ICU

He must love these BLUE Gowns because we are always wearing them....

Tom had surgery on Monday the 16th of March.  Almost 20 years ago, he broke his collarbone while playing softball.  Tom decided that the sling was a bit to cumbersome at that time in his life so he decided he did not want to wear it.  His collarbone never came together and bothered him with occasional piercing pain.  Four years ago, when we were living in Cary, some great doctors tried to repair it.  After 3 tries with varying degrees of success we thought it was repaired.  However, it was NOT TO BE.  In January of this year, he started to have some reoccurring issues with his thoracic region and blood flow into his right arm.  After a few trips to the ER, many scans, many consultations it was determined that the metal plate in his collarbone was collapsing on his artery when his arm would raise.  Long-term prognosis was not good and we knew it would need to be fixed.  It was going to require 3 surgeons who were the best in their fields because it was a VERY COMPLEX PUZZLE to solve.

It was to be a 9 hour procedure where they were harvesting his left fibula and artery to his right collarbone.  They were planning on removing the top rib on the right side to make room for the new bone, hardware, scar tissue and artery.  Overall it went well, it was a bit longer…about 11 hours.  The actual procedure went according to plan and the complex puzzle came together beautifully.  However when he was in post operative care, his blood pressure dropped and he went in very critical condition.  Turns out his left lung collapsed because it had been punctured by the anaesthetist (anaesthesiologist) during the operation.  They are not sure how this happened because it was not even near the operative site which was completely on the right side.  It took them 2 hours to get him stable again, lots of tubes and two blood transfusions later but, eventually they made it there.  He was in the ICU for 5 days following. He was finally moved to the ward and now he is convalescing at home.  He is learning how to walk again, improving his respiratory issues and trying desperately per doctors orders to not MOVE his shoulder   

He needs to keep it still for the next four weeks (this is going to be the toughest part of recovery).  Apparently Tom is the first patient in the world to have his fibula and top rib used to make this repair and the doctors are very excited about the possibilities.  

We are so grateful that he is okay.  The girls and I have are so thankful for the prayers, support and kindness of friends and family.  We are very blessed!  I am extremely hopeful that this will be the end of the road for this injury.  Hospitals are not my cup of tea and I hate frequenting them as often as I do with Mr. Tom.