Enjoying life before the accident. Josh was about 14-15 years old. He and his friends made their own bike jumps.

About Me

My photo
We have 5 children and 5 grandchildren with one on the way. Eric and I were married in 1984 and are still together today. We met in church and raised our kids in that same church, We are still very involved at this same church. God has been there for us through many ups and downs in our family life. We have struggled with children with ADD, hyperactivity, strong wills, addictions, and one that became paralyzed at the age of 15 due to a car-pedestrian accident...he was the pedestrian. Eric and I have had to work through relationship issues (as do most couples), job loss, and financial problems. Even though we are believers, that doesn't mean we will never have problems. We just know that God is there for us through these struggles. There has been a lot of growth through these times.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Pressure Sore

Josh has had trouble with pressure sores over the past few years since his accident. He has one on his sitting bone of the right side of his bottom. This area has been a problem for quite some time and he has had some minor surgeries to take care of fistulas that have tunneled from that area. On the outside, it is about the size of a quarter. In the last few weeks we found out that it has developed into a baseball-sized sore further in that we were all unaware of. It is quite deep and definitely not a good thing.
He was admitted into the hospital on March 24th with high temperatures and nausea, and stayed the weekend. He hadn't been eating well for a few weeks before this due to the infection in his body. His protein levels were dangerously low...and you need protein to heal. During this hospital stay was when we found out about the larger pressure sore. Josh has seen the wound doctor a couple times since then. He is on total bed rest and can only be up 1 - 2 hours a day. He is actually doing pretty well with that, considering he is a very active young man. He has a TV, video game system, and access to cable and Netflix. His friends come to visit, and that helps too.
A nurse had been coming to our house every-other-day to change the packing in the wound. The nurse only comes once a week now and we have to change his packing daily. Lisa helps out with this too.
We just had a wound vac delivered to our house. Josh will take that with him to his next doctor visit at the wound clinic on Tuesday. The doctor will put it into the wound and hopefully we are able to handle what needs to be done after that at our house. I guess that will help keep the wound clean since it is so deep.
April 27th he has a consultation with a plastic surgeon for reconstructive surgery to fill in the area of the pressure sore. I took the day off from work to go with him, so that I can learn more about what will be done.
I will keep you posted as things progress. Prayers are much appreciated. God will help us get through this just like he has these past 8 years since the accident. It will be 8 years on May 9th.

No comments: