had just acquired a dedicated run from Noel, Missouri to Riverside, California and back to Ocheleta, Oklahoma each week. He had previously just driven all over the United States, coast to coast, and every run was quite different and not predictable. He really loved this new route and it afforded him the privilege of being home for about 1 1/2 days every week for the first time in 42 years of driving. With Don and I just being married 2 years on August 28, 2009 this was a dream come true for us! He got to thinking that he would like to keep this route going even while we were on vacation but he never trusted anyone to drive his truck before. He announced one day that he had an idea that we both thought was great. He would ask his long time friend, David Terry, to drive the route during the week we were on vacation. David was a veteran truck driver with 40 years of accident free driving and was retired from the same company Don pulls his loads for. David was retired for about 4 years and Don and David used to convoy together over the years when David was trucking cross-country like Don. Don really enjoyed David's company and knew he was a very safe driver and was neat and clean and Don knew he would take excellent care of our new truck.
THE TRUCKING STORY AS IT BEGAN:
On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, Don took me to the airport early in the morning in Tulsa, Oklahoma as I had been out on the truck with him for about 6 weeks and I was flying back to Lexington, Kentucky for a couple of weeks before flying back to Tulsa when I would meet up with Don to go on our vacation. That same day Don went to his insurance agent and added David as a driver onto the insurance policy and then he proceeded on to Noel, Missouri where David Terry met up with Don for a familiarization trip to California to see where Don dropped his loads off and where he picked up his new load to return to Oklahoma. David was so excited that Don had asked him to do this route for him and they had such a wonderful time together on their journey to California. It was a pretty easy route for even just one driver so now that they had two drivers it was easy for them both to just stay awake together and then sleep in the bunks at the same time. Donnie had talked with me on the phone and said that he just couldn't sleep while the truck was moving because he was not used to that. He said that he doesn't sleep like I do and since it was a route that didn't require an extra driver they just stayed up together and caught up on old times.
They got to Riverside, California on schedule to deliver early on Friday morning and by late afternoon they were loaded to go back to Oklahoma. The usual stop on the way out of California was in Barstow, California where they both took showers (as Don and I always did) and ate a nice meal there at the truck stop. Don called me as they were leaving the truck stop and walking back out to the truck for the night of driving back to Oklahoma. He told me that David was going to drive from that point and that he would probably drive to Flagstaff, Arizona or a little further. Don said that he was tired and he said his good night speech he gives me every night and off they went on their journey. Since they had two drivers the two of them decided that they would drive on through as a team and get to Tulsa, Oklahoma by Sunday morning and then they could get in the pickup and Don would drive David 1/2 way to his home in Southwest, Missouri where David's wife Kay would meet them and take David the rest of the way home.
Don then went into the sleeper part of the truck and went into a deep sleep. The driving time from Barstow, California to Kingman, Arizona is about 4 hours. The accident happened about 30 miles past Kingman, Arizona (East of Kingman) at mile marker 82. Nobody really knows what happened because THERE WAS NO OTHER VEHICLE INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT. Also, David Terry and Don were both thrown from the vehicle and David Terry was killed instantly. Since Don was sleeping he has no idea what happened. In fact, as far as his memory goes he went to sleep in the sleeper and woke up in Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The autopsy of David Terry will not be released until November so until that is released the cause of the accident is not known. What we do know is that the road takes a pretty sharp curve to the right and is in a 75 MPH zone and David did not take the curve but went straight. When the truck hit the dirt in the median he tried to steer out of it and then the truck rolled, the trailer separated from the tractor and then the cab rolled again on its top and slid for quite a distance. Don was found with the trailer on a metal grate in the ground on a bunch of the lettuce that was spilled out from the load and David was over 100 feet away in front of the tractor.
Officer Timmerman of the Arizona Highway Patrol received only one call saying, "there is an accident at mile marker 82 on I-40 Eastbound in the median and there is smoke coming from the wreckage." That is the only call that came in at all on this accident as it is very dark and in a very mountainous area and not real visible with very little traffic at night. Officer Timmerman reported to me in person that he drove 120 MPH to get to the site. It took him about 12 minutes to get there. He said it looked like a war zone and he knew there could not be anyone alive in this wreck. However, he did call out, "Is there anyone out here?" Don called out, "I'm over here, I need some help." Don did talk with the officer for about 40 minutes while the helicopter and paramedics were on the way and working on him. Don only mentioned that he was cold so the officer put a blanket on him. Don had 5 huge lacerations on his head alone and a huge hole in his buttocks. The officer did not expect Don to live after seeing him in all the blood and packed with dirt. The helicopter flew Don to the best trauma center in the area which was Sunrise Medical Center even though Phoenix, Arizona was closer they knew he would need extra special care. We are so thankful they flew him here even though we live in Mesa, Arizona and it would be close to home.
Don arrived here in Las Vegas about 1:15AM. In the meantime, Officer Timmerman was digging through wreckage to try to find identification or cell phones or something to work with. Don was sleeping in his underwear and his wallet was never recovered so they did not even have positive identification of him. He was listed at the hospital as Trauma Chad until we could get a picture ID of him to prove who he was. Officer Timmerman found a blue cell phone and looked through the list of names and found a listing named "Sweetie". He called the number from his own cell phone and it connected with me in Lexington, Kentucky. It was now 3AM Pacific Time which was 6AM Eastern Time in Kentucky. I was sleeping but answered the phone. When I answered all he said was, "Who am I speaking with?" I said, "Who are you?" He said, "I am Officer Timmerman from the Arizona Highway Patrol, do you know a Leon David Terry?" I said, "Well, I didn't know his first name was Leon but I know of a David Terry, why?" He said, "There's been an accident and I need to contact the family do you have a phone number or address for a Leon David Terry?" I said, "AN ACCIDENT??!!!, what about Don Schirr?" He said, "How do you know Don Schirr?" I said, "He is my husband." He said, "Oh, Don is in critical condition and was flown to Las Vegas, do you have any information on Leon David Terry?" I said, "What happened to David Terry?" He said, "He was killed instantly." I said, "Oh My God!!!!!!! Oh, no!!! I don't know what to do!" I did not have even a phone number for David and it was a Saturday morning so I could not even get in touch with the insurance agent or anything!!!!!!! This was terrible!!!
From that point on I tried to find anything at all on David Terry but knew nothing. I didn't even know where he lived exactly. I thought he lived in Oklahoma but it was actually Missouri. I knew his wife's name was Kay and I knew their ages only because we had talked about it the week before. I searched the Internet, files my computer and could find nothing. In the mean time I was hyperventaling about Donnie. I called my Mom in Florida and was panic-stricken and told her what happened and that I didn't know what to do. I was trying to find information for the police on David Terry and I needed to get a flight to Las Vegas and I was in tears and was in a panic!!!!! My Mom said she would book me a flight a
nd call me back. In the meantime the officer was calling me every 10 minutes to see if I found anything out about David Terry. After about the 4th call I answered enough questions for him and he finally found the right address so he could send officers out to the house to tell Kay that her husband had passed away.
At 7:00PM my Mom and my baby sister Julie arrived at the airport from Winter Haven, Florida and I arrived 4 minutes later. We rushed to the hospital with our luggage in tow and found out that Don had just been taken into surgery just 15 minutes prior to us getting there. He was bleeding terribly from the wound in his buttocks and had to go to surgery to stop the bleeding.
The rest, as they say, is history. As you will see from the pictures, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE THAT DON IS ALIVE.
For "The Rest of The Story" on a daily basis and pictures please visit our blogsite at:
http://schirrecovery.blogspot.com/?spref=gr#close=1
Keep the above link so you can keep up to date on a daily basis with what is happening and see any additional photos as well.
October 26, 2011
Hello Everyone!,
Last night Don had a lot of restlessness and pain in his leg. He did not sleep well at all. It was due to the decrease in his pain medication. When the pain management team came in today they increased his Dilaudid back to 1.5 mg. per hour. Hopefully this is an adequate amount to get him through the night. They also prescribed a sleeping medication called Pamelor which we need to research before they give it to him. When he took the other sleeping medication called Ambien it was terrible and he almost got up out of the bed which scared my Mother because she was staying the night. Hopefully this will not happen to him tonight. My Mom had to get up several times last night during the night to massage his right leg which seems to be giving him terrible pain.
Early this afternoon the plastic surgeon came in and looked at the wound and he gave us a big thumbs up saying that it was healing nicely and that we were doing everything right and to keep up the good work! He said that Don is no way "out of the woods" but that this is a big celebration point toward getting on to rehab! He said that for sure Don had to stay totally inactive and in bed for at least another day before he would give the ok for any physical therapy or getting into a wheel chair. Believe me, we are following his word to a tee as Don is totally unwilling to go into another surgery to fix anything!! Dr. Sohn said that he for sure wants Don on the air bed for a minimum of two weeks so the healing can continue. We learned that the rehab unit here does not accept patients with any bed other than the ones they have so that means that we will for sure be here in Room C416 until November 5th. After that date then he can evaluate Don's wound and move us on to rehab. Dr. Sohn also mentioned that he would be highly recommending that we get moved to rehab here at Sunrise Medical Center so that he can keep a close eye on Don and have his followups with the wound very frequent and see us until we are in the clear and out of any dangers of a reopening of the wound. When the surgeon left we all three cried tears of joy knowing that God had indeed answered our prayers and cries for healing!!!!!!!!
Mom took another picture of the wound for our records and it looks excellent. Don asked what it looked like and Mom showed him the picture on her phone and he only glanced at it in horror and quickly looked away and said that it made him sick. Well, we think it looks amazing and wonderful because we have seen it all along which was indeed scary even to the most skilled medical person. So, now he knows why it has taken this long to heal and why it took so many surgeries to fix it. I don't know if he will ever be able to see the pictures of the early stages of this wound or not because how severe it was. All we know now is that we want it to stay together and get healed to the point where he can move forward in a big way.
Overall, Don felt quite good today and was alert most of the day. It is getting cooler here by far and in fact today it was only 68 degrees for the high and tonight it is going to get down to 42 degrees!! Mom is from Florida and so she was freezing so we had to go get her a new all weather coat today so she can make it through this cold snap. We are moving in faith right now and tonight we booked her another flight back to Florida scheduled to leave Monday morning, October 31st. Please pray that we are able to move forward enough to feel comfortable sending her home again. Don is going to have to become more independent before he can move on to rehab according to Dr. Sohn so hopefully he can make it through the nights with the assistance of the nurses while I get some sleep at nights at the hotel. It is just too hard for me to be here alone for 24 hours a day as we found out earlier. The nurses really love the fact that they don't have to do much for Don and they say to us that we are so easy and they feel guilty about not having to do much in this room. Hopefully, Don will be able to handle at least 8 hours alone. Right now he is restricted to NO TWISTING OR BENDING and so he needs assistance doing his turns from right to left sides every 2 hours. Also, moving his water, cell phone, glasses, etc. from one side of the bed to the other is something he cannot do himself as well as moving his catheter bag and all his pillows that prop him up all over is major with helping him move all the time.
We still need lots of prayers and we so appreciate all the cards, gifts and loving support. We look forward to the day when we say we are heading back to Mesa, Arizona to finish his rehabilitation work!
Love you all,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night Don had a lot of restlessness and pain in his leg. He did not sleep well at all. It was due to the decrease in his pain medication. When the pain management team came in today they increased his Dilaudid back to 1.5 mg. per hour. Hopefully this is an adequate amount to get him through the night. They also prescribed a sleeping medication called Pamelor which we need to research before they give it to him. When he took the other sleeping medication called Ambien it was terrible and he almost got up out of the bed which scared my Mother because she was staying the night. Hopefully this will not happen to him tonight. My Mom had to get up several times last night during the night to massage his right leg which seems to be giving him terrible pain.
Early this afternoon the plastic surgeon came in and looked at the wound and he gave us a big thumbs up saying that it was healing nicely and that we were doing everything right and to keep up the good work! He said that Don is no way "out of the woods" but that this is a big celebration point toward getting on to rehab! He said that for sure Don had to stay totally inactive and in bed for at least another day before he would give the ok for any physical therapy or getting into a wheel chair. Believe me, we are following his word to a tee as Don is totally unwilling to go into another surgery to fix anything!! Dr. Sohn said that he for sure wants Don on the air bed for a minimum of two weeks so the healing can continue. We learned that the rehab unit here does not accept patients with any bed other than the ones they have so that means that we will for sure be here in Room C416 until November 5th. After that date then he can evaluate Don's wound and move us on to rehab. Dr. Sohn also mentioned that he would be highly recommending that we get moved to rehab here at Sunrise Medical Center so that he can keep a close eye on Don and have his followups with the wound very frequent and see us until we are in the clear and out of any dangers of a reopening of the wound. When the surgeon left we all three cried tears of joy knowing that God had indeed answered our prayers and cries for healing!!!!!!!!
