Never had such a good day!!

Well, we had our appt up at the University of Utah hospital burn center on Thursday. We were so worried about the new development on his back. The doctor told us that he just had an unusual amount of scar tissue and that there was nothing wrong with it. I was very happy to hear that news, but the best news (for Brandon that is) was that he could play football again. I know it sounds crazy, because it sounds crazy to me, but they said he could play positions like kicker, safety, etc. They told him to start

living life and that if he got reinjured that that would be his sign to back off of that activity. As a mom, I am a little nervous, but mostly happy. If you could have been in that room and could have seen his face. He lit up the whole floor!

They gave him a new compression vest that fits him much better and some new foam things that fit underneath the vest to put over the worst areas of scarring. It is supposed to put more pressure on the wound to help minimize scar tissue. They ordered him two more vests. He is so much happier since that appointment. We are happy for him too!

The picture above is of him on game day. He is in the SHHS shirt. Even though he didn't play on Friday, he got to be a part of history. It was the first football game ever played for this new high school. Pretty exciting.

Frustrated

Brandon's back isn't looking a whole lot better. I've been in contact with the U sending them photos and updates. It actually looked quite a bit worse last night, but didn't seem to be infected or anything. I don't know what it is. I'm worried that it is irritation from working out with the football team. It will crush him if he can't do anything. It's already hard enough. We couldn't get an appt today, but have one on Thursday. We'll know more then.

A small bump in the road

Things have been going pretty well for him, but for some weird reason he has developed a weird rash on his back. It started right after he got his compression vest. We are hoping he is not allergic to it. His donor site doesn't look too great. I emailed pictures to his therapist at the U of U. They gave us some ideas of things to try. We hope they work. It doesn't seem to be affecting the healing process to much though.

Brandon has been really active this past week with football practice (no pads or any type of physical contact), & a little bit of soccer. He has really regained a lot of stamina. He is almost back to being able to keep up at the same pace he was before the accident. He is amazing! It's hard to believe, but the doctors say that it might be possible for him to play football mid to end of September. I have to admit, it scares me a bit.

More trek pics and videos

Check out more trek pictures at our family blog: http://www.keepnitsunnysideup.blogspot.com

Thank you emergency responders!

Well, a couple of weeks ago I called the Mayor to ask how we could thank the emergency responders that saved Brandon's life. He suggested that we do it prior to the Salem City Days pageant. My first response was no because I thought Brandon wouldn't want to be in front of that many people, especially talking about something that was still a hot emotional topic. When I told him what the mayor said, he immediately said that he wanted to do it. I called the mayor back and told him we would be there.

My dad helped us prepare a picture to present them and Brandon prepared a few words to say.

It was so wonderful to be able to have to have the opportunity to recognize those wonderful volunteer firemen, police officers, & EMT's who were there at the scene of the accident. There is no way to ever repay them. I hope they know what a wonderful thing they did and how much we appreciate their service to help protect our community.

Click on this site and it will take you to our family site that links to the video and pictures from that night.

http://mahaffeyshandor.com/Pages/Cousins%20pages/Shannon/brandonspages/Brandon.html

Compression Vest is in!

Brandon is so happy that his compression vest is in (to the right of him on the tray). He will probably have to wear it 1 1/2 - 2 years. The purpose of the vest is to give the graft support and to minimize the scar tissue. The PT told us that we will see a big difference in the scar when we take it off for the first time. It will be more flattened, but after a little while (I got the impression it was a matter of minutes), it will look like it was before. I guess over time it does stay more flat.

The great thing about having the vest in is that he is able to do more activities (lifting with the football team is okay & he tried to bac to work half day today). It also will be much better than being wrapped in ace bandages. This first vest is a trial one (I guess they are quite expensive). They took measurements, he is supposed to try it out for a week, then they will order a couple more with all of the adjustments. We should have them by the end of the month. It will be so nice!

Brandon did open up a few little areas on his donor site at the trek and they are a little infected, but the doc showed us how to take care of them and they should heal up just fine. Everything is looking really well. As the graft heals, he gets really stiff. He is going to have to do a lot of stretching each day or his back will heal stiff. He is determined to not have that happen. I think his work will help with that too.

Well, it is quiet at my house, so I'm going to take advantage of it by doing some brainless stuff. I can't believe the summer is over!

