Fractures

Here are a few images from my CT scans showing my fractures. The first six are "axial" sections oriented so that my face is on top, back of my head is on bottom, my right side is on the left of the image, and my left side is on the right of the image.

This right parasymphyseal mandibular fracture extends between a couple of teeth (no teeth lost--yet!):

I also have a comminuted (multi-part) fracture of the left subcondylar mandible:

Multiple fractures involving the maxillary sinuses: The alveolar ridge and hard palate were intact.

Deviated nasal septum; blood in the maxillary sinuses:

Small fractures of the anterior ethmoids, which extended into the frontal sinuses:

These next couple of images are "coronal" images, oriented just as if I were looking at you. This one better shows the fractures of my ethmoid air cells (right across the bridge of my nose):Pterygoid plate fractures: There should be 2 nice, upside-down "V"-shaped bones near the middle of the image.

Here are some 3D reconstructions. The first one shows the fracture across the bridge of my nose, the right maxillary fracture (which extends into the inferior rim of my eye socket), and the right mandibular fracture:

This one shows the left mandibular fracture, left maxillary fracture, and fracture across my nasal bridge:

Cardinal Rain Out

Jim came home from the hospital on Friday night. He can't talk much (just through his teeth, which is not very easy to understand). He has medicine to help control the pain. Each day he feels better than the day before and he has been able to get lots of rest. We had planned to go to the Cardinal game today (in D.C.), but after the accident it didn't look possible. Since Jim is such a die-hard fan and he has been feeling better, we went! Then, we got to sit in the rain for 2 hours until they called the game. We can use our tickets for any other Nationals game. Too bad today was the last game in the Cardinals series. The Nationals only have two more games while we are here, so we are going to see them play the Astros tomorrow night.
Jim's friend, Ben, joined us at the game.

Jack got upset after they uncovered the field, only to cover it again.

"Look, Jack. They might take the tarp off again."

Going Home

Jim was in recovery until a little after 9 p.m. last night. When we got back up to his room, I asked the nurses if I could stay the night and they said yes! The nurses were great. I had a chair that reclined and was able to get some rest. More importantly, Jim was able to get some rest too. The swelling in his face has gone down and he looks much better this morning. He had to write in order to communicate, but this morning he has been able to talk through the wires some. When the doctors rounded this morning, they said everything looked good and he could go home later today if he wants, or he could stay another night. He wants to go home (which really means go back to the house where we are staying in Maryland). We still need to talk to a nutritionist since he will only be able to have liquids for the next 2-4 weeks while his jaw is wired shut. After that, he will only be able to have non-chewing foods for a couple weeks. Thank you for all your good thoughts and prayers. We still have a long road to recovery ahead of us, but I think everything is going to be just fine.

In totally unrelated news, we have some good news to share. Jack is going to be a big brother. I wanted to post a picture of Jack in his shirt that has "Only Child" crossed out and below it says "Big Brother," but I haven't gotten around to that yet. I am 16 weeks along right now. We are due October 15. We are very excited and looking forward to the new addition to our family. As with Jack, we are not going to find out the sex of the baby before he or she is born. I know that drives some people crazy, but we like the surprise.

Out of Surgery

Jim is finally out of surgery (it took a few hours longer than expected). I just spoke to the surgeon and it went well. They had to plate his mandible and his maxillary sinuses, they wired his jaw shut (and it will stay wired for 2-4 weeks), stitched up his jaw, upper lip, nose, and forehead, and re-aligned his nasal septum. He is in recovery now and I am just waiting for them to tell me I can see him. Thanks for your prayers.

