JIM'S MASSIVE RECOVERY - PART 1

I know you all saw the terrible accident in this post from October.

The accident actually happened during the last week of August,

it just took me awhile to get pix organized and up.

Anyways,

what I haven't shared with you are some of the recuperating photos I took of Jim

from when they sent his home from the two hospitals 27 days after the accident.

They deserve this whole other post plus a Part 2 coming up.

BEWARE:

some of these photos are pretty brutal and gruesome,

but not all.

Even Sophie had to cover her eyes a bit.

OK, here we go, ready or not....

this first pix is how the surgeon sent Jim home to me.

Blood and yellow pus oozing from his harvest area,

dripping all over the floor.

I was freaking out.

This is not my jam or area of expertise.

But I had to learn fast.

Just the pills alone they sent home with him were overwhelming.

And then there were the boxes and boxes of medical supplies 

they sent to our house.

Where to put them all?

And so much plastic waste products they were packaged in.

CRAZY!!

So I called our trusty mountain neighbor,

Chris,

 who used to be a nurse in the Navy to help me that first night.

He wanted to lighten the mood so this is how he arrived.

It worked.

We all had a good belly laugh.

And we wrapped up Jim's leg.

Of course by morning,

it had all leaked out over the bandages.

Yuck!

So above is about a week at home now and the fluids are drying up,

thank goodness!

For 2months, 

every single day,

 we had a wound nurse come

to check Jim's leg and change his bandages.

This was Ming,

one of our favorites.

We also had  a physical and occupational therapist,

a mental health worker,

and of course his Primary Care Doctor checking up on him weekly.

Thank goodness for Jim's Medical Insurance.

We both have Medicare Blue Cross HMO thru Providence Health.

This is Jim's surgeon checking his leg 

for the first time in 2 1/2 months after sending him home.

He's removing Jim's staples from not only his main wound 

but also from his harvest area.

Above he was doing a lot of de-breeding.

It was upsetting watching him do it with a sharp razor.

In several areas he scraped too harshly and opened up some healed spots.

And there were so many staples to remove.

The surgeon used the coolest tool for that so it wasn't super painful,

only a little Jim said.

Here is the wound after about 2 more weeks below.

It's finally starting to dry up and heal.

Jim was really scared to touch it and wash it in the shower,

so I did it for him. 

 Such a weird feeling as I soaped it up.

And after another 2 weeks.

Below you can also see how his harvest area is healing and shrinking.

And finally,

mid-December,

 it has completely closed up.

During this entire healing time,

because Jim is a diabetic,

he was not allowed any sugar to help speed up the healing process.

He also stayed away from all fast foods.

That was really hard.

For both of us actually.

Ha ha

Everyone asks what that large round lump is on the upper right.

The surgeon told us it was the only piece of Jims leg skin 

that wasn't ripped off in the accident and they really wanted to try to save it.

We are so thankful that the surgeons were able to save Jims leg.

And it's pretty much of a miracle that he is still alive after his horrific accident.

Feeling blessed that's for sure.