He's home

He made it home!! He had a great experience and was even able to trek the last day. It was supposed to only be 4 miles, but turned out to be over 6 miles. His graft did really well and the nurses took exceptional care of him. He learned some amazing things while gone and we are so happy he had the opportunity to go. Here are a couple of pictures from when he arrived home. All the families were there to greet their children and were waving white hankies.

Westward Ho (actually it's Eastward Ho)

Thank you all for your prayers in Brandon's behalf. He is healing well and has been getting stronger each day. We had to cancel his appt on Monday due to the flu, but were able to get up to the U of U yesterday. Instead of hearing don't do this or that, we heard a lot more of - stretch this, do that. It was great to hear. Essentially, he is only restricted to the following things now: he can't be in water other than a bath/shower and he can sustain any bumping to the graft. He can bowl, practice kicking the football, and even lift weights once he gets clearance from the PT who is working with him on the feeling in his arm. He still gets tried really fast, but I'm sure that will come back pretty quickly.

As you can tell from the picture, he went on the trek this morning. He is not going to actually trek, but will be a support person in the base camp. He will help set up tents, cook food, etc. The leaders have been amazing to work with and have done so much to help him be a part of this wonderful experience.

Thanks to everyone for their part either in prayers or trek support to make this happen.

Trek decision

Brandon came home last night and is determined to go on the trek. It's hard to let him go, but I know it is the right thing to do. We will have a nurse come to our home tomorrow to learn the dressing change and we will be at the U of U hospital tomorrow to get more directions on care. We are praying that the last of his open wounds will heal. Anything is possible with the Lord. He has a lot of good people watching out for him that love him very much. I know he will be well taken care of. Now I need to have a leap of faith to not worry about him. Brandon is awesome.

Trek or not to Trek...that is the question Sat 26

Well, Brandon's compression vest did not come in today so we had to reschedule our appt for Monday afternoon. The trek is Wednesday. Brandon obviously cannot pull a handcart, but could possibly go as support personnel. He doesn't know whether or not he should go and neither do we. He still has some open wounds and he still doesn't have his stamina back. Tomorrow we will be doing a lot of praying to know whether or not he should go. On the one hand, we don't want him to go if he still has open wounds (which may possibly heal up by Wed) and he gets really tired quickly. On the other hand, it could be just what he needs. He will be with his friends and able to experience many amazing things. Please pray for him to know what to do and if he is to go. I know that if the Lord wants him there, his wounds will finish healing.

He is up and around now and hangs out with his friends for a few hours each day. He even helped me move a mattress (we are surprising Sarah when she gets back from St. George). He is going to Physical therapy right now and is slowing getting some of the feeling back in his arm. He does complain about his back being stiff, so he is trying to stretch as much as possible so his graft doesn't heal that way. He's been playing a lot of ping pong and is ready to take anyone on!

Every day we hear some new story about the night of his accident which help us to realize what a miracle it is that he is still with us. I've wondered why there are times that the fear of what could of happened sometimes overcomes me when I know we are so blessed. I finally realized that it is impossible to understand how truly blessed we are without recognizing what would have happened without those blessings. I guess that is what this life is all about. Without hard things, we would never experience the joy of the good things. Trials are our blessings from God.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Each day he is getting so much stronger. He begged to go to lifting with the football team and was going to supposedly sit out. Well, I think he did a few things with the free weights (against his mom and the doc's wishes). He was pretty wiped out, but did pretty well. He is excited to be a part of SHHS's first football team. He probably won't be able to play for a couple of months. Hopefully the season won't be finished by then. He will be good to go by soccer season though.

We did go to the family doc to address the lack of strength and feeling in his right arm. He referred him to a clinic in UVRMC in Provo. He will be going there in the morning. We hope it's nothing lasting and that he can work through it quickly.

He is really upbeat and has a great attitude. I think it will be a while before he is ready to get behind the wheel or to drive by the scene of the accident though. It's totally understandable. Time heals many wounds. He is an amazing young man!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The past couple of days have been great. He has almost returned to normal when it comes to his eating habits. He has really enjoyed all the fun foods everyone has brought him. He is starting to regain his strength again. He lost 15 lbs. during this ordeal. Josh F. has taken him on some walks around the neighborhood and yesterday he endured an entire afternoon of doc visits without a problem. It's great to have our Brandon back! He wants to go places and hang out, but he can't until next week. I keep telling him it's only a couple of days more. He definitely has cabin fever.