Mom took another picture of the wound for our records and it looks excellent. Don asked what it looked like and Mom showed him the picture on her phone and he only glanced at it in horror and quickly looked away and said that it made him sick. Well, we think it looks amazing and wonderful because we have seen it all along which was indeed scary even to the most skilled medical person. So, now he knows why it has taken this long to heal and why it took so many surgeries to fix it. I don't know if he will ever be able to see the pictures of the early stages of this wound or not because how severe it was. All we know now is that we want it to stay together and get healed to the point where he can move forward in a big way.
Overall, Don felt quite good today and was alert most of the day. It is getting cooler here by far and in fact today it was only 68 degrees for the high and tonight it is going to get down to 42 degrees!! Mom is from Florida and so she was freezing so we had to go get her a new all weather coat today so she can make it through this cold snap. We are moving in faith right now and tonight we booked her another flight back to Florida scheduled to leave Monday morning, October 31st. Please pray that we are able to move forward enough to feel comfortable sending her home again. Don is going to have to become more independent before he can move on to rehab according to Dr. Sohn so hopefully he can make it through the nights with the assistance of the nurses while I get some sleep at nights at the hotel. It is just too hard for me to be here alone for 24 hours a day as we found out earlier. The nurses really love the fact that they don't have to do much for Don and they say to us that we are so easy and they feel guilty about not having to do much in this room. Hopefully, Don will be able to handle at least 8 hours alone. Right now he is restricted to NO TWISTING OR BENDING and so he needs assistance doing his turns from right to left sides every 2 hours. Also, moving his water, cell phone, glasses, etc. from one side of the bed to the other is something he cannot do himself as well as moving his catheter bag and all his pillows that prop him up all over is major with helping him move all the time.
We still need lots of prayers and we so appreciate all the cards, gifts and loving support. We look forward to the day when we say we are heading back to Mesa, Arizona to finish his rehabilitation work!
Love you all,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
October 25, 2011
Hello,
Last night went pretty good. Don got some sleep during the night but had to get up on the side of the bed a couple of times during the night just for a repositioning and just for a few minutes each time.
Dr. Sohn, the plastic surgeon, stopped in about 6:30AM and checked the wound. He said it was progressing nicely and that by Thursday he should be able to reevaluate Don's restrictions on movement and see if he can't get a little more active and maybe get placed in a wheel chair. We are hoping for that. Mom asked if he knew anything about the X-ray and it showed that the pelvis is in alignment but they could not see the tailbone because the angle of the X-ray was not aimed where they could see it. So, most likely they will have to take the X-ray again to see what the status of the tailbone is.
Today Don felt quite a bit better. Still has some nausea but it seemed better.
The Pain Management Team came in and lowered his automatic dose of Dilaudid from 2 mg. per hour to 1 mg. per hour but still allows Don to get more if he needs it with the push button. He has had to hit it a few times today especially when he has to turn or sit up but he feels like he hasn't had to do much extra on the pump. He wants to cut down on the pain meds too but there is only so much he can tolerate.
Please keep up the prayers and we are looking for better news everyday.
Hugs,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night went pretty good. Don got some sleep during the night but had to get up on the side of the bed a couple of times during the night just for a repositioning and just for a few minutes each time.
Dr. Sohn, the plastic surgeon, stopped in about 6:30AM and checked the wound. He said it was progressing nicely and that by Thursday he should be able to reevaluate Don's restrictions on movement and see if he can't get a little more active and maybe get placed in a wheel chair. We are hoping for that. Mom asked if he knew anything about the X-ray and it showed that the pelvis is in alignment but they could not see the tailbone because the angle of the X-ray was not aimed where they could see it. So, most likely they will have to take the X-ray again to see what the status of the tailbone is.
Today Don felt quite a bit better. Still has some nausea but it seemed better.
The Pain Management Team came in and lowered his automatic dose of Dilaudid from 2 mg. per hour to 1 mg. per hour but still allows Don to get more if he needs it with the push button. He has had to hit it a few times today especially when he has to turn or sit up but he feels like he hasn't had to do much extra on the pump. He wants to cut down on the pain meds too but there is only so much he can tolerate.
Please keep up the prayers and we are looking for better news everyday.
Hugs,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
October 24, 2011
Greetings!,
Last night Mom and Don played cards again until 1AM. Mom gently woke him every two hours to turn. Bright and early this morning they came in to take the X-ray at 6AM. They took it right in the room so all Don had to do was take a hit or two off of the Dilaudid machine and wait a few minutes for it to take hold before they tried anything. He was very specific as to what the X-ray technician could do. He specified that a blanket needed to be over the board they put on him and for them to get all set up ready to take the X-ray before they tried to move him or place the board under him. Mom promptly showed the X-ray technician a picture of the wound (a close up) and believe me, a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in this case!! When he saw the wound he definitely got much more tender and compassionate in his approach. I really do not think that anyone has any idea how severe Don's case is unless you show them pictures. They always show extreme caution with handling him after they see the pictures even though we try to verbally tell them that his injuries are serious. Thank God I brought my portable printer so I could print off the pictures.
Mom said that he slept quite well during the night and it seems as though he is getting into a deeper, more restful sleep. Now that he is not in such pain and it is under control now he should be seeing much quicker healing in every area of his body.
I arrived abou 9AM this morning. Don was in quite a deep sleep and he really did not want to be awakened for a morning kiss. This is quite unusual for him. He was just motionless and didn't look or feel very well. Mom said that Dr. Sohn, the plastic surgeon, had stopped in to check on the wound. It looked really good and she got a picture of it on her cell phone for me so I could see it. It looks really clean and appears to be healing very nicely!
I had made haircut appointments for Mom and I for 10AM because we both really were starting to look shaggy after over 5 weeks of being here. So we left just before 10AM and got back about 1PM. Don had just finished his lunch when I returned from dropping Mom off at the hotel. He said that he was kinda sick to his stomach and just did not feel very well. As a result, he pretty much dosed in and out all day. He did get up on the side of the bed a couple of times only because his body hurts so much from laying down all day. He just kept complaining of his stomach hurting. His blood pressure was also running quite low which is very unusual for him. He usually has almost perfect blood pressure. He did ask to play a couple of rounds of Skip Bo with me but other than that he really laid low and didn't even talk much. Mom and I just tried to let him sleep as we feel this is the best thing for him at this point. This afternoon he had me really scrub his hair good and give him a shave but other than that he really did not do much.
Mom returned about 6PM and we played several rounds of Skip Bo. About 9PM Donnie was wanting to get up on the side of the bed and he wanted to play Skip Bo too so we got him up and I turned the card playing over to Mom and I packed up and came over to the hotel. I needed to get these emails out to everyone so you would know what is happening and I had to get the laundry done up once again.
That's all I have for tonight, hopefully tomorrow will bring many good and promising things. We will keep you posted on the results.
Good night for now,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night Mom and Don played cards again until 1AM. Mom gently woke him every two hours to turn. Bright and early this morning they came in to take the X-ray at 6AM. They took it right in the room so all Don had to do was take a hit or two off of the Dilaudid machine and wait a few minutes for it to take hold before they tried anything. He was very specific as to what the X-ray technician could do. He specified that a blanket needed to be over the board they put on him and for them to get all set up ready to take the X-ray before they tried to move him or place the board under him. Mom promptly showed the X-ray technician a picture of the wound (a close up) and believe me, a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in this case!! When he saw the wound he definitely got much more tender and compassionate in his approach. I really do not think that anyone has any idea how severe Don's case is unless you show them pictures. They always show extreme caution with handling him after they see the pictures even though we try to verbally tell them that his injuries are serious. Thank God I brought my portable printer so I could print off the pictures.
Mom said that he slept quite well during the night and it seems as though he is getting into a deeper, more restful sleep. Now that he is not in such pain and it is under control now he should be seeing much quicker healing in every area of his body.
I arrived abou 9AM this morning. Don was in quite a deep sleep and he really did not want to be awakened for a morning kiss. This is quite unusual for him. He was just motionless and didn't look or feel very well. Mom said that Dr. Sohn, the plastic surgeon, had stopped in to check on the wound. It looked really good and she got a picture of it on her cell phone for me so I could see it. It looks really clean and appears to be healing very nicely!
I had made haircut appointments for Mom and I for 10AM because we both really were starting to look shaggy after over 5 weeks of being here. So we left just before 10AM and got back about 1PM. Don had just finished his lunch when I returned from dropping Mom off at the hotel. He said that he was kinda sick to his stomach and just did not feel very well. As a result, he pretty much dosed in and out all day. He did get up on the side of the bed a couple of times only because his body hurts so much from laying down all day. He just kept complaining of his stomach hurting. His blood pressure was also running quite low which is very unusual for him. He usually has almost perfect blood pressure. He did ask to play a couple of rounds of Skip Bo with me but other than that he really laid low and didn't even talk much. Mom and I just tried to let him sleep as we feel this is the best thing for him at this point. This afternoon he had me really scrub his hair good and give him a shave but other than that he really did not do much.
Mom returned about 6PM and we played several rounds of Skip Bo. About 9PM Donnie was wanting to get up on the side of the bed and he wanted to play Skip Bo too so we got him up and I turned the card playing over to Mom and I packed up and came over to the hotel. I needed to get these emails out to everyone so you would know what is happening and I had to get the laundry done up once again.
That's all I have for tonight, hopefully tomorrow will bring many good and promising things. We will keep you posted on the results.
Good night for now,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
October 23, 2011
We are now happy that the surgery went well yesterday and that the wound looks good. Praise The Lord for answered prayers! You all have contributed so much to this recovery with your faithful prayers, thank you so much! Last night was pretty good considering it was just after surgery. We are committed to faithfully turning him from side to side every two to three hours...doctors orders!! Even though it is not really our responsibility we feel it is absolutely necessary that we set the timer to go off every two hours so we don't miss turning him over. Mom said he slept real well and he helps turn so it doesn't take long to get him repositioned and back off to sleep he goes. At least now we don't have to try to get his legs settled down from pain like we used to. He was increased on his Dilaudid PCA Pump to 2 mg. per hour now so he sleeps so much better and doesn't have to hit the button very often at all.
This morning (Sunday) I was so out of it I had a very difficult time getting around and back to the hospital. I did not actually get over to pick Mom up until 11:30AM! I called and said we should just go get lunch while I was out with the van and then I would come up to the room. When she came down she said that it was a good thing I didn't come up any earlier because he got up around 5AM and wanted his teeth brushed and sat up for about 10 minutes and then he slept very soundly and did not even move at all until 10:30AM!! That's 5 1/2 hours straight!!!! Mom did not disturb him at all because he was positioned off of the wound and he was completely comfortable. She even left all the blinds closed in the room so he wouldn't be awakened by the light. What a blessing that was!
All in all it was a pretty uneventful day. Just turning him every couple of hours and keeping him fed, bathed and entertained are the biggies. I was going to get some of my emailing done but he wanted to play cards so I rolled up next to the bed and he just laid on his side most of the time and played. It sure helps to pass the time for him. The time factor is so hard for him as you could imagine being in the same bed not moving out of the room except for surgeries for over 5 weeks! Time just drags!
When Mom called tonight for me to pick her up to come back to the hospital we went out to get a card game that she likes called Skip Bo to have something different for them to play. They usually stay up until 2AM playing cards. That is crazy to me but Don says he is slept out so he tries to stay up. This time they only stayed up until 1AM playing cards. This is another reason Mom is an angel!! I could never stay up that long playing cards. Well, at least until I get some sleep back from staying up for so long while Mom was gone.
I left for the night around 11PM and got a real good night of sleep.
Keep up the great prayers and we'll get another update off to you,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
This morning (Sunday) I was so out of it I had a very difficult time getting around and back to the hospital. I did not actually get over to pick Mom up until 11:30AM! I called and said we should just go get lunch while I was out with the van and then I would come up to the room. When she came down she said that it was a good thing I didn't come up any earlier because he got up around 5AM and wanted his teeth brushed and sat up for about 10 minutes and then he slept very soundly and did not even move at all until 10:30AM!! That's 5 1/2 hours straight!!!! Mom did not disturb him at all because he was positioned off of the wound and he was completely comfortable. She even left all the blinds closed in the room so he wouldn't be awakened by the light. What a blessing that was!
All in all it was a pretty uneventful day. Just turning him every couple of hours and keeping him fed, bathed and entertained are the biggies. I was going to get some of my emailing done but he wanted to play cards so I rolled up next to the bed and he just laid on his side most of the time and played. It sure helps to pass the time for him. The time factor is so hard for him as you could imagine being in the same bed not moving out of the room except for surgeries for over 5 weeks! Time just drags!
When Mom called tonight for me to pick her up to come back to the hospital we went out to get a card game that she likes called Skip Bo to have something different for them to play. They usually stay up until 2AM playing cards. That is crazy to me but Don says he is slept out so he tries to stay up. This time they only stayed up until 1AM playing cards. This is another reason Mom is an angel!! I could never stay up that long playing cards. Well, at least until I get some sleep back from staying up for so long while Mom was gone.
I left for the night around 11PM and got a real good night of sleep.
