Post Skin Graft

Kaleb's surgery went well, however it set him back at the same time. He is back in the PICU and back on a lot of medications. The doctors will hopefully know on Monday how the new skin is being accepted by his body.

Skin Graph Surgery Cancelled

Ok so today was supposed to be the beginning of Kaleb's skin graphing. The surgeon was unable to do the surgery today because of a home emergency so the skin graph surgery is being rescheduled. There is also a possibility that Kaleb may be moving to the neuro-trauma unit. Just wanted to let everyone know :)

Update

I'm so sorry it's been nearly a week since my last post. I was in the wilderness for the last 4 days and have not had a computer handy. The update from Grandma Wayne today is as follows: The skin on Kaleb's scalp was too injured to have any hope for future growth from lower layers. Because of this, they preformed a surgery that cleaned out the necrotic tissue in order to prepare Kaleb for the skin graph that will take place soon. Right now the area of his scalp that will need the graph is being covered by a sort of vacuum packed seal. This seal will insure the health of the tissue so that it will be able to accept the skin graph. Now that his body doesn't have to focus so much on healing itself in the scalp, Kaleb is becoming much less swollen. As far as medications go, Kaleb is no longer hooked up as many IVs as he was. As of now, he is only on one drip line and is now able to take pain meds by mouth which he seems to appreciate very much :) He has also been removed from the ventilator and is breathing totally on his own. He does have a face mask on his mouth, but that is only to keep moisture in his mouth and throat. We are all pleased with his recovery so far and hopefully he will be out of intensive care soon. We love you Kaleb :)

My first visit with Kaleb

Today I went with Grandma Wayne to Primary Children's Hospital to visit with Kaleb.since I hadn't been up to the hospital since the incident, I was not really sure what to expect. We reached Kaleb's room in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) and immediately I began to cry. I did not expect to see my little cousin so swollen. My worries, however, quickly began to fade when Tina and Grandma explained how much improvement has taken place in the last week and a half. While we were at the hospital, I met the surgeon who worked on Kaleb's eyes. He explained that though Kaleb's eyelids are swollen, his eyes are healing. Though Kaleb was asleep, (he is heavily sedated and will continue to be probably for the remainder of this week,) he was moving his arms and legs. There was originally a lot of fear that that he would not be able to use his right side, however, the movement he is showing gives reason for optimism. The skin on the right side of Kaleb's scalp is necrotic. This basically means that the skin has died and is now a blackish color. When this happens, there is a possibility that though the skin looks so bad on the surface, it may be healing underneath. In this case, the dead skin eventually acts as a scab and falls off revealing the new healthy skin. If this is not the case with Kaleb, the doctors will have to use skin from Kaleb's leg as a type of skin graph. They are waiting and will make the needed decision when the time comes. Right now the key thing that everyone should know is that Kaleb is improving, even if it is slowly. I'll try to update this as much as possible so that everyone is on the same page. We love you Kaleb!