Surgery Updates - 9 Months After Jake's Accident

As many of you know, Jake underwent another round of surgeries on January 5th, his 9 month calandar date of when the accident initially happened. The surgery lasted about 6 hours and the doctor team was very pleased with the completed surgery. As a family we spent the next 4 days in the hospital with Jake. After the block of pain medication wore off from the surgery, the pain sent it. It took over a day for him to find a comfort level with the combinations of pain medications, as Jake ended up with a reaction to some of the pain meds they were using and he broke out in a bright red rash and intense itching. As if the pain was not enough- the allergic reaction caused more agony. By day 4 they found the right combination, and Jake found a better pain relief with new pain meds overall and Benadryl.  Upon Jake's departure from the hospital, the doctor gave him early on in the day, a ziplock bag of the pins, bolts and bracing tools that came out of his ankle and foot during his surgery. It was amazing to see- yes a keep sake for the ole scrapebook for sure, and stories down the road. 

We are so thankful for the care at Gundersen Heathcare by all the nurses, therapist and doctors. We were kept so informed every hour of Jake's surgery and the nursing staff was so kind, caring and compassionate. They truly treated all of us like we were a close knit family and always added a great spin on a sense of humor to keep Jake laughing and keeping his spirits uplifted throughout his stay. Our family highly recommends this facility for any smalll or large or major medical need your famiy may have!

Jake has now been home for 4 days and we are keeping the pain in check with following the doctors orders. Let's see how many of you could follow these doctor's orders for 8 weeks: Jake's ankle/foot must be elevated every 45 minutes out of every hour to the same level of his eye level and he may be given a break of 15 minutes within that hour for adjustments, bathroom use, or to eat. He must also keep an icepack behind his left knee for this 45 minutes on the hour to keep all swelling down. He may not take a shower and must take only sponge baths- in NO way may he get his cast wet and in NO way may he apply any pressure or weight on his left foot or ankle for 8 weeks. Also a series of 6 upper arm exercises every hour with 10 repititions each. Yes, he is pretty much bedridden, but thank goodness for the purchase of the adjustable bed from the donations on this site to accomodate to his physical needs, constraints and sleeping needs. 

On the postive side of this down time, his Mom and Dad are once again pampering him beyond belief and supplying him with very healthy meals to assist Jake's healing period. Jake is very adiment to have a large side of fres fruit and veggies for every meal and 80-100 of water, actually 8 ounces every waking hour per doctors orders. Jake is so looking forward to PT and OT after all this healing. He will be starting out with pool therapy as a way to ease into the more rigorus PT therapy schedule of quality walking again. The surgerical procedure of his foot has permanently placed it at a 90 degree angle as he will walk with one stride without a bend in his ankle. The surgeon had to do this, based on the surgery performed in Texas was a "botched" surgery as they incorrectly placed his foot with the bolts and pins, and left actual broken bone in his foot, besides the actualy break itself. This is what led to his permanently deformed and nonfunctioning ankle movement. We are dealing with this --- the best that we can. Jake is so deterimined to eventually run again, but his new run will look different than the way you and I would run. He is determined, and I know he will find the will power to meet his physical activity needs in years to come. 

In the mean time please feel free to send a short note or a funny card to Jake, he loves to receive mail to make him smile, becuase the next 7 weeks can get quite long in our MN winter months. Thanks in advance and helping our Jake stay so positive!!!

Cards can be sent to Jake at:

PFC Jake Harm

205 North Marina Drive

Brownsville, MN 55919