Keep up the great prayers and we'll get another update off to you,
Don and Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
October 23, 2011
Greetings Everyone,
To keep updated daily be sure to keep checking in everyday by clicking on this link:
http://schirrecovery.blogspot.com
This is a blogspot that my sister put together and when I don't have time to do emails she will still keep the daily updates going. ALSO, MANY OF YOU HAVE BEEN WRITING ASKING, "WHAT HAPPENED?" I WILL BE ADDING THAT INFORMATION TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED LINK AS WELL SO YOU CAN FIND OUT THOSE DETAILS.
I am so sorry that I have not sent an update since 10-17-2011 which was Surgery Day #5. That was a very, very stressful day for everyone and everything seemed to get worse from that time on. I did not want to write the things that were happening because they were so intense and stressful that I could hardly bare them. By Tuesday night I was in hysteria and literally crying because Donnie's pain got so bad because they cut one of his pain meds in 1/2 because he was now sewn up and they wanted to get him out of the hospital in 3 days. He was so terribly in pain that I could not stand it and was having a meltdown. I insisted that we either get a new doctor, second opinion, pain management team or all of the above. I called my Mom on Tuesday night to ask her what I could do and she knew I was in extreme distress and Donnie in pain and she was so far away and could not help. As a result my Mom texted me on Wednesday morning saying, "Will arrive at 11PM. Southwest please pick me up." I texted back, "Today?" and she responded, "Yes". I couldn't believe it. I had just flown her back to Florida on Saturday and here she was coming back in a handful of days. Well I was thrilled because I had not had a night's sleep or a decent meal since she left. I did not even turn the sheets down in my hotel room for all those days. I was absolutely beside myself because of Donnie's condition.
My "meltdown" also resulted in a Pain Management Team coming in with a PCA Pump that allows Donnie to administer his own pain meds as often as every 10 minutes if needed. He gets a constant drip that gives him at least 2 mg. of Dilaudid every hour and if he needs more he can get it at the push of a button and not wait for hours to get a single shot of it. What an answer to our cries!!!!!!!! They got the pump set up by 4PM on Wednesday. Within 20 minutes he was finally at a poit where he could stand the pain. By 7PM he was feeling much better and I got him all washed up and his hair washed and I actually used the blow dryer to dry it so it would be nice and fluffy. He wanted to be all spiffy for Mom coming back in at 11:30PM. He was so relieved and happy that she was coming back. He just feels so secure with her here and he was also worried about me breaking down with all the stress of his care on my shoulders. Mom was a little late at the airport but now much. I got her up to Don's room by 12:45AM and I got to bed about 1AM. I was sooooooo tired!! Donnie called me at 6:30AM because we had a phone interview with Social Security at 9AM that we had to be together for. I almost could not get out of the bed. I had to get up and get to the hospital again...I had no choice. Donnie mentioned that it was the best night he had had in 5 weeks! He actually slept for about 3 hours at one time!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you God for the Dilaudid PCA Pump!!!!!! He was so excited that he felt so much better just getting a few hours of consecutive sleep. The Physical Therapists came in bright and early around 8:30AM with a wheel chair and a special air pillow for his seat. They even had a special pair of pants for him to wear and they were going to get him out of the bed for the first time since the accident. What a giant step it was going to be. Well, the plastic surgeon came in and said he had to see the wound before they moved him. He looked at the wound and saw that it was not healing and the skin was dying. He said that Don had been lying on the wound too much and that he was going to have to go back to surgery again. He just cried when he heard this news. Also, the Physical Therapists were not allowed to move him into the chair. This was a huge blow and set back for us!!! After praying with my Mom and getting a grasp on the information Don decided that this is what he had to do and we would go on from here. He is so strong mentally and emotionally and he has a winning spirit! The Doctor also insisted on Don having a special air mattress made by Hill-Rom that takes all the pressure off of the pressure points. He simply said that Don would have that bed even though he would lose the trapeze portion of the bed and he would be ordered to turn every 2 hours from side to side and not lay on his back at all. He was very disappointed in this set back but said he would have to comply with his orders. Don just agonized about how much he was not going to like the bed because of the loss of the trapeze. It worried him so much but he knew he had to obey the doctor's orders. On Friday night about 11PM Hill-Rom came in to give him his new bed. Well Praise The Lord, they just switched out the mattress for him and not the whole bed!!!!!! He got to keep the trapeze after all!! That a miracle this was because even the doctor was told that they could not change out the mattress because these beds are rented as a whole unit and they just won't change out the mattress. Well, due to Donnie's case and issues the lady that ordered the bed for Dr. Sohn pulled some strings and got the mission accomplished!!!!!!!!!!! Don was almost moved to tears to think that God would care enough to answer his cry. What a testimony to God's favor and love! Instantly, when Don was transferred back on to this special air mattress he marveled at how comfortable it was and that his buttocks stopped hurting him right away! As a result, he slept for 5 hours straight! This is an absolute miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Today was the 6th surgery Don has had in exactly 5 weeks. Yes, 5 weeks ago today was when Don was air lifted here in the wee hours of the morning. Hard to believe, isn't it?
He got picked up today for surgery around 1PM and by 2PM he was in the operating room. About an hour and 20 minutes later Dr. Sohn met Mom and I in the Surgery Waiting Room and announced that the wound is still very healthy and it is now only about an inch deep. He was able to remove the dying skin and resew him up and he also removed the drain tube!!! This was another miracle!!!!!!!!! We were fully expecting that Don would have to have the wound vac reinstalled and then wait another 5-7 days and then go back to surgery again to close the wound. God is sooooo good! Since Don has his Dilaudid PCA Pump, he was able to stay ahead of the pain and so he rested very well after surgery. This evening he wanted to play Phase 10 again and so I played through a whole set of 10 Phases with him. Of course, I must mention that I barely beat him. Now he is watching his movie and it is time to go get Mom from the hotel.
That wraps it up for now and I thank you for your interest in Don's Recovery Story and we both thank you very much for all of your love and continued prayers. We could never make it without your love and prayers! This next week will prove to be very interesting as we very likely could be moving on to the next stage of recovery...rehab. Speaking of next week, Monday Don is scheduled to get another X-Ray of his pelvis and tailbone to see how they are healing. The order was for him to be 6 weeks without weight bearing but maybe it will be healed enough to only be off of it 5 weeks and we can get on to learning to walk again. Who knows? Just keep up those prayers.
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Carol Schirr, The Queen of Oils
To keep updated daily be sure to keep checking in everyday by clicking on this link:
http://schirrecovery.blogspot.com
This is a blogspot that my sister put together and when I don't have time to do emails she will still keep the daily updates going. ALSO, MANY OF YOU HAVE BEEN WRITING ASKING, "WHAT HAPPENED?" I WILL BE ADDING THAT INFORMATION TO THE ABOVE MENTIONED LINK AS WELL SO YOU CAN FIND OUT THOSE DETAILS.
I am so sorry that I have not sent an update since 10-17-2011 which was Surgery Day #5. That was a very, very stressful day for everyone and everything seemed to get worse from that time on. I did not want to write the things that were happening because they were so intense and stressful that I could hardly bare them. By Tuesday night I was in hysteria and literally crying because Donnie's pain got so bad because they cut one of his pain meds in 1/2 because he was now sewn up and they wanted to get him out of the hospital in 3 days. He was so terribly in pain that I could not stand it and was having a meltdown. I insisted that we either get a new doctor, second opinion, pain management team or all of the above. I called my Mom on Tuesday night to ask her what I could do and she knew I was in extreme distress and Donnie in pain and she was so far away and could not help. As a result my Mom texted me on Wednesday morning saying, "Will arrive at 11PM. Southwest please pick me up." I texted back, "Today?" and she responded, "Yes". I couldn't believe it. I had just flown her back to Florida on Saturday and here she was coming back in a handful of days. Well I was thrilled because I had not had a night's sleep or a decent meal since she left. I did not even turn the sheets down in my hotel room for all those days. I was absolutely beside myself because of Donnie's condition.
My "meltdown" also resulted in a Pain Management Team coming in with a PCA Pump that allows Donnie to administer his own pain meds as often as every 10 minutes if needed. He gets a constant drip that gives him at least 2 mg. of Dilaudid every hour and if he needs more he can get it at the push of a button and not wait for hours to get a single shot of it. What an answer to our cries!!!!!!!! They got the pump set up by 4PM on Wednesday. Within 20 minutes he was finally at a poit where he could stand the pain. By 7PM he was feeling much better and I got him all washed up and his hair washed and I actually used the blow dryer to dry it so it would be nice and fluffy. He wanted to be all spiffy for Mom coming back in at 11:30PM. He was so relieved and happy that she was coming back. He just feels so secure with her here and he was also worried about me breaking down with all the stress of his care on my shoulders. Mom was a little late at the airport but now much. I got her up to Don's room by 12:45AM and I got to bed about 1AM. I was sooooooo tired!! Donnie called me at 6:30AM because we had a phone interview with Social Security at 9AM that we had to be together for. I almost could not get out of the bed. I had to get up and get to the hospital again...I had no choice. Donnie mentioned that it was the best night he had had in 5 weeks! He actually slept for about 3 hours at one time!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you God for the Dilaudid PCA Pump!!!!!! He was so excited that he felt so much better just getting a few hours of consecutive sleep. The Physical Therapists came in bright and early around 8:30AM with a wheel chair and a special air pillow for his seat. They even had a special pair of pants for him to wear and they were going to get him out of the bed for the first time since the accident. What a giant step it was going to be. Well, the plastic surgeon came in and said he had to see the wound before they moved him. He looked at the wound and saw that it was not healing and the skin was dying. He said that Don had been lying on the wound too much and that he was going to have to go back to surgery again. He just cried when he heard this news. Also, the Physical Therapists were not allowed to move him into the chair. This was a huge blow and set back for us!!! After praying with my Mom and getting a grasp on the information Don decided that this is what he had to do and we would go on from here. He is so strong mentally and emotionally and he has a winning spirit! The Doctor also insisted on Don having a special air mattress made by Hill-Rom that takes all the pressure off of the pressure points. He simply said that Don would have that bed even though he would lose the trapeze portion of the bed and he would be ordered to turn every 2 hours from side to side and not lay on his back at all. He was very disappointed in this set back but said he would have to comply with his orders. Don just agonized about how much he was not going to like the bed because of the loss of the trapeze. It worried him so much but he knew he had to obey the doctor's orders. On Friday night about 11PM Hill-Rom came in to give him his new bed. Well Praise The Lord, they just switched out the mattress for him and not the whole bed!!!!!! He got to keep the trapeze after all!! That a miracle this was because even the doctor was told that they could not change out the mattress because these beds are rented as a whole unit and they just won't change out the mattress. Well, due to Donnie's case and issues the lady that ordered the bed for Dr. Sohn pulled some strings and got the mission accomplished!!!!!!!!!!! Don was almost moved to tears to think that God would care enough to answer his cry. What a testimony to God's favor and love! Instantly, when Don was transferred back on to this special air mattress he marveled at how comfortable it was and that his buttocks stopped hurting him right away! As a result, he slept for 5 hours straight! This is an absolute miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Today was the 6th surgery Don has had in exactly 5 weeks. Yes, 5 weeks ago today was when Don was air lifted here in the wee hours of the morning. Hard to believe, isn't it?
He got picked up today for surgery around 1PM and by 2PM he was in the operating room. About an hour and 20 minutes later Dr. Sohn met Mom and I in the Surgery Waiting Room and announced that the wound is still very healthy and it is now only about an inch deep. He was able to remove the dying skin and resew him up and he also removed the drain tube!!! This was another miracle!!!!!!!!! We were fully expecting that Don would have to have the wound vac reinstalled and then wait another 5-7 days and then go back to surgery again to close the wound. God is sooooo good! Since Don has his Dilaudid PCA Pump, he was able to stay ahead of the pain and so he rested very well after surgery. This evening he wanted to play Phase 10 again and so I played through a whole set of 10 Phases with him. Of course, I must mention that I barely beat him. Now he is watching his movie and it is time to go get Mom from the hotel.
That wraps it up for now and I thank you for your interest in Don's Recovery Story and we both thank you very much for all of your love and continued prayers. We could never make it without your love and prayers! This next week will prove to be very interesting as we very likely could be moving on to the next stage of recovery...rehab. Speaking of next week, Monday Don is scheduled to get another X-Ray of his pelvis and tailbone to see how they are healing. The order was for him to be 6 weeks without weight bearing but maybe it will be healed enough to only be off of it 5 weeks and we can get on to learning to walk again. Who knows? Just keep up those prayers.
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Carol Schirr, The Queen of Oils
Saturday, October 22, 2011
October 22, 2011
Hola Everyone,
This is Julie giving you a quick update on Carol's behalf. The last few days have been up and down for Carol and Donnie, and the good news to report is that Mama is back out in Vegas, lending her wonderful support that only she can give. It calms Donnie so to have her special care there in the wee hours of the morning and allows sweet Carol to rest and make all of those phone calls that only she can do at this point with insurance companies, Social Security, etc.
The other news to report that is not so good is that Donnie's wound is just not healing, and at 1:30 Pacific time today, Donnie will go back in for his 6th surgery since the accident. Please keep them all in your prayers and I will post another update for you this evening after we get a report from the doctor after surgery.
Thank you all so much for praying and sending your support, It means so much, and only in eternity will you truly know what a blessing you were to them because of your faithfulness.
Peace,
Julie
This is Julie giving you a quick update on Carol's behalf. The last few days have been up and down for Carol and Donnie, and the good news to report is that Mama is back out in Vegas, lending her wonderful support that only she can give. It calms Donnie so to have her special care there in the wee hours of the morning and allows sweet Carol to rest and make all of those phone calls that only she can do at this point with insurance companies, Social Security, etc.
The other news to report that is not so good is that Donnie's wound is just not healing, and at 1:30 Pacific time today, Donnie will go back in for his 6th surgery since the accident. Please keep them all in your prayers and I will post another update for you this evening after we get a report from the doctor after surgery.
Thank you all so much for praying and sending your support, It means so much, and only in eternity will you truly know what a blessing you were to them because of your faithfulness.
Peace,
Julie
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
October 17, 2011
Greetings!,
Last night I left the hospital about 9:30PM to get a couple of hours of rest before returning to the hospital by 3:15AM to help Donnie get ready for surgery. He usually has a rough time at night between 3AM-5AM so I wanted to be sure to be here incase he had issues. About 4AM here came the surges of pain. I am so glad I was here to help massage his legs and help him get up on the side of the bed. We got the pain meds and I got his personal hygiene going and finished in no time. He got a little snooze in but not very long. They started prepping him for surgery about 5:45AM and just about 3 minutes before the operating room people came to get him he hit a pain threshold that was so strong I have never seen it so bad yet. He was hanging on the bar above his bed and almost screaming for pain meds. The Pain Specialist came running in the room and quickly gave him a shot of Dilaudid. Within about 4 minutes he came down off of that threshold. That was terrible!!! Off to surgery we went. Surgery was a huge success according to Dr. Sohn, the plastic surgeon. He was able to get the wound closed and took off the wound vac and just put in a drain instead. They had to put a new hole in his left buttocks off to the side so he was complaining of pain there. I guess the ends justifies the means in this case. Don has had some real bad pain today but he expected it. They did give him some pain meds in the recovery room but not a whole lot. At least he wasn't dying for the first hour like before.
Of all days, today was the day I had to move all our stuff from one hotel room to another to save $20.00 per day on the charges. Since Mom and Julie are gone I just need one bed so I chose to move even though it was a pain. I still have quite a bit of Don's personal belongings that we recovered from the accident plus Julie had brought a lot of my things from all three of our places that I was going to bring out for the Winter. It was a ton of stuff and it took me over an hour to get the job done. All in all I was gone about 3 hours because I was waiting for a call from Social Security Disability and they were over an hour late calling me. Donnie called once to see where I was and he was in a lot of pain. I was just getting the last couple loads of stuff moved when he called. I hurried back up here but he was fast asleep. He woke up about 20 minutes after I returned. I didn't even take time to eat lunch so I could get back here as quick as possible.
I gave him a whole capsule of Valerian and a whole capsule of Vetiver to help him sleep. It worked for a 3 hour nap!! I was so excited. The nurses were so good about not waking him up for vitals or other things when they saw him sleeping. They just came back when he was awake. I decided around 5PM to sneak out to get a sandwich since I hadn't eaten anything but breakfast. I left Donnie a note to tell him I was gone and he was still asleep when I returned!!! His supper was here right beside him and he didn't know about it so it got pretty cold. He said he didn't have a very good appetite so he just ate a few bites and sent the rest back. I gave him another whole capsule of Valerian and Vetiver and he is sleeping once again. I plan on giving him this protocal on top of the meds because they don't seem to change his pain meds or up the dosage no matter how much we ask so this is the natural alternative for pain and sleep. It seems to be working so I am using it and they don't stop me from anything natural here. They almost encourage it so that is wonderful.
Well, I am exhausted from no sleep and a very stressful day.
We am signing off for tonight so we'll talk to you tomorrow,
Don and Carol
Last night I left the hospital about 9:30PM to get a couple of hours of rest before returning to the hospital by 3:15AM to help Donnie get ready for surgery. He usually has a rough time at night between 3AM-5AM so I wanted to be sure to be here incase he had issues. About 4AM here came the surges of pain. I am so glad I was here to help massage his legs and help him get up on the side of the bed. We got the pain meds and I got his personal hygiene going and finished in no time. He got a little snooze in but not very long. They started prepping him for surgery about 5:45AM and just about 3 minutes before the operating room people came to get him he hit a pain threshold that was so strong I have never seen it so bad yet. He was hanging on the bar above his bed and almost screaming for pain meds. The Pain Specialist came running in the room and quickly gave him a shot of Dilaudid. Within about 4 minutes he came down off of that threshold. That was terrible!!! Off to surgery we went. Surgery was a huge success according to Dr. Sohn, the plastic surgeon. He was able to get the wound closed and took off the wound vac and just put in a drain instead. They had to put a new hole in his left buttocks off to the side so he was complaining of pain there. I guess the ends justifies the means in this case. Don has had some real bad pain today but he expected it. They did give him some pain meds in the recovery room but not a whole lot. At least he wasn't dying for the first hour like before.
Of all days, today was the day I had to move all our stuff from one hotel room to another to save $20.00 per day on the charges. Since Mom and Julie are gone I just need one bed so I chose to move even though it was a pain. I still have quite a bit of Don's personal belongings that we recovered from the accident plus Julie had brought a lot of my things from all three of our places that I was going to bring out for the Winter. It was a ton of stuff and it took me over an hour to get the job done. All in all I was gone about 3 hours because I was waiting for a call from Social Security Disability and they were over an hour late calling me. Donnie called once to see where I was and he was in a lot of pain. I was just getting the last couple loads of stuff moved when he called. I hurried back up here but he was fast asleep. He woke up about 20 minutes after I returned. I didn't even take time to eat lunch so I could get back here as quick as possible.
I gave him a whole capsule of Valerian and a whole capsule of Vetiver to help him sleep. It worked for a 3 hour nap!! I was so excited. The nurses were so good about not waking him up for vitals or other things when they saw him sleeping. They just came back when he was awake. I decided around 5PM to sneak out to get a sandwich since I hadn't eaten anything but breakfast. I left Donnie a note to tell him I was gone and he was still asleep when I returned!!! His supper was here right beside him and he didn't know about it so it got pretty cold. He said he didn't have a very good appetite so he just ate a few bites and sent the rest back. I gave him another whole capsule of Valerian and Vetiver and he is sleeping once again. I plan on giving him this protocal on top of the meds because they don't seem to change his pain meds or up the dosage no matter how much we ask so this is the natural alternative for pain and sleep. It seems to be working so I am using it and they don't stop me from anything natural here. They almost encourage it so that is wonderful.
Well, I am exhausted from no sleep and a very stressful day.
We am signing off for tonight so we'll talk to you tomorrow,
Don and Carol
Monday, October 17, 2011
October 16, 2011
Hello Again,
Well, last night was our first night without Mom. After dropping her off at the airport around 6:30AM I just stayed at the hospital not leaving at all for about 27 hours straight. I had gotten the timer for Don so he was able to keep up with his pain meds better which helped. I had to get up about 3 times for a while to rub his aching legs, get him up on the side of the bed and help him get comfortable but all in all it was a pretty good night. I left around 9AM to go get a little rest, eat and get showered and back by Noon. Don struggled with pain quite a bit during the day today and finally asked for the muscle relaxer in addition to his pain meds about 3PM. After he got that he fell asleep for quite a while. In fact, we both slept quite well from 3PM till 5PM. It felt really good and we weren't disturbed by staff either.
Surgery is scheduled for 7AM tomorrow morning so I plan on going to the hotel tonight from 9PM-3AM so I can get in here refreshed enough to get him oiled up and ready for surgery. They usually come pick him up at 6AM for the 7AM surgery. We are hoping for the plastic surgery to accomplish a closure of the wound and the removal of the wound vac and just have a simple drain tube for a while. That would be a giant step in the right direction, for sure. However, this plastic surgeon is one of the best and he will not make any unnecessary hasty moves. He will only close it if he feels it is time...the best time.
Pray for me as I am here alone during this critical time. I feel your prayers lifting me up and strengthening me already.
I'll try to give you a mid-day report on how things are tomorrow.
Love you all,
Don and Carol
Well, last night was our first night without Mom. After dropping her off at the airport around 6:30AM I just stayed at the hospital not leaving at all for about 27 hours straight. I had gotten the timer for Don so he was able to keep up with his pain meds better which helped. I had to get up about 3 times for a while to rub his aching legs, get him up on the side of the bed and help him get comfortable but all in all it was a pretty good night. I left around 9AM to go get a little rest, eat and get showered and back by Noon. Don struggled with pain quite a bit during the day today and finally asked for the muscle relaxer in addition to his pain meds about 3PM. After he got that he fell asleep for quite a while. In fact, we both slept quite well from 3PM till 5PM. It felt really good and we weren't disturbed by staff either.
Surgery is scheduled for 7AM tomorrow morning so I plan on going to the hotel tonight from 9PM-3AM so I can get in here refreshed enough to get him oiled up and ready for surgery. They usually come pick him up at 6AM for the 7AM surgery. We are hoping for the plastic surgery to accomplish a closure of the wound and the removal of the wound vac and just have a simple drain tube for a while. That would be a giant step in the right direction, for sure. However, this plastic surgeon is one of the best and he will not make any unnecessary hasty moves. He will only close it if he feels it is time...the best time.
Pray for me as I am here alone during this critical time. I feel your prayers lifting me up and strengthening me already.
I'll try to give you a mid-day report on how things are tomorrow.
Love you all,
Don and Carol
October 15, 2011
Hello Praying Friends,
Today we have some GREAT NEWS!
Donnie's words about his day today at about 3:00PM were, "Today I had a wonderful day!". Those are encouraging words and we are going to hold on to them. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to uphold us like never before! We depend on it!
Last night was a very, very challenging night for Mom and Don. His pain got totally out of control and by 3AM he was demanding that something be done because he could not stand it any longer. Mom was totally working herself to death trying to make him comfortable but nothing was working. We think that because sometimes he is sleeping at a time when he should be asking for pain meds that they don't wake him up to administer them to him and then the pain gets behind the meds and for about 4-5 hours he suffers beyond imagination. The staff isn't allowed to just give pain meds on a schedule because of some rule so as a result I went to the store and bought him a timer that goes over 9 hours and we just set it for 4 hours every time he gets a Lortab so it will wake him up if needed. Hopefully tonight we can avoid the valley of pain by keeping the dosage in his system. The other thing that helped immensely is that they added Neurotin, a drug specifically for nerve damage, to his AM medications which seems to have taken a lot of his pain down. He slept quite well today off an on which is a good sign. He is in good spirits and is determined to fight this thing.
This morning I had to get up at 5AM so I could pick Mom up at the hospital and be on the road by 6AM to get her to the airport. I just jumped in my clothes and was up in Don's room by 5:20AM. They were just starting to get Don's pain to come down. He was sitting up on the side of the bed when I arrived. Mom and I fussed around with him and changed the bedding because the wound vac had a huge hole rubbed in it and was leaking out on the bed. After we got him settled he got some more Dilaudid and drifted off to sleep. So when Mom and I left at 6AM he was fast asleep.
The wound vac was scheduled to be totally redone this morning so that worked out great. They changed it out in record time today once they got here. The very encouraging news from the wound vac nurse was when Don asked if he thought they would be able to close the wound on Monday and he said emphatically, "Yes"! So with that vote of confidence from his point of view, we were greatly encouraged about Monday's outcome from surgery.
Today marks exactly 4 weeks since Don arrived here after the accident. Mom, Julie and I arrived at the hospital almost exactly at this time four Saturdays ago. We have covered a lot of ground and have made wonderful progress. Our journey is not over but we are glad to have as much of the path behind us. Please pray for mercy from God on Donnie. Tonight around 6PM his pain started kicking up again and he just begins to sweat something fierce. I believe that on an unconscious level he remembers that it was just after supper in the evening around 7PM that he turned the wheel over to David and then a couple of hours later he went to bed in the sleeper and then the accident happened. His brain remembers this and unconsciously he must have some fear that something bad will happen to him if he goes to sleep too deeply. Also, the memory in his cells is trauma and pain. I am going to work on finding out what we can do with prayers, essential oils and energy work to unlock the trauma in the DNA of his cells. I had a very good prayer session with him just after 6:30PM tonight and it seemed to have a very powerful effect on his pain. He just finished watching the Nascar race on TV and he is resting quietly. I have a comedy movie in the DVD player for a little later to get him laughing and get his mind off of being in the bed.
Today we finished his 500 piece puzzle which was a fun thing. Of course, I did most of it but he did quite a bit too considering he can only sit up for a short time. I did let him put in the last piece though which made him feel like he accomplished a lot.
I have not left the hospital at all today and I am going to stay through the night. I did get a nap from 4PM-6PM which has really refreshed me. Hopefully tonight will be a great night of rest for Don and I will be able to sleep for a few hours at a time. Again, we depend on your consistent and constant prayers every minute of the day.
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr
Today we have some GREAT NEWS!
Donnie's words about his day today at about 3:00PM were, "Today I had a wonderful day!". Those are encouraging words and we are going to hold on to them. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to uphold us like never before! We depend on it!
Last night was a very, very challenging night for Mom and Don. His pain got totally out of control and by 3AM he was demanding that something be done because he could not stand it any longer. Mom was totally working herself to death trying to make him comfortable but nothing was working. We think that because sometimes he is sleeping at a time when he should be asking for pain meds that they don't wake him up to administer them to him and then the pain gets behind the meds and for about 4-5 hours he suffers beyond imagination. The staff isn't allowed to just give pain meds on a schedule because of some rule so as a result I went to the store and bought him a timer that goes over 9 hours and we just set it for 4 hours every time he gets a Lortab so it will wake him up if needed. Hopefully tonight we can avoid the valley of pain by keeping the dosage in his system. The other thing that helped immensely is that they added Neurotin, a drug specifically for nerve damage, to his AM medications which seems to have taken a lot of his pain down. He slept quite well today off an on which is a good sign. He is in good spirits and is determined to fight this thing.
This morning I had to get up at 5AM so I could pick Mom up at the hospital and be on the road by 6AM to get her to the airport. I just jumped in my clothes and was up in Don's room by 5:20AM. They were just starting to get Don's pain to come down. He was sitting up on the side of the bed when I arrived. Mom and I fussed around with him and changed the bedding because the wound vac had a huge hole rubbed in it and was leaking out on the bed. After we got him settled he got some more Dilaudid and drifted off to sleep. So when Mom and I left at 6AM he was fast asleep.
The wound vac was scheduled to be totally redone this morning so that worked out great. They changed it out in record time today once they got here. The very encouraging news from the wound vac nurse was when Don asked if he thought they would be able to close the wound on Monday and he said emphatically, "Yes"! So with that vote of confidence from his point of view, we were greatly encouraged about Monday's outcome from surgery.
Today marks exactly 4 weeks since Don arrived here after the accident. Mom, Julie and I arrived at the hospital almost exactly at this time four Saturdays ago. We have covered a lot of ground and have made wonderful progress. Our journey is not over but we are glad to have as much of the path behind us. Please pray for mercy from God on Donnie. Tonight around 6PM his pain started kicking up again and he just begins to sweat something fierce. I believe that on an unconscious level he remembers that it was just after supper in the evening around 7PM that he turned the wheel over to David and then a couple of hours later he went to bed in the sleeper and then the accident happened. His brain remembers this and unconsciously he must have some fear that something bad will happen to him if he goes to sleep too deeply. Also, the memory in his cells is trauma and pain. I am going to work on finding out what we can do with prayers, essential oils and energy work to unlock the trauma in the DNA of his cells. I had a very good prayer session with him just after 6:30PM tonight and it seemed to have a very powerful effect on his pain. He just finished watching the Nascar race on TV and he is resting quietly. I have a comedy movie in the DVD player for a little later to get him laughing and get his mind off of being in the bed.
Today we finished his 500 piece puzzle which was a fun thing. Of course, I did most of it but he did quite a bit too considering he can only sit up for a short time. I did let him put in the last piece though which made him feel like he accomplished a lot.
I have not left the hospital at all today and I am going to stay through the night. I did get a nap from 4PM-6PM which has really refreshed me. Hopefully tonight will be a great night of rest for Don and I will be able to sleep for a few hours at a time. Again, we depend on your consistent and constant prayers every minute of the day.
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr
Saturday, October 15, 2011
October 14, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Last night was rough again. Donnie just cannot sleep! We think it is because of the nerve disruption from the wound that is causing so much pain. He says he has a little pain from the wound itself but it is not excruciating and he can live with it, but the leg pain is unbearable! Mom does all she can to massage and put oils on him and reposition everything but there is only so much you can do. He didn't feel the greatest today for the most part but he did sleep some which helps. He did a little bit of puzzling and one time he stayed up a little too long and got some terrible pain in his back. He had to call for extra pain meds and I gave him a whole capsule of Valerian to try to cope with the pain. His parents called around 4PM but he was in so much pain he couldn't even talk with him. I hated that for him because he knows they worry and when he couldn't even talk on the phone with them I know it made them worry. After he got settled down with the pain and rested a little he did call his parents back for a little bit.
Dr. Sohn came in this morning and said that we are scheduled for surgery again on Monday to try to close the wound. He sounds pretty confident that he will be able to accomplish this during the next surgery. Please pray hard that he can so we can graduate up from the wound vac to just a drain. This will make it so much easier on Donnie and he will have so much more mobility.
I took Mom out to the Olive Garden tonight because it is the last night she will be here. We are both going to miss her deeply but know she must get on with her own life. So tonight will be Donnie's last night with her. I will be here at 6AM to pick her up to go to the airport. Oh how we will miss her!!!!!!! She has been such a help in so many ways we cannot even count them! We are so lucky to have a Mom that cares so much, is so loving and giving and is so skilled at nursing!
Donnie and Mom are both crashed out here as I write this update. I will sign off for now and go get some rest myself.
Thanks for your awesome prayers, love and support! Many have sent cards, oils, care packages and emails with tons of support. We appreciate them all and we thank you for being there for us in so many ways.
With grateful hearts and love,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night was rough again. Donnie just cannot sleep! We think it is because of the nerve disruption from the wound that is causing so much pain. He says he has a little pain from the wound itself but it is not excruciating and he can live with it, but the leg pain is unbearable! Mom does all she can to massage and put oils on him and reposition everything but there is only so much you can do. He didn't feel the greatest today for the most part but he did sleep some which helps. He did a little bit of puzzling and one time he stayed up a little too long and got some terrible pain in his back. He had to call for extra pain meds and I gave him a whole capsule of Valerian to try to cope with the pain. His parents called around 4PM but he was in so much pain he couldn't even talk with him. I hated that for him because he knows they worry and when he couldn't even talk on the phone with them I know it made them worry. After he got settled down with the pain and rested a little he did call his parents back for a little bit.
Dr. Sohn came in this morning and said that we are scheduled for surgery again on Monday to try to close the wound. He sounds pretty confident that he will be able to accomplish this during the next surgery. Please pray hard that he can so we can graduate up from the wound vac to just a drain. This will make it so much easier on Donnie and he will have so much more mobility.
I took Mom out to the Olive Garden tonight because it is the last night she will be here. We are both going to miss her deeply but know she must get on with her own life. So tonight will be Donnie's last night with her. I will be here at 6AM to pick her up to go to the airport. Oh how we will miss her!!!!!!! She has been such a help in so many ways we cannot even count them! We are so lucky to have a Mom that cares so much, is so loving and giving and is so skilled at nursing!
Donnie and Mom are both crashed out here as I write this update. I will sign off for now and go get some rest myself.
Thanks for your awesome prayers, love and support! Many have sent cards, oils, care packages and emails with tons of support. We appreciate them all and we thank you for being there for us in so many ways.
With grateful hearts and love,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
October 14
Hello,
I apologize for not getting an update out yesterday. So much going on and so busy that it is very late at night before I get to the updates.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Nights are very long for Don as the pain really starts kicking up around 8PM usually. The good news is that he is getting up on the side of the bed by himself now. He is really wanting to be independent but we caution him on not being crazy and doing something to compromise his progress. Yesterday Mom and I went to see the rehabilitation place called Life Care and on the way out of the hospital we happened to stop on the 3rd floor just below us now and it is a rehabilitation floor!!!!!! It is really nice and we talked about it on the way to Life Care. We really feel it would be wise if we could stay here at Sunrise Medical Center for the rehabilitation part of his care because all the staff would remain the same and the Physical Therapists that work with him now are also our Wound Vac Specialists so we could just continue on with those that know him and the severity of his wounds. Also, if anything would need additional attention all of our surgeons that know his case would be right here and we wouldn't have to start over with all new people. The only hitch is that if the checklist of 10 different criteria fit Blue Cross/ Blue Shield's requirements then we could stay here. We do not know what all of those 10 things are but please put it on your prayer lists that this would be worked out so we would not have to move to a new side of town and experience a whole new staff that is not always there.
Last week Don had asked Mom and I if we could pick up a puzzle or two so he could do something to pass the time since time is going so slow for him here. We picked them up but they were just sitting here until yesterday. We got one of the tables set up with the puzzle and started working on it. However, the table was not big enough and we couldn't get the whole puzzle framing to fit. We worked on it for a while but just before dark Don asked me to go buy a card table so he could work on it easier. So I took off and got it for him and it has worked out beautifully. When he gets to having those bad pains in his legs and feet he just sits up on the side of the bed and works the puzzle a little while he is up. We have over 1/2 of it done already. Now we are just to the hard parts. It sure helps Mom and I too to have something to get our minds off of everything.
The Wound Vac Team came in and changed out the wound vac again today. The output is so much clearer now with so much less blood. This is a great sign of things healing up!
Around 10PM a new bed was brought in because of his discomfort and to lessen the pressure he is getting from only being able to be on his right side most of the time. They had the same trapeze put on it which made him so happy. This is a bed with a special mattress made by Tempurpedic and Don just loves it. He said it made a huge difference in his comfort. I did not know it but he said that he felt like he was sitting in a hole. No wonder he was uncomfortable.
I stayed up here working on the puzzle until about midnight. Don was up when I left and he always wants me to call when I get over to the hotel. He worries so about Mom and I being safe.
I apologize for not getting an update out yesterday. So much going on and so busy that it is very late at night before I get to the updates.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Nights are very long for Don as the pain really starts kicking up around 8PM usually. The good news is that he is getting up on the side of the bed by himself now. He is really wanting to be independent but we caution him on not being crazy and doing something to compromise his progress. Yesterday Mom and I went to see the rehabilitation place called Life Care and on the way out of the hospital we happened to stop on the 3rd floor just below us now and it is a rehabilitation floor!!!!!! It is really nice and we talked about it on the way to Life Care. We really feel it would be wise if we could stay here at Sunrise Medical Center for the rehabilitation part of his care because all the staff would remain the same and the Physical Therapists that work with him now are also our Wound Vac Specialists so we could just continue on with those that know him and the severity of his wounds. Also, if anything would need additional attention all of our surgeons that know his case would be right here and we wouldn't have to start over with all new people. The only hitch is that if the checklist of 10 different criteria fit Blue Cross/ Blue Shield's requirements then we could stay here. We do not know what all of those 10 things are but please put it on your prayer lists that this would be worked out so we would not have to move to a new side of town and experience a whole new staff that is not always there.
Last week Don had asked Mom and I if we could pick up a puzzle or two so he could do something to pass the time since time is going so slow for him here. We picked them up but they were just sitting here until yesterday. We got one of the tables set up with the puzzle and started working on it. However, the table was not big enough and we couldn't get the whole puzzle framing to fit. We worked on it for a while but just before dark Don asked me to go buy a card table so he could work on it easier. So I took off and got it for him and it has worked out beautifully. When he gets to having those bad pains in his legs and feet he just sits up on the side of the bed and works the puzzle a little while he is up. We have over 1/2 of it done already. Now we are just to the hard parts. It sure helps Mom and I too to have something to get our minds off of everything.
The Wound Vac Team came in and changed out the wound vac again today. The output is so much clearer now with so much less blood. This is a great sign of things healing up!
Around 10PM a new bed was brought in because of his discomfort and to lessen the pressure he is getting from only being able to be on his right side most of the time. They had the same trapeze put on it which made him so happy. This is a bed with a special mattress made by Tempurpedic and Don just loves it. He said it made a huge difference in his comfort. I did not know it but he said that he felt like he was sitting in a hole. No wonder he was uncomfortable.
I stayed up here working on the puzzle until about midnight. Don was up when I left and he always wants me to call when I get over to the hotel. He worries so about Mom and I being safe.
October 13, 2011
Hello,
I apologize for not getting an update out yesterday. So much going on and so busy that it is very late at night before I get to the updates.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Nights are very long for Don as the pain really starts kicking up around 8PM usually. The good news is that he is getting up on the side of the bed by himself now. He is really wanting to be independent but we caution him on not being crazy and doing something to compromise his progress. Yesterday Mom and I went to see the rehabilitation place called Life Care and on the way out of the hospital we happened to stop on the 3rd floor just below us now and it is a rehabilitation floor!!!!!! It is really nice and we talked about it on the way to Life Care. We really feel it would be wise if we could stay here at Sunrise Medical Center for the rehabilitation part of his care because all the staff would remain the same and the Physical Therapists that work with him now are also our Wound Vac Specialists so we could just continue on with those that know him and the severity of his wounds. Also, if anything would need additional attention all of our surgeons that know his case would be right here and we wouldn't have to start over with all new people. The only hitch is that if the checklist of 10 different criteria fit Blue Cross/ Blue Shield's requirements then we could stay here. We do not know what all of those 10 things are but please put it on your prayer lists that this would be worked out so we would not have to move to a new side of town and experience a whole new staff that is not always there.