We were at the U again yesterday and they okayed him to go join his football team in learning new plays (by listening-not doing), but not for lifting yet. He should be able to start some lifting though in about 2 weeks. He can't do a whole lot until he gets his compression vest. We have another appt next Saturday and hope that it is in then.

As for the trek, he was hoping that he could still go as one of the support personnel. We won't know until a few days before. It all depends on his strength and whether or not his vest comes in and whether or not he still needs a dressing change each day.

His graft is looking really good and his donor site has almost healed. Every day it looks totally different (for the good). The compression garment will help protect his graft and will help minimize scar tissue. He has to wear sunscreen on it at all times to help minimize scarring too. His donor site, although healed, does not have any pigment yet. They said that that should come in time.

All in all, things couldn't be going better. We are blessed at the progress he has made. His sisters have been great through all of this. We have really appreciated the meals brought in these past few days as we have tried to get our feet back on the ground again. I think we'll finally have the last batch of clothes done today and will have waded through all the mail and bills. It's been weird being gone for so long and then jumping back into regular life, but things are starting to normalize around here. We have had kind nurses who live by us help us with his dressing changes. Some have come twice a day. We don't know what we would have done without them. We have had our ER doc neighbor check on him a couple of times to calm our concerns. Countless of you have visited or called or brought treats in. Some of you have driven 3-5 hours just to visit him for 10 minutes in the hospital. We have had a huge outpouring of love from the community. We don't know how to thank you all. Know that you have made a great impact on our lives. Thank you so much.

I probably won't post again until next Saturday when we go to the doc again at the U. He will be undergoing treatment for his neck and arm this week, but that will be minimal.

Doctors orders revised

Well, the doc didn't revise his orders, but Brandon has created his own. He seemed to do pretty well with visitors today. He ate quite a bit more and got around much better. He didn't take any pain meds to day, even for his dressing change. He is amazing! We have our Brandon back. It's so good to have him back. He still needs to take it easy and rest, but I think he is well on his way to returning back to the things he loves. We love you Bud!

Doctors orders & visitors

Many of you have expressed a desire to come and visit. This has really boosted his spirits. He would love to have visitors. The doctor does want him to rest a lot though, so we have to balance the two good things. If you can, please call before you come & maybe keep visits to 1/2 hour or less (just for the rest of this week) so that we can make sure he is sleeping too. I feel bad asking that when everyone has been so wonderful. He will probably not be too happy with me for writing this, but it's only for a few days.

Do still come and visit though! It helps brighten his day and makes it go by faster. When your happy, you heal faster. He just needs times in between that he can sleep.

If he can get his strength back quickly, he should be ready to hang out and do many things he was doing before. We get different answers on things, but he can play basketball around here as long as people aren't bumping into him and even do some lifting as long as his back isn't against a bench (that is-in about a week). Right now he has to do some simple PT stuff 3 times/day, a dressing change each day, and some walking a couple of times/day.

He will have to wear a compression jacket for about a year and a half. He should receive it in about two weeks. Once he has that on, he will be allowed to do much more. He probably won't be able to play football for about 2 months. We get different answers on that too. We will know more on Saturday.

He can eat anything now, but still doesn't want to eat a lot. Hopefully that will change today. I know once he starts eating, he will be up and going faster.

We are happy to have him home!! It feels pretty strange to be here though after being in a dark room in the ICU for over a week. (Dark by his choice) I know it will take a couple of days to get into the swing of things. All I can say is that we have been blessed at every turn through all of this. A day doesn't go by without seeing the Lord's hand in our lives. I know he pays attentions to the small details that help us out during our journey on this earth.

We love you guys!

Dad...I'm calling to say.....

I'M COMING HOME!!!!!

The doc said he would release him if he promised to stay home and come back on Saturday.
He has to rest A LOT and try to keep up with his eating.

We are so happy!

