The Accident

On 4/16/2010 at approximately 10 to 10:15pm, my Lenny was involved in a serious boating accident. There were 6 occupants of the boat, all were injured. Both Lenny and his best friend Jakie sustained life threatening injuries and were airlifted to trauma centers, Jakie to Las Vegas, Lenny to Phoenix.

I received a call at 1:45am informing me of the accident. I then spent the next 2 hours trying to find him and find out what happened. After calling two hospitals I found Jakie, and then called his mom and she took it from there. I still couldn't find Lenny, so I called the Lake Havasu Police and they got back to me in about a half an hour telling me he was in Phoenix and that the social worker would be calling me soon. Next came the longest 20 minutes of my life. Waiting to hear....

Lenny sustained the following injuries - Completely fractured face from the upper jaw to above the eyes, broken neck, broken ribs, collapsed lungs, and severely broken legs. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I spent the next several minutes rallying friends and getting to YiYi (that is what Lenny calls his sister). We all headed to Phoenix and below I will update you on his condition, how we are holding up, and have a way to communicate with you to keep you updated and be able to answer your questions and be able to get the support we so desperately need from all the wonderful people that love him.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Week Three - Friday

So here I sit, three weeks since the accident. Things have changed so much this past week it is just amazing.

Last night was really rough. As I wrote yesterday he was complaining of pain in his right knee. It continued throughout the night so he barely slept. He cannot get comfortable no matter what. Between the pain and coughing from the trach he is not getting any decent continuous sleep. I am so glad that the hospital is letting me stay here with him all day and all night, as it helps him when he needs the little things. He's hot blankets off, he's cold, blankets on (yes I said he's cold which I never thought was possible), he's thirsty, he has to pee, on and on. Overnight the nursing staff is limited so if you push the button you better push it an hour before you need anything cause that is how long it takes to get someone.

All the "therapies" were good. Physical Therapy resulted in him using this really cool machine that lifted him up by his hands and arms to a standing position without any weight on his legs. Technology amazing. The gym for the physical therapy is really nice with lots of high tech equipment. They were not really aggressive with him which was nice for him. By the 2nd hour he had to go that knee was really killing him.

They had a psychologist come in today and talk with him about the accident to see how he was dealing with everything. She asked him a lot of questions and it was great to see he was not showing any signs of depression. He just kept saying he was going to be alright. She was worried about his lack of sleep and they are going to talk with the doctor about giving him something to help him sleep.

Speech Therapy did a lot of checking today to make sure his brain was ticking correctly. He hated all the questions as they were something out of kindergarten, but he was a trooper and answered them all, but he kept looking at me like "is she serious". I just nodded so he would keep going. He of course passed with flying colors thank goodness.

Occupational Therapy was just some lights on his knees and ankles for the pain. I didn't know how that was occupational therapy, but he seemed to enjoy it.

The respiratory therapist was looking at his trach today. At the hospital he had a size 8 trach, and before he left they changed it to size 6. Tomorrow he is going to size 4 and then Monday or Tuesday they will take it out completely and let it close up. It will take anywhere from a week to a couple months to close up, it just depends on what his body wants. The funny thing is that he will just keep a band-aid over the hole until it is closed up. You would think a hole in your throat would require something more serious then a band-aid.  

Today he talked to Jakie again and was so happy that "Fatboy" was going home today. It was nice to see him so happy.

So all in all today was progress made, as everyday will be. The doctor has upped his pain medicine, added a muscle relaxer cause his back is hurting from being in the bed, and added something to help him sleep. So he just took a cupful of pills and hopefully is off to la la land so we can get some sleep tonight.

Today I showed him all the Get Well Cards he has received and told him of everyone's generosity. Again we can't thank you enough. I have moved hotels to be closer to the hospital to shower and such, so if you want to mail something let me know your email address and I will tell you where to mail it to him. If you have mailed something to the other hotel, don't worry, they will call me to pick it up.

We love you all, Nancy and Lenny!

4 comments:

  1. Marianne HerreraMay 8, 2010 at 4:09 AM

    Nancy and Lenny:
    I cannot tell you how happy I am that he is progressing so quickly now. I will bet you talking to Jakie brought such relief to him as I know he was worried about him. Today will bring another day of healing and one more day closer to home. When I talked to you yesterday on the phone and you told me Lenny said hi tears came to my face you will never know how much that meant to me. God bless you both and I pray his pain in his knee goes quickly. I love you both.

    Love You
    Mom

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  2. All positive news Nancy. Jakie is home and before you know it you and Lenny will be home too. I know you hear it often, but Nancy, you are truly amazing and anyone that has you in their life is very lucky. I know I am.

    Love, Julia

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  3. Nancy, wanted to let you know that my family and I pray for all the families and persons involved with this unfortunate accident. I do know you or Lenny. I read you blog every day to check on how you and Lenny are doing. Trying times like this make us stronger people. I personally experienced a very terrific event in my life and without my family's support, not sure i could have progressed. Sleep is important for recovery, there are many reasons why some cannot have a sleep aid, but definately talk to the doctors about some sleep aids. I did not begin to fully speed up my recovery until I was able to sleep. Continue to be strong, times like these are what defines realtionships and treasue every moment you have together. Lot of hugs and keep up the good attitude and work. Know that there are many of us that are praying for all of you.

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  4. Glad to hear that Jakie is home. All of them are so very lucky to be alive. This is truly a blessing. I am so happy that Lenny is recovering. I never would of thought he would have gotten this far along reading back to when this all happened. You both will be home soon!!! Love to you both!!

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