Last week Don had asked Mom and I if we could pick up a puzzle or two so he could do something to pass the time since time is going so slow for him here. We picked them up but they were just sitting here until yesterday. We got one of the tables set up with the puzzle and started working on it. However, the table was not big enough and we couldn't get the whole puzzle framing to fit. We worked on it for a while but just before dark Don asked me to go buy a card table so he could work on it easier. So I took off and got it for him and it has worked out beautifully. When he gets to having those bad pains in his legs and feet he just sits up on the side of the bed and works the puzzle a little while he is up. We have over 1/2 of it done already. Now we are just to the hard parts. It sure helps Mom and I too to have something to get our minds off of everything.
The Wound Vac Team came in and changed out the wound vac again today. The output is so much clearer now with so much less blood. This is a great sign of things healing up!
Around 10PM a new bed was brought in because of his discomfort and to lessen the pressure he is getting from only being able to be on his right side most of the time. They had the same trapeze put on it which made him so happy. This is a bed with a special mattress made by Tempurpedic and Don just loves it. He said it made a huge difference in his comfort. I did not know it but he said that he felt like he was sitting in a hole. No wonder he was uncomfortable.
I stayed up here working on the puzzle until about midnight. Don was up when I left and he always wants me to call when I get over to the hotel. He worries so about Mom and I being safe.
I apologize for not getting an update out yesterday. So much going on and so busy that it is very late at night before I get to the updates.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Nights are very long for Don as the pain really starts kicking up around 8PM usually. The good news is that he is getting up on the side of the bed by himself now. He is really wanting to be independent but we caution him on not being crazy and doing something to compromise his progress. Yesterday Mom and I went to see the rehabilitation place called Life Care and on the way out of the hospital we happened to stop on the 3rd floor just below us now and it is a rehabilitation floor!!!!!! It is really nice and we talked about it on the way to Life Care. We really feel it would be wise if we could stay here at Sunrise Medical Center for the rehabilitation part of his care because all the staff would remain the same and the Physical Therapists that work with him now are also our Wound Vac Specialists so we could just continue on with those that know him and the severity of his wounds. Also, if anything would need additional attention all of our surgeons that know his case would be right here and we wouldn't have to start over with all new people. The only hitch is that if the checklist of 10 different criteria fit Blue Cross/ Blue Shield's requirements then we could stay here. We do not know what all of those 10 things are but please put it on your prayer lists that this would be worked out so we would not have to move to a new side of town and experience a whole new staff that is not always there.
Last week Don had asked Mom and I if we could pick up a puzzle or two so he could do something to pass the time since time is going so slow for him here. We picked them up but they were just sitting here until yesterday. We got one of the tables set up with the puzzle and started working on it. However, the table was not big enough and we couldn't get the whole puzzle framing to fit. We worked on it for a while but just before dark Don asked me to go buy a card table so he could work on it easier. So I took off and got it for him and it has worked out beautifully. When he gets to having those bad pains in his legs and feet he just sits up on the side of the bed and works the puzzle a little while he is up. We have over 1/2 of it done already. Now we are just to the hard parts. It sure helps Mom and I too to have something to get our minds off of everything.
The Wound Vac Team came in and changed out the wound vac again today. The output is so much clearer now with so much less blood. This is a great sign of things healing up!
Around 10PM a new bed was brought in because of his discomfort and to lessen the pressure he is getting from only being able to be on his right side most of the time. They had the same trapeze put on it which made him so happy. This is a bed with a special mattress made by Tempurpedic and Don just loves it. He said it made a huge difference in his comfort. I did not know it but he said that he felt like he was sitting in a hole. No wonder he was uncomfortable.
I stayed up here working on the puzzle until about midnight. Don was up when I left and he always wants me to call when I get over to the hotel. He worries so about Mom and I being safe.
october 12, 2011
Greetings,
Last night Don actually fell as asleep at 9PM and slept until 11PM. He usually tries to stay up until midnight until they get his vitals read but since he had such a traumatic day with surgery and trying to play catch up with the pain medications he just got worn out. He is learning that when his feet and legs hurt if he just sits up on the side of the bed and swings his feet and rubs the bottoms of them on the table support he can get the circulation going in them and it helps the pain relieved some. He got up three different times in the night to sit up so Mom gets up to help him. All in all he slept a pretty well and felt pretty good most of the day. About 2:30PM he started to feel quite nauseated. That lasted until about 7PM and then it seemed to lift. He has been watching TV and drifting in and out of sleep.
I got real sleepy about 6:30PM so I crashed on the bed in the hospital room while Don and my Mom watched a baseball game between the Tigers and Rangers that went into extra innings. If you all were watching you know that the Tigers lost...not good news for those of us who were born in Michigan. Better luck next time.
The case worker for Don stopped by today with a few choices we might have down the road with Don. Once we can get him up in a wheel chair he will most likely have to go to a "skilled care facility" where he would be a resident until he could be able to go home. That was a fancy way of saying he will have to be in a nursing home situation on the rehab wing. Don did NOT like the sound of that, but it is only temporary. At least that is what I keep reminding him of. She mentioned that he would probably have to transfer to a facility here because the transportation in a medic van is not covered by insurance and we would have to pay for that. Well, that would be a very high price and we are not willing to pay for that so I am most likely going to have to look for an apartment to rent temporarily instead of the hotel situation so I can lower my expenses. We are figuring we will have to be here another 6-8 weeks before we could consider driving him home in my van. The hang up for getting him in a wheel chair is going to be two-fold: 1) His level of healing with the stitching of his hide back on to the muscle and not tearing it by being transferred to the wheel chair and 2) The amount of time he is going to be able to tolerate sitting without getting severe pain. The plastic surgeon has to give us the decision on the first issue and the orthopedic surgeon on the second issue. The case worker mentioned that Don is on a NO WEIGHT BEARING RESTRICTION for 6 weeks and as of Saturday he will have 4 weeks in. Next week he has the 5th surgery to see if the wound can be closed and then he can have a week to heal from that and we will be on the 6th week.
We are believing that the bones are healing on their own and that no surgery will be needed to fix anything with the bones at all. Please join together with us in prayer on this.
I am headed back to the hotel to get some real sleep. Mom is well rested and ready to take on the night shift. God bless her soul! Keep us in your prayers and pray that Don can heal in an extra special, fast way.
Love to you all, Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night Don actually fell as asleep at 9PM and slept until 11PM. He usually tries to stay up until midnight until they get his vitals read but since he had such a traumatic day with surgery and trying to play catch up with the pain medications he just got worn out. He is learning that when his feet and legs hurt if he just sits up on the side of the bed and swings his feet and rubs the bottoms of them on the table support he can get the circulation going in them and it helps the pain relieved some. He got up three different times in the night to sit up so Mom gets up to help him. All in all he slept a pretty well and felt pretty good most of the day. About 2:30PM he started to feel quite nauseated. That lasted until about 7PM and then it seemed to lift. He has been watching TV and drifting in and out of sleep.
I got real sleepy about 6:30PM so I crashed on the bed in the hospital room while Don and my Mom watched a baseball game between the Tigers and Rangers that went into extra innings. If you all were watching you know that the Tigers lost...not good news for those of us who were born in Michigan. Better luck next time.
The case worker for Don stopped by today with a few choices we might have down the road with Don. Once we can get him up in a wheel chair he will most likely have to go to a "skilled care facility" where he would be a resident until he could be able to go home. That was a fancy way of saying he will have to be in a nursing home situation on the rehab wing. Don did NOT like the sound of that, but it is only temporary. At least that is what I keep reminding him of. She mentioned that he would probably have to transfer to a facility here because the transportation in a medic van is not covered by insurance and we would have to pay for that. Well, that would be a very high price and we are not willing to pay for that so I am most likely going to have to look for an apartment to rent temporarily instead of the hotel situation so I can lower my expenses. We are figuring we will have to be here another 6-8 weeks before we could consider driving him home in my van. The hang up for getting him in a wheel chair is going to be two-fold: 1) His level of healing with the stitching of his hide back on to the muscle and not tearing it by being transferred to the wheel chair and 2) The amount of time he is going to be able to tolerate sitting without getting severe pain. The plastic surgeon has to give us the decision on the first issue and the orthopedic surgeon on the second issue. The case worker mentioned that Don is on a NO WEIGHT BEARING RESTRICTION for 6 weeks and as of Saturday he will have 4 weeks in. Next week he has the 5th surgery to see if the wound can be closed and then he can have a week to heal from that and we will be on the 6th week.
We are believing that the bones are healing on their own and that no surgery will be needed to fix anything with the bones at all. Please join together with us in prayer on this.
I am headed back to the hotel to get some real sleep. Mom is well rested and ready to take on the night shift. God bless her soul! Keep us in your prayers and pray that Don can heal in an extra special, fast way.
Love to you all, Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
October 11,2011
Good Evening!,
Don awoke around 4AM with terrible pain. My Mom massaged his legs a lot and got the nurse getting some pain meds in him. Of course they could only give him meds that would be put in the IV because of it being surgery day he was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. I arrived at 5:20AM and Mom and Don were both sleeping. Mom had already gotten him washed up and his teeth brushed earlier so he was ready to go to surgery. We had the nurse give him his 3mg. of Dilaudid so he would be more comfortable and not so agitated. I also did the usual essential oil pre-surgery protocol and also put Peace & Calming with Idaho Balsam Fir on him for added comfort. It all worked beautifully. By 6:05AM they came to get him for surgery.
He was only in surgery less than an hour and the doctor said that his wound looked clean and the stitches he put in at the last surgery were holding well. He still has about 8 cm undermining left to heal up before he can consider closing the wound. He estimates another 5-7 days more and then he will go in for another surgery to attempt closing the wound.
Again, after surgery when Donnie got to his room he was in terrible pain. We finally discovered that he has to tell the recovery room that he has some level of pain even if he really doesn't because it gets away from him in a matter of minutes when he returns to his room. Then because it is at the time of a shift change and the new orders are not available yet for the drugs and they have to hook his bed and vital sign machines up it takes about an hour before they give him anything for pain. As a result we all had about 5 hours of pure hell to live through.
I didn't really appreciate the new nurse today from the start and I truly hated her attitude of "power" and trying to change things and at the same time not giving Donnie anything for pain. My Mom and I and her almost got into it at one point but we finally came to an agreement and Donnie made the final decision to take his previous meds since the Doctor that needed to be consulted for new meds was in the operating room. My patience is running very thin today and I am not handling the stress very well anymore. I think I am going to go home early today to try to distress somehow.
We are flying Mom back home on Saturday morning so pray that Donnie shows huge signs of improvement by then. If he still needs a lot of extra help we will have to come up with a Plan B for help. We thank Mom for her fabulous help and the awesome care she has given Donnie for four complete weeks! What a sacrifice she has made in so many ways!
Today our friend Pat Fowler finished the new steps, landing and ramp on our home in Mesa, Arizona. He sent a picture from his phone and it looks absolutely fabulous!!!!! Now, all we need to do is get Donnie well enough to go home and everything should be set in place. God has truly worked many miracles in this situation so far and we are so humbled and grateful to each and every person that has listened to God's voice and coming to our aid! God knows we could not do this on our own, it is definitely a team effort.
Donnie's legs really hurt him and even though he had surgery today he still forced himself to sit up on the side of the bed twice. He really wanted his hair washed thoroughly and also wanted me to shave him. So while Mom was back at the hotel resting and showering this afternoon I took care of these personal items for him. He just loves being spruced up.
Please keep praying and believing for creative miracles.
We love you so much,
Don & Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Don awoke around 4AM with terrible pain. My Mom massaged his legs a lot and got the nurse getting some pain meds in him. Of course they could only give him meds that would be put in the IV because of it being surgery day he was not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight. I arrived at 5:20AM and Mom and Don were both sleeping. Mom had already gotten him washed up and his teeth brushed earlier so he was ready to go to surgery. We had the nurse give him his 3mg. of Dilaudid so he would be more comfortable and not so agitated. I also did the usual essential oil pre-surgery protocol and also put Peace & Calming with Idaho Balsam Fir on him for added comfort. It all worked beautifully. By 6:05AM they came to get him for surgery.
He was only in surgery less than an hour and the doctor said that his wound looked clean and the stitches he put in at the last surgery were holding well. He still has about 8 cm undermining left to heal up before he can consider closing the wound. He estimates another 5-7 days more and then he will go in for another surgery to attempt closing the wound.
Again, after surgery when Donnie got to his room he was in terrible pain. We finally discovered that he has to tell the recovery room that he has some level of pain even if he really doesn't because it gets away from him in a matter of minutes when he returns to his room. Then because it is at the time of a shift change and the new orders are not available yet for the drugs and they have to hook his bed and vital sign machines up it takes about an hour before they give him anything for pain. As a result we all had about 5 hours of pure hell to live through.