Thanks so much for your prayers last night. I know they made a difference.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 afternoon

Brandon has eaten some lunch, walked to the fourth floor for wound care (and back), and took another short walk. We paged the doc to see if he can go home. He is in surgery, so we have to wait. We should know in the next hour or so. We sure hope so!!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Your prayers were defintely heard!! I walked in his room this morning and was greeted with a "Hi Mom" and a smile. He had eaten a bunch of fruit for breakfast and quite a bit of the corn nuts I had left from the night before. He let me take him outside in the wheelchair and he even answered a couple of phone calls. Yeah!!! He still not able to text yet. He says it makes him really dizzy to look at the phone and try to text. You can still text him if you want. I'm sure he'll be able to read them in the next day or so if he keeps improving like this. He ordered lunch. My guess is that if he can tolerate that and dinner that they might let him go. I wonder if the methadone was what was making him sick. It takes a few days to get out of his system and today is the day it was supposed to be totally gone. We'll see.

Monday night

I guess he will be staying longer. He is still unable to eat. They can't seem to figure out why. They are testing for giardia (those results won't come back until tomorrow), and they did some blood work. The blood work came back okay, so that was great news. Please keep him in your prayers. He was very down when he found out he couldn't come home. I noticed that he had received texts, but he hasn't felt good enough to read them. Sorry. Maybe he can later on. You can continue to text him. It will give him something to do when he does feel a little better. Thanks so much for all your love!

Monday update

We had the dressing change and they had me gown up and do the change. I still have a lot to learn. I'm pretty slow at it, but should get faster the more I do it. His graft is taking really well.

Brandon is still really sick but also really wants to come home. He hasn't eaten for 3 days. They took more tests and we should get the results of the blood tests within the hour. If they can figure out for sure what is going on maybe they can send us home. I think there is a fine line between which care would be better, home or hospital. The care is great here, but it can be depressing being in here too long. He's definitely ready to go! I'll post again once the decision is made. They will discharge up to 7pm.

Monday July 14, 2008

He wants to go home SOOOOOO bad. He hasn't had pain meds for almost 24 hours which is amazing. He hasn't been able to eat though for almost 3 days. He has been so sick. He swallowed a bunch of swamp water in the accident and we wonder about Giardia. He has all the symptoms. They tested him last night, but it doesn't always show up. They said that he can go home as soon as we can get him eating again. He has a dressing change back in the burn ICU area at noon. I will talk with the doc again and see what we can do. Thanks for your prayers.

Sunday update

We have now been moved to the 6th floor. We can take him home as soon as he can start feeling better and I learn how to do all of the dressing change. It could be as soon as tomorrow if we can get him to eat. We appreciate all your prayers. We can hardly wait to get him home.

Sunday July 13th, 2008

Brandon is starting to become more mobile now. He can walk to the wound care room and bathroom with little assistance. It is so great to see him up and around. They took him off oxygen too. He is still trying to overcome being sick to his stomach all of the time. Once he kicks that, he will be able to really start making progress for coming home. That is his worst obstacle right now.

Today he was able to do the dressing change in the wound care room instead of his bed. He got to take a full shower for the first time in awhile (sitting in a chair with a spray nozzle). They had me gown up and they started teaching me how to do his dressing change. Tomorrow they will have me do even more. They also took out the remaining staples. They said that as soon as he is feeling better and I learn to do all of the wound care, they will send him home. His graft is looking good.

As the doc told us a few minutes ago, he has good news and bad news. The good news is that he is the healthiest guy in the ICU, but bad news is that now the ICU is full and there is a new admit in the ER. This means we are moving in the next little bit. We totally understand, but we've really learned to love the people on this floor. It's hard to leave. I will post again once we get moved.

Spanish fork Press & other photos

A neighbor gave us this article (we are still interested in finding the article from the Daily Herald if someone has it-Thanks). I posted it to our family website. I also uploaded some photos Doran took a couple of days after the accident.
The link is: http://mahaffeyshandor.com/Pages/Cousins%20pages/Shannon/brandonspages/newspaper%20article.html

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Shortly after we arrived at the hospital today they did a dressing change on Brandon. Our neighbor who is an RN was kind enough to come by a learn how to do it. She will be helping us when we get home with Brandon. Things look good. He has a few small spots that haven't taken yet, but they said the they will fill in over time. The graft has staples all around it. They took about half of them out today. Brandon will be happy when they are gone. They are pretty itchy.

Late yesterday afternoon Brandon started having a little trouble with his medications making him disoriented and also needed to go back on oxygen. He wasn't very good at exercising his lungs yesterday with that little breathing machine thing. I'll bet if he is diligent today, he can get back off of it. The nurses state that it is pretty normal for the meds to give people trouble. If I were to guