H has completed his first round of follow-up appointments. Last week he saw the ortho, vascular, and plastic surgery docs. Today he saw the trauma docs. Overall, he's doing well.
His pelvis is healing well and the doc doesn't think he will need to add any additional hardware like plates, etc. We go back to see him next Tuesday and we are hoping to get an update on his weight-bearing status and a date to remove the external fixator and, following that, a discharge to rehab!
The vascular docs said things looked decent with his arm. He has some necrotic tissue on his left forefinger but it's pretty small and the doctor said it will slough off like a scab eventually. He will go back at the end of May to have an official look that the bypass and the other veins and arteries in that arm to be sure they are all open and flowing well. No update on any sensory or motor function; I'm actually not sure what specialty that would be.
Plastic surgery was for his skin graft... all is well, pretty much. There is some scabbing on the donor site that H is being stubborn over. It needs to come off but it hurts so he avoids it. He needs to be lightly scrubbing and putting lotion on it each day. He gets the lotion part okay but avoids the scrubbing. I nag him and he will pick a scab or two off, sigh. Have another follow-up for that. He also has one small pressure ulcer and the start of another on his left arm from being in the splint so we've got a salve and some more padding in the splint for that.
No more follow-ups with the trauma docs; no real news there except he is mildly malnourished and needs more protein and iron. I think I mentioned before the food in the nursing home blows. We've been bringing food in but it's mostly convenience food supplemented by homecooked from my parents. So we fired up his myfitnesspal account again (he was almost at a 400 day streak when he got hurt!) to track calories and protein and I plan to buy some groceries and make some food at my aunt's house, some of the good quality nutritious meals we eat at home. He will also take some vitamins for awhile, although I have my doubts about their efficacy. Basically we will just be more organized about what he eats and eliminate a lot of the snacky sweet food people have been bringing that take up his stomach space that could be used for nutritious food!
Spirits are okay. The nursing care has been pretty bad and I flipped my shit last week after one extremely upsetting incident in particular. We were going to move him but there was no guarantee of a private room in the new place and his mom said it's likely we'll have the same issues with nursing care at other places. Idk if it's the job or the pay or what but the aides and nurses here seem miserable and it shows in their attitude and motivation. I don't want to keep complaining although I could go on for hours, so suffice it to say it's not pleasant! But, it's nice to go out in his power chair, he likes having therapy every day, and he gets his hair washed once a week in the beauty parlor. Also, last Friday after his doctor's appointment we got the wheelchair transport service to drop us off at a strip mall type area and had some lunch and went to the music store where he bought some method books for trumpet. He's going to buy a trumpet or cornet and learn to play that one-handed while he waits for his left arm to come back, if it ever does. Anyway, it was really nice to spend time together out in the "real world" like a date.
Overall, we are hanging in there! Can't wait until we can move back to our city and I can move back into our house and he can be nearby to both me and his parents.