So... Chris ended up spending a whole week in the hospital.
He should have been discharged the day after the surgery but...
He experienced a surgical complication. A rather severe complication.
The wrong size bed was ordered for him, which to their credit the surgical team noticed. However they gave him the choice of postponing the surgery AGAIN or proceeding.
Obviously he chose to proceed.
He ended up spending 16 hours in the wrong bed in the wrong position, leading to positional compression. The compression led to spasming muscles down his entire left side. The spasming muscles led to severe rhabdomyolysis.
Via Wikipedia:
"Rhabdomyolysis is a condition in which damaged skeletal muscle breaks down rapidly.[3] Symptoms may include muscle pains, weakness, vomiting, and confusion.[3][4] There may be tea colored urine or an irregular heartbeat. Some of breakdown products, such as the protein myoglobin, are harmful to the kidneys and may lead to kidney failure.[3]"
The rhabdo was severe enough that it could have killed him.
Chris was able to walk into the hospital with a cane and normal amounts of pain, and able to do normal activities; a week later he was wheeled out in a wheelchair partially paralyzed and unable to take care of himself, with a desperate need for painkillers and muscle relaxants.
It was quite a shock.
Adapting has been difficult.
Christopher spent several days with his great-aunt while we managed this emergency.
The surgeon ordered biweekly visits from a home visit nurse and a physical therapy nurse. They're helping.
Chris is getting better.
However... between medical equipment that needed bought (including urinals, commodes, walker, foot braces, etc), parking, gas, meals, and in general handling this emergency, this surgical complication cost us around $1800.
And quite possibly 10 years off of my life...
The partial paralysis is much better. The edema is getting better. The kidney warning signs (which were BAD for a while) have greatly reduced. He's still bedridden and still needs much more help than usual, but he's slowly getting better.
But not gonna lie, this whole thing scared the living daylights out of us and cost us quite a bit. We're gonna make it though.
So as much as I would like to suspend fundraising, I can't. This really did us in, financially. But he's alive and getting better, and that's what matters.
I've still got the GoFundMe up and running, and PayPal to chris@chrisbyrne.com always works. Anything would help.
Thanks all,
Mel
