Day 17...update...Today Was a Good Day

So, surgery went well. They didn't end up taking skin grafts to close the wounds on his leg. The plastic surgeon was able to repair them with "extensive suturing". I'm not even sure that he had to go under anesthesia for it.
When I got back after his surgery, he was no longer on the CPAP or Ventilator. He was breathing on his own with only oxygen streaming to him. His breathing was much calmer than it had been the last time. Before, he seemed to be struggling to breathe on his own. Today, he had a more normal respiratory rate.
He was able to wake up somewhat while I was there. I had really been hoping that I could see him awake and I wasn't dissapointed. He repeatedly attempted to 'get out of bed'. At least that's what it seemed like he was trying to do. He did open his good eye and look directly at me. He seemed somewhat scared and confused, like he didn't understand quite what was going on.
My Grandmother and I explained to him again that he had an accident and had several broken bones, but that he was going to be o.k. He tried to talk, but we still can't hear him because of his tracheostomy. We are hoping that he will be able to stay off of the ventilator so that they can add the part to his trach that will allow him to speak through it. At this point, it is very hard to determine how much he knows or remembers about what is going on because he can't speak to us.
For the most part, today was a pretty good day for him. He had the c-spine collar removed, avoided a skin graft with extensive suturing, and got off the ventilator. All positive steps in the right direction, steps toward recovery.

Day 17, another surgery

Updates have been less frequent because his progress has slowed somewhat. Day by day, he looks a little better, gets a few sutures and staples removed and is able to wake up from time to time. He is reminded daily of where he is and why he is there.
Today, he is on CPAP, which is a slightly less intrusive version of the ventilator. It allows him to initiate breaths on his own, but assists him and provides a higher level of O2. According to the Pulmonologists orders, they plan to see how he does on that for a couple of hours and then draw blood gasses to see how his body is responding. He will remain on the ventilator through surgery, however, if his gases come back well, then they will eventually disconnect it.
He is scheduled to have his skin graft surgery today at noon. They plan to 'steal some skin' from somewhere on his left leg to use in closing the remaining open wounds left from his femur fracture. It is a fairly simple procedure and shouldn't take too long.
His blood pressure is pretty low today without any BP meds. His nurse said that some of the other medications that he is on could be causing it to be so low and because of the reading, he won't be getting any BP meds at this time.
He looks more like himself today than he has throughout this entire ordeal. They took his C-Spine collar off today and he's had a recent shave. His left ear has healed pretty nicely. You can hardly notice the part that's missing at first glance. The plastic surgeon did a remarkable job on his face, and his scars aren't nearly as bad as we had expected them to be.
He still has a huge goose egg on his forehead, but it's a little less prominent now. Most of the swelling has gone down. The only realy swelling that I can notice is in his left leg. It is still about twice it's normal size. He briefly peeped his right eye open when the respiratory therapist was giving him a breathing treatment. I also got to see him smile a little in his sleep.
Overall, he is making progress, even if it seems to be slow. He sustained so many horrible injuries, it's unrealistic for me to expect that he could be awake and aware and able to fully communicate by now. I know it's wishful thinking on my part and he needs to heal at his own pace. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this way and I know that we'll all sleep a little better once he is out of the ICU.

Blood Drive Still Going..code to give lifestream

Lifestream is still accepting donations in my Dad's name and will continue as long as he is hospitalized. I copied addresses and phone numbers to the Southern California Donation Centers in an ealier post.
When you go to donate, give them the code: REPLVAD3
This will ensure that he gets credits for the units that are donated in his name.
Thank you all for your donations.

July 4th

He has been switched from Ativan to Xanax for anxiety. He's still on the Ventilatory, but his peep is at 4.7 which is good. We don't know exactly what that means, but we've been told that anything above 5 isn't good. His chest tube was removed yesterday, so that means that they don't believe his lung is in danger of collapsing again at this point.
He is still heavily sedated, so he hasn't been able to fully wake up yet. His Neurologist would like the sedation stopped so that he can fully assess the damage to his brain, but his Trauma Surgeon has ordered it to continue. Once again, as much as we'd all like him to be awake and responsive, if he would be in pain, we all agree that it's better that he sleep and get as much rest as possible while his body heals.
I am sad that my Dad will miss July 4th this year. I have fond memories of our Independance Day celebrations in the past. My Dad has always been a fan of M80's. We have never blown up a toilet together, (I wouldn't doubt he has on his own at some point in his youth), but we've blown many tuna cans sky high with them.
I'll leave you all with that, hopefully it puts a smile on your face. It does mine.

Not too many changes

For those who are keeping track on a daily basis, There hasn't been much change in his condition over the past couple of days. They have had him on Ativan which is a tranquilizer, so he really hasn't had too many conscious moments.
He's still on the ventilator and it seems like he probably will be until the other pulmonologist takes over next week, maybe tomorrow. His peep level was a 5 yesterday, which is really good. They told me that he would more than likely be on the ventilator until he was at a 5 or lower for awhile.
It seems like things have stalled a little as far as progress, but I suppose that's somewhat normal. I've been warned that it could be that way by a friend who's Father had similar injuries.
At least all of the rest will help him heal faster. It's astonishing to me that it has already been 2 weeks since his accident. The days are all blurring together.

Some more good news

My Dad had a CAT Scan tonight to see how the bleeding on his brain was. The results were good, so he got to have the Intracranial Pressure Monitor removed tonight. For those that don't know what that is, it was this strange probe thing that was inserted into the top of his skull. It stuck straight up and had a wire attached to it that led to the machine that would show the pressure. It was bizzare.
The Speech Therapist said that once he had that removed, she would be able to use a different type of voice box on his tracheostomy so that we could hear him more clearly when he tries to talk.
Next big step I think, is to get him off the ventilator asap, so long as he can breathe on his own. He did several days ago, but the Pulmonologist on his case this week is pretty conservative and wanted to put him back on it. I am hopeful that he will be able to be off of it within the next day or two.
Another big step would be for him to be able to open his eyes. He is able to follow simple commands and speak from time to time, but try as he might, he can't get that darn eye open.

Information about the infection that Dave has...

I asked if they knew what type of infection my Dad has the other day, and I was told it was acinetobacter. I, being the curious person that I am, had to come home and google it of course, and here is the article I found by the CDC.
(you may have to copy and paste it into your url bar)

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_acinetobacter.html

I suppose it's fairly common, however, I don't like the part where it says "Acinetobacter causes a variety of diseases, ranging from pneumonia to serious blood or wound infections and the symptoms vary depending on the disease."
He has been doing so well and I think it would be a real bummer if this infection turns into more than a mild fever and cough. I guess that the good news was that his fever was down a little bit yesterday.
Let's all just keep praying that he continues to recover without his infection getting worse.