Surgery

On Tuesday afternoon, Jack and I took the metro to downtown D.C. to meet Jim at the zoo. When I got off the train I had a new voicemail. I assumed it was from Jim telling me he was at the zoo already or that he was running a little late. It wasn't. It was from a girl who found Jim shortly after he had a pretty bad bicycle accident. Jim was riding his bike along an asphalt path to meet us when he hit a bump and his front tire came off. Jim went over his handlebars and landed on his face. Luckily he was wearing his helmet. He did not lose consciousness, and was able to take the cell phone out of his pocket to call 911. He could not talk, though, so he gave his phone to a passerby to talk to the 911 operator. A pediatric resident happened to walk by and Jim gave her my phone number. She called me and waited with Jim until an ambulance came (around 30 minutes later!). Jack and I got in a cab and met Jim in the ER at George Washington University Hospital. I had my camera with me to take zoo pictures, but I ended up with bloody Jim pictures instead. Knowing that not everyone wants to see those, I will not post them. If you would like to see pictures of Jim a couple hours after the accident, email me and I will send them to you.

Jack and I spent several hours in the ER with Jim. He had a chest x-ray and CTs of his head, c-spine, and maxillo-facial bones. He has a lot of facial fractures, but thankfully his brain, spine, and eyes are fine. I asked the ER attending if I could stay with Jim all night and he said yes. So, I contacted the wonderful family we are staying with in Maryland and they met me at the metro station where my car was parked. They took Jack back with them and I headed back to the hospital. After talking with Jim for a bit, I went to the waiting room where I could get cell phone reception and call Jim's and my parents. When I returned to Jim, they were ready to move him from the ER to a holding room (there still was not a free room on a surgical floor for him). The woman transporting him told him it was well past visiting hours and I could not come with him. I broke down crying. She took Jim up to his room, and I left the hospital. It was close to 11:00 p.m. and I made the 45 minute (without traffic) drive back to Maryland. Ugh.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Jack and I took the metro to the hospital and spent the whole day with Jim. Jack was a trooper - stuck in a small hospital room all day. He did a great job of entertaining himself and staying out of the way.

This morning I left Jack with the family in Maryland and I came down to the hospital to be with Jim all day. We are currently waiting for them to take him down to surgery. His surgery is scheduled for 12:00 or 12:30 p.m. It should last about 3 hours. They are going to wire his jaw shut and put in plates and screws on the mandible. He may also need some maxillary plates and screws, but they won't know until they get into surgery. They will also stitch up a couple big gashes and fix his broken nasal septum. They may be able to take the wires out after surgery. If not, he will have them in for 2 - 4 weeks. I will try to update the blog shortly after, but please keep Jim in your thoughts and prayers.

D.C., Gettysburg, Annapolis

Things have been pretty busy the last couple weeks and I haven't had a chance to update the blog. Jim is taking a course in Washington D.C., so Jack and I decided to come along. We are staying in Maryland with some distant relatives of my uncle's. The father is the fourth cousin of my cousins. They have 5 children and have been so kind to let us stay with them. Jack is having a blast playing with his 5 new friends. Last Monday night, around 10:00 p.m., we started our journey to Maryland. We stayed the night in Indianapolis (got in around 3 a.m. local time), and then continued our drive Tuesday morning. Tired, we arrived in Maryland around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, Jack and I hung out at the house and relaxed. On Friday, we took the train into D.C. to meet Jim.

Jack ran around in his new "2" shirt while we waited for Jim outside the Museum of American History.

The trains were a big hit with Jack.

Jack was a little afraid to sit next to this statue.














More trains!!! Jack likes to say "Chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo!" (although it doesn't sound quite like that).















On Saturday, we went to Gettysburg for the day. After enjoying a nice lunch, we bought a CD for a 2 hour auto tour.

The CD was very informative; we learned a lot. We got out of the car a lot to see many of the landmarks. The battle lasted only 3 days, but there were around 50,000 casualties!

This is one of the high towers we climbed to get a good view of the battlefields.

Jack enjoyed climbing on everything: wooden fences, cannons, this rock wall...

He's ready for a horse to pull him.

On Sunday, we drove to Annapolis to visit Jim's medical school friend, Shirin, and her husband David. After lunch we explored the downtown area. We happened upon a festival on one of the town's streets.

Shirin and David took us to the waterfront where Jack could see lots of boats.

The weather was awesome (if not a little hot)!