What a week....

My son was in a accident last week. He was on a jet ski traveling about 40-45 MPH when he collided with another jet ski while turning. He is doing fine now, moving slow, here's a quick run down of what happened.

He has a shaft fracture of his left femur and spent about 45-60 minutes in a mountain (cold water) lake before the EMT were able to get him out and place him in a traction splint . He was rushed to Skagit Valley Hospital x-rayed/MRI'ed from head to toe and then after some issues (finding a Doctor in Seattle that would accept him) transported to Swedish Seattle.

He had surgery to repair the femur, an intramedullary nail was placed in the bone. There was some concerns with not damaging his growth plate during the surgery. The nail was placed perfectly allowing adequate space for future growth. One of the top doctors on the west cost performed the surgery, he was very excited about the results.

While under general anesthesia the effects of him going into hypothermia showed. Being a healthy he was able to fight off the symptoms prior to surgery. But the general anesthesia weakened him during surgery to the point that symptoms started to show. This raised concerns and added complexity while he was in surgery. The 45-60 minute surgery ended up being over 3 hours. He then spent the next 15+ hours in ICU before returning to his room.

They had him on crutches and walking while in ICU. He actually got himself up and into the wheel chair to be moved back to his original room, (one of the conditions to be moved). He was able to place partial body weight on the leg. Later that evening the doctor visited and gave Matthew the goals for going home. Basically, pills rather than IV for pain, temp below 100, eating solids, being able to go to the bath room on his own, and sitting up in a chair for extended periods. The next day was spent working on his Meds, sitting and walking. Sitting is still the hardest for him. On Thursday afternoon the Doctor sent him home.

He's still really sore but able to attend to most of his needs, rather slowly though. His leg is not in a cast or even wrapped. There are 4 cuts all under 1/2 inch long, (three of them are only three stitches). He is also still on a high med dose and boredom is starting to set in.