I didn't really appreciate the new nurse today from the start and I truly hated her attitude of "power" and trying to change things and at the same time not giving Donnie anything for pain. My Mom and I and her almost got into it at one point but we finally came to an agreement and Donnie made the final decision to take his previous meds since the Doctor that needed to be consulted for new meds was in the operating room. My patience is running very thin today and I am not handling the stress very well anymore. I think I am going to go home early today to try to distress somehow.
We are flying Mom back home on Saturday morning so pray that Donnie shows huge signs of improvement by then. If he still needs a lot of extra help we will have to come up with a Plan B for help. We thank Mom for her fabulous help and the awesome care she has given Donnie for four complete weeks! What a sacrifice she has made in so many ways!
Today our friend Pat Fowler finished the new steps, landing and ramp on our home in Mesa, Arizona. He sent a picture from his phone and it looks absolutely fabulous!!!!! Now, all we need to do is get Donnie well enough to go home and everything should be set in place. God has truly worked many miracles in this situation so far and we are so humbled and grateful to each and every person that has listened to God's voice and coming to our aid! God knows we could not do this on our own, it is definitely a team effort.
Donnie's legs really hurt him and even though he had surgery today he still forced himself to sit up on the side of the bed twice. He really wanted his hair washed thoroughly and also wanted me to shave him. So while Mom was back at the hotel resting and showering this afternoon I took care of these personal items for him. He just loves being spruced up.
Please keep praying and believing for creative miracles.
We love you so much,
Don & Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
October 10, 2011
Greetings!,
Last night was probably the best Donnie has slept the entire 3+ weeks! Thank you, Jesus!
He had gotten up on the side of the bed a total of 7 times before the day was over yesterday. By the time tonight is over he will have been up 6 times today! Isn't that wonderful?!
When I arrived this morning I could tell by looking at him that he didn't feel very well. He had several hours where he just felt nauseated and uncomfortable. After a few hours that passed and he felt pretty good, considering. He is always talking about his legs and butt hurting but considering the size of the wound on his back and the fact that he has to be lying down so much, that is understandable. Mom and I just continue to help him sit up and swing his legs and also massage and skin brush him to keep the circulation going. He always mentions how good it feels and how much he likes it when we do it for him.
The wound vac was leaking quite badly this morning so by early afternoon the wound vac team was in here and had to change the whole thing out again. It still looks real clean and is healing well. I can only glance at it a little here and there from a side view because it is just so deep and big that it makes me queasy. My Mom is still astounded at the size and depth of the wound. In 56 years of nursing she has never seen anything even close to this.
Mom and I actually took a couple of hours off in the middle of the day and went shopping at Macy's down the road from the hospital. It was a gorgeous day and we just needed some time to chill. Mom got quite a bit of sleep last night here in the hospital so she wasn't needing to sleep that much today.
Donnie is scheduled for a 7AM surgery with the plastic surgeon. He is going to be looking at how well the wound is healing and if the stitching he put in last week has stayed in tact. Then he is going to see if there is anyway he can close the wound. That is our highest hope! I am going to be leaving the hospital soon to get a little rest. I will have to get over here by 5AM to be sure I am here when they take him to pre-op for the surgery. In preparation for the surgery we are applying the "Pre-Surgery Protocol" that Dr. Gary Young of Young Living Essential Oils recommends. We apply Frankincense, Valerian, Vetiver, RutaVaLa and Helichrysum from the back of the skull down the brain stem and down to T-1 on the spine. This prevents the white blood cell count from jumping up and as a result any inflammation is virtually eliminated. It works like a charm and it sure makes the room smell wonderful too! Donnie asked for some oils to be put on the bottom of his feet so I put Idaho Balsam Fir, Peace and Calming and Thieves on and had him inhale each one. He just loves these oils and it really relaxed him as well. He dozed off for over an hour after we applied the oils so that is a really good sign. These oils will also greatly reduce any anxiety about his surgery in the morning as well.
We appreciate each one of your prayers and the love and concern that each one of you are demonstrating. We couldn't do this without you being there to intercede for us. We look forward to a glowing report tomorrow so stay tuned.
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr, Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night was probably the best Donnie has slept the entire 3+ weeks! Thank you, Jesus!
He had gotten up on the side of the bed a total of 7 times before the day was over yesterday. By the time tonight is over he will have been up 6 times today! Isn't that wonderful?!
When I arrived this morning I could tell by looking at him that he didn't feel very well. He had several hours where he just felt nauseated and uncomfortable. After a few hours that passed and he felt pretty good, considering. He is always talking about his legs and butt hurting but considering the size of the wound on his back and the fact that he has to be lying down so much, that is understandable. Mom and I just continue to help him sit up and swing his legs and also massage and skin brush him to keep the circulation going. He always mentions how good it feels and how much he likes it when we do it for him.
The wound vac was leaking quite badly this morning so by early afternoon the wound vac team was in here and had to change the whole thing out again. It still looks real clean and is healing well. I can only glance at it a little here and there from a side view because it is just so deep and big that it makes me queasy. My Mom is still astounded at the size and depth of the wound. In 56 years of nursing she has never seen anything even close to this.
Mom and I actually took a couple of hours off in the middle of the day and went shopping at Macy's down the road from the hospital. It was a gorgeous day and we just needed some time to chill. Mom got quite a bit of sleep last night here in the hospital so she wasn't needing to sleep that much today.
Donnie is scheduled for a 7AM surgery with the plastic surgeon. He is going to be looking at how well the wound is healing and if the stitching he put in last week has stayed in tact. Then he is going to see if there is anyway he can close the wound. That is our highest hope! I am going to be leaving the hospital soon to get a little rest. I will have to get over here by 5AM to be sure I am here when they take him to pre-op for the surgery. In preparation for the surgery we are applying the "Pre-Surgery Protocol" that Dr. Gary Young of Young Living Essential Oils recommends. We apply Frankincense, Valerian, Vetiver, RutaVaLa and Helichrysum from the back of the skull down the brain stem and down to T-1 on the spine. This prevents the white blood cell count from jumping up and as a result any inflammation is virtually eliminated. It works like a charm and it sure makes the room smell wonderful too! Donnie asked for some oils to be put on the bottom of his feet so I put Idaho Balsam Fir, Peace and Calming and Thieves on and had him inhale each one. He just loves these oils and it really relaxed him as well. He dozed off for over an hour after we applied the oils so that is a really good sign. These oils will also greatly reduce any anxiety about his surgery in the morning as well.
We appreciate each one of your prayers and the love and concern that each one of you are demonstrating. We couldn't do this without you being there to intercede for us. We look forward to a glowing report tomorrow so stay tuned.
We love you all,
Don and Carol Schirr, Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 9, 2011
Hello again,
Nights are very long for Donnie and last night was no exception. He really cannot sleep because of a combination of pain and restlessness from being in bed now for over 3 weeks! He is really wanting to get out of that bed! This is a good sign but we must keep him down for approximately another 3 weeks. He was in great spirits today in-spite of his issues. He insisted on sitting up on the side of the bed several times today. In fact, he sat up 6 times!!!! Of course, we have to be right there in front of him to assist him and make sure he doesn't slip or fall of the side of the bed but he sits up and lies down all on his own. He can only sit up for about 5 minutes at a time but I am so proud of him!!
I noticed that this morning the wound care nurse had shaved the crown of his head where a big laceration is/was. They only shaved about a 1&1/2 inch spot there.
Donnie was really good most of the day but quite fidgety and restless. He hit a couple of times where he got real sweaty and felt a little sick to his stomach but it seemed to pass rather quickly.
Tuesday is his 4th surgery and he is hoping this is going to get him a giant step toward his goal of getting out of the hospital. The nurses are talking about the hopes of getting him in a wheel chair and possibly getting him outside. This would help him greatly. I just hope he can handle sitting in the chair. He gets pelvic pain quite severely when on the side of the bed after about 5 minutes of sitting there. He is determined, however, and insists on doing it several times a day. His blood pressure does jump up quite a bit when he does it but the nurses say this normal because it is a huge stress on him especially since he has been in bed so long.
Tonight we put on his DVD player with my favorite move of all time..."Secretariat". What an awesome movie!! Donnie had only seen it once before so he is totally loving it.
Please keep up the prayers! Mom is really needing to get back to Florida as it will be a whole month this Saturday since we all arrived here. She still works and must get back to work. Plus my Dad has not been apart from her this long in their 56 years of marriage so he is literally going crazy without her. Once we see how Donnie is after the plastic surgery on Tuesday we will determine when we could possibly allow her to go home. We need her so desperately and Donnie just about cries everyday when he tells her how much he appreciates her being here and he doesn't know how he could do it without her. At the moment Donnie is a 24 hour care job but hopefully soon he will be more independent. Until then, Mom will stay and help us out.
Thanks for all your prayers and love,
Nights are very long for Donnie and last night was no exception. He really cannot sleep because of a combination of pain and restlessness from being in bed now for over 3 weeks! He is really wanting to get out of that bed! This is a good sign but we must keep him down for approximately another 3 weeks. He was in great spirits today in-spite of his issues. He insisted on sitting up on the side of the bed several times today. In fact, he sat up 6 times!!!! Of course, we have to be right there in front of him to assist him and make sure he doesn't slip or fall of the side of the bed but he sits up and lies down all on his own. He can only sit up for about 5 minutes at a time but I am so proud of him!!
I noticed that this morning the wound care nurse had shaved the crown of his head where a big laceration is/was. They only shaved about a 1&1/2 inch spot there.
Donnie was really good most of the day but quite fidgety and restless. He hit a couple of times where he got real sweaty and felt a little sick to his stomach but it seemed to pass rather quickly.
Tuesday is his 4th surgery and he is hoping this is going to get him a giant step toward his goal of getting out of the hospital. The nurses are talking about the hopes of getting him in a wheel chair and possibly getting him outside. This would help him greatly. I just hope he can handle sitting in the chair. He gets pelvic pain quite severely when on the side of the bed after about 5 minutes of sitting there. He is determined, however, and insists on doing it several times a day. His blood pressure does jump up quite a bit when he does it but the nurses say this normal because it is a huge stress on him especially since he has been in bed so long.
Tonight we put on his DVD player with my favorite move of all time..."Secretariat". What an awesome movie!! Donnie had only seen it once before so he is totally loving it.
Please keep up the prayers! Mom is really needing to get back to Florida as it will be a whole month this Saturday since we all arrived here. She still works and must get back to work. Plus my Dad has not been apart from her this long in their 56 years of marriage so he is literally going crazy without her. Once we see how Donnie is after the plastic surgery on Tuesday we will determine when we could possibly allow her to go home. We need her so desperately and Donnie just about cries everyday when he tells her how much he appreciates her being here and he doesn't know how he could do it without her. At the moment Donnie is a 24 hour care job but hopefully soon he will be more independent. Until then, Mom will stay and help us out.
Thanks for all your prayers and love,
Sunday, October 9, 2011
October 8, 2011
Greetings!
Today was probably one of the best days Don has had so far! His wound vac was changed out in the morning and just had a small leak later in the afternoon which was fixed with just a simple patch. We got him a new DVD player since the one we had in the truck is in a few pieces and full of dirt. So he is watching Andy Griffith DVD's that I had in my van. He got up on the side of the bed again today and did quite well. He is focusing on Tuesday's surgery to be a pivotal point to move him toward possibly getting up in a wheel chair. He would have to be totally lifted for that but to just get out of the bed would be fantastic! It has now been 3 weeks exactly since he arrived here at Sunrise Medical Center and he is really wanting to get out of the bed. We are hoping that after next week's surgery that we could possibly let Mom go home to Florida and I could just stay here in the hospital room with Don all the time. This would help remove the almost $400.00 per week charge for the hotel room. If Don is able to stay quiet most of the nights then I should be able to handle him on my own...with your prayers, of course.
I put together some "Before" and "After" pictures on a Word Document and attached it to this email for you all incase you wanted to have something to compare the wreckage to.
We love and appreciate each one of you!,
Don, Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Today was probably one of the best days Don has had so far! His wound vac was changed out in the morning and just had a small leak later in the afternoon which was fixed with just a simple patch. We got him a new DVD player since the one we had in the truck is in a few pieces and full of dirt. So he is watching Andy Griffith DVD's that I had in my van. He got up on the side of the bed again today and did quite well. He is focusing on Tuesday's surgery to be a pivotal point to move him toward possibly getting up in a wheel chair. He would have to be totally lifted for that but to just get out of the bed would be fantastic! It has now been 3 weeks exactly since he arrived here at Sunrise Medical Center and he is really wanting to get out of the bed. We are hoping that after next week's surgery that we could possibly let Mom go home to Florida and I could just stay here in the hospital room with Don all the time. This would help remove the almost $400.00 per week charge for the hotel room. If Don is able to stay quiet most of the nights then I should be able to handle him on my own...with your prayers, of course.
I put together some "Before" and "After" pictures on a Word Document and attached it to this email for you all incase you wanted to have something to compare the wreckage to.
We love and appreciate each one of you!,
Don, Carol and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
October 7, 2011
Hello Everyone!,
Last night Mom said that Donnie slept for a 3 hour period straight which is a miracle. He slept on and off but longer periods without waking up. This is great! Thanks for your prayers in this matter.
The wound vac was not working this morning when I arrived so the wound vac nurse was called in to fix that. It is only Friday and the complete wound vac change is scheduled for tomorrow so they only changed out the top adhesive part and got the tubing changed out so the schedule for the total wound vac change would not be interrupted especially with the Tuesday surgery he is going to have. This way he only has to endure that change out one time while he is awake. The reason the wound vac stopped working is that now that there isn't as much drainage from the wound there was a blood clot in the end of the valve that is the first exit point from the bridge on the wound vac. Once they put a new one of those on and got everything stuck back down the wound vac started right back up.
The physical therapy people arrived shortly after the wound vac fix and again Donnie was able to sit himself up on the side of the bed. The wound is so much smaller and looks great!
Mom had gotten some rest last night so she just went to the hotel to shower up and then I picked her up and drove her to 3 hospitals that she wanted to show her invention "Gripsors" to. If you are wondering what her invention is please visit: www.Gripsors.com and you can see this amazing tool that she has developed. I took Mom out to lunch and then took her back to the hotel to rest up before taking on the night shift. I went back to pick her up about 5:30PM and headed back to the hospital
When we returned, Donnie was having some extreme pain again and was kind of wiped out. He had been given a lot of prune juice and other stool softeners which I think was making him nauseated. He had about a 4 hour time slot there where he felt miserable. Mom reported this morning that he was quite restless last night but all in all he had an uneventful night.
My good friend, Lynn from Mesa, Arizona came into town this evening because of a bowling tournament so she called and picked me up for dinner. Donnie was in no shape to even have her come say hello so I just met her at the main entrance and we had a really nice time out. I said my night time goodbyes before Lynn picked me up around 7:30PM and just went to the hotel after dinner.
Hopefully Saturday will be a good day!
Thank you for your continued support in prayer,
Don and Carol Schirr and Sharon Zelinko
Last night Mom said that Donnie slept for a 3 hour period straight which is a miracle. He slept on and off but longer periods without waking up. This is great! Thanks for your prayers in this matter.
The wound vac was not working this morning when I arrived so the wound vac nurse was called in to fix that. It is only Friday and the complete wound vac change is scheduled for tomorrow so they only changed out the top adhesive part and got the tubing changed out so the schedule for the total wound vac change would not be interrupted especially with the Tuesday surgery he is going to have. This way he only has to endure that change out one time while he is awake. The reason the wound vac stopped working is that now that there isn't as much drainage from the wound there was a blood clot in the end of the valve that is the first exit point from the bridge on the wound vac. Once they put a new one of those on and got everything stuck back down the wound vac started right back up.
The physical therapy people arrived shortly after the wound vac fix and again Donnie was able to sit himself up on the side of the bed. The wound is so much smaller and looks great!
Mom had gotten some rest last night so she just went to the hotel to shower up and then I picked her up and drove her to 3 hospitals that she wanted to show her invention "Gripsors" to. If you are wondering what her invention is please visit: www.Gripsors.com and you can see this amazing tool that she has developed. I took Mom out to lunch and then took her back to the hotel to rest up before taking on the night shift. I went back to pick her up about 5:30PM and headed back to the hospital
When we returned, Donnie was having some extreme pain again and was kind of wiped out. He had been given a lot of prune juice and other stool softeners which I think was making him nauseated. He had about a 4 hour time slot there where he felt miserable. Mom reported this morning that he was quite restless last night but all in all he had an uneventful night.
My good friend, Lynn from Mesa, Arizona came into town this evening because of a bowling tournament so she called and picked me up for dinner. Donnie was in no shape to even have her come say hello so I just met her at the main entrance and we had a really nice time out. I said my night time goodbyes before Lynn picked me up around 7:30PM and just went to the hotel after dinner.
Hopefully Saturday will be a good day!
Thank you for your continued support in prayer,
Don and Carol Schirr and Sharon Zelinko
October 6, 2011
Good News Over all Today!,
Last night was a little rough, Mom reported. Don was having a problem with mobility and having a tough time with pain. After I arrived he was having a little better time of it. He had already had breakfast and Mom had washed him up a little. The wound care nurse came in and redressed the remaining wounds on his legs and the one on the crown of his head but all of his wounds were looking so much better! Physical Therapy came in and again, he sat up on his own pretty quickly. He sat up for about 10-15 minutes and while he was sitting up I got to see his big wound on his back. I was so amazed how much it had closed!!!! It is now only about an inch wide and about 8 inches across. I was thrilled to see how small it was. I guess that is what the wound vac does is it just keeps it dry and as it heals from the inside out it draws itself closed. We all were just thrilled at the progress!
Mom went home about 11:30AM to rest and shower and we met across the street at 5PM for dinner and then walked back to be with Donnie for the evening. When we got in the room Don had his dinner here ready to eat but he said he tried to adjust himself in bed and must have wrenched something so he was in one of those super painful moments. He called for his pain shot and that helped. Mom fed him his supper but he kept falling asleep during it. He is now resting quite comfortably. I am going to head home early tonight. I am getting really worn down from staying up way too late at night and I need to rest up a little more tonight. Since Don is a little more settled than he has been I will take advantage it.
Again, thanks for your continued prayers and keep them coming!,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
Last night was a little rough, Mom reported. Don was having a problem with mobility and having a tough time with pain. After I arrived he was having a little better time of it. He had already had breakfast and Mom had washed him up a little. The wound care nurse came in and redressed the remaining wounds on his legs and the one on the crown of his head but all of his wounds were looking so much better! Physical Therapy came in and again, he sat up on his own pretty quickly. He sat up for about 10-15 minutes and while he was sitting up I got to see his big wound on his back. I was so amazed how much it had closed!!!! It is now only about an inch wide and about 8 inches across. I was thrilled to see how small it was. I guess that is what the wound vac does is it just keeps it dry and as it heals from the inside out it draws itself closed. We all were just thrilled at the progress!
Mom went home about 11:30AM to rest and shower and we met across the street at 5PM for dinner and then walked back to be with Donnie for the evening. When we got in the room Don had his dinner here ready to eat but he said he tried to adjust himself in bed and must have wrenched something so he was in one of those super painful moments. He called for his pain shot and that helped. Mom fed him his supper but he kept falling asleep during it. He is now resting quite comfortably. I am going to head home early tonight. I am getting really worn down from staying up way too late at night and I need to rest up a little more tonight. Since Don is a little more settled than he has been I will take advantage it.
Again, thanks for your continued prayers and keep them coming!,
Don and Carol Schirr and Mom (Sharon Zelinko)
October 5, 2011
Greetings,
Today was a much better day! Don was in much less pain than yesterday and he slept for almost 4 hours straight last night which is a miracle. He woke up about 3AM and had some muscle knots in his calves which Mom massaged out using Aroma Siez essential oil and some Ortho Sport massage oil. He then slept until about 5AM. So Mom got some much needed rest as well as Don. This morning was absolutely a crazy bee hive in his room. His wound vac was scheuled to be changed out so they gave him a tripple dose of pain meds again so he could handle it. There was a new group of nursing students that just started a two week internship here at the hospital so they asked Don permission for the instructor of the nursing class and 5 of her students to come observe the changing of his wound vac especially since his is such an unusual case. Of course, our room has the powerful smell of the oils and everyone asks what that wonderful smell is. Well, since there are so many oils being used it is impossible to identify which one they are smelling. After the wound nurse changed his wound vac the students and the instructor wanted to know more about oils. They were each asking about their own issues and I had the big essential oil book and two Aroma Complete cases and tons of bottles out in here so they had a blast. They all said what a fun room this was to come learn in and that they all felt so much better after just being in here. I gave each one a brochure on the Everyday Oils Kit and they all are planning on joining Young Living as a collective team. This should be interesting. Don was so cute telling his oil stories and instructing everyone on how to apply the oils and it made him happy to bless each one of them. He thanked them for coming in and is always so sweet and pleasant to work with!
The physical therapists came in about an hour after the nursing students left and asked if they could get him to sit up on the side of the bed. He had the nurse come in and give him a tripple dose of Dilauded and about 10 minutes later he very slowly, using his trapeeze bar above the bed, pulled himself up and sat up by himself!!!!!!! We were all amazed because yesterday he was in no way going to be able to sit up even with help. He sat up for about 10 minutes and then was getting dizzy so the therapists helped him lay back down.
We did not hear a word about his x-rays from yesterday so we are assuming that no news is good news. Most of the day Don was just watching TV and drifting off to sleep here and there and did not complain much about pain. They kept his pain meds going at a very regular pace and I kept up my oil routine as well. He slept quite a bit in the afternoon so I was able to take a 2 hour nap here in the room. Mom left to go to the hotel for some rest and a shower about 11:30AM and did not call me until 4PM so that was good that she got some rest. I went and picked her up and we went out to dinner and stopped to get some milk and water for the hotel room. We returned to the hospital and all seemed to be ok.
Later in the evening around 9PM Don said he needed to move his bowels. He only did a small amount and then that terrible pain that shoots from his pelvic area and down his right leg started again. Mom and I tried every oil imaginable and massage work plus skin brushing and he was just not consolable. He called for more pain meds even though he was a little too early for more meds but it was so bad he was almost in tears so they gave him a tripple dose of Dilauded again. Within about 5 minutes he was asleep. Mom and I could not give him his usual bath which he usually loves because he just was way too uncomfortable! As of about 10:30PM he is now sleeping and the nurse said she would be sure to keep up on all the pain meds and not get them behind. Don did say that he probably let too much time go by without meds because he really did feel pretty good today. That's a good thing to feel good but he is just going to have to keep up on the meds until things heal further.
Praying for a restful night!,
Don and Carol
Today was a much better day! Don was in much less pain than yesterday and he slept for almost 4 hours straight last night which is a miracle. He woke up about 3AM and had some muscle knots in his calves which Mom massaged out using Aroma Siez essential oil and some Ortho Sport massage oil. He then slept until about 5AM. So Mom got some much needed rest as well as Don. This morning was absolutely a crazy bee hive in his room. His wound vac was scheuled to be changed out so they gave him a tripple dose of pain meds again so he could handle it. There was a new group of nursing students that just started a two week internship here at the hospital so they asked Don permission for the instructor of the nursing class and 5 of her students to come observe the changing of his wound vac especially since his is such an unusual case. Of course, our room has the powerful smell of the oils and everyone asks what that wonderful smell is. Well, since there are so many oils being used it is impossible to identify which one they are smelling. After the wound nurse changed his wound vac the students and the instructor wanted to know more about oils. They were each asking about their own issues and I had the big essential oil book and two Aroma Complete cases and tons of bottles out in here so they had a blast. They all said what a fun room this was to come learn in and that they all felt so much better after just being in here. I gave each one a brochure on the Everyday Oils Kit and they all are planning on joining Young Living as a collective team. This should be interesting. Don was so cute telling his oil stories and instructing everyone on how to apply the oils and it made him happy to bless each one of them. He thanked them for coming in and is always so sweet and pleasant to work with!
The physical therapists came in about an hour after the nursing students left and asked if they could get him to sit up on the side of the bed. He had the nurse come in and give him a tripple dose of Dilauded and about 10 minutes later he very slowly, using his trapeeze bar above the bed, pulled himself up and sat up by himself!!!!!!! We were all amazed because yesterday he was in no way going to be able to sit up even with help. He sat up for about 10 minutes and then was getting dizzy so the therapists helped him lay back down.
We did not hear a word about his x-rays from yesterday so we are assuming that no news is good news. Most of the day Don was just watching TV and drifting off to sleep here and there and did not complain much about pain. They kept his pain meds going at a very regular pace and I kept up my oil routine as well. He slept quite a bit in the afternoon so I was able to take a 2 hour nap here in the room. Mom left to go to the hotel for some rest and a shower about 11:30AM and did not call me until 4PM so that was good that she got some rest. I went and picked her up and we went out to dinner and stopped to get some milk and water for the hotel room. We returned to the hospital and all seemed to be ok.
Later in the evening around 9PM Don said he needed to move his bowels. He only did a small amount and then that terrible pain that shoots from his pelvic area and down his right leg started again. Mom and I tried every oil imaginable and massage work plus skin brushing and he was just not consolable. He called for more pain meds even though he was a little too early for more meds but it was so bad he was almost in tears so they gave him a tripple dose of Dilauded again. Within about 5 minutes he was asleep. Mom and I could not give him his usual bath which he usually loves because he just was way too uncomfortable! As of about 10:30PM he is now sleeping and the nurse said she would be sure to keep up on all the pain meds and not get them behind. Don did say that he probably let too much time go by without meds because he really did feel pretty good today. That's a good thing to feel good but he is just going to have to keep up on the meds until things heal further.
Praying for a restful night!,
Don and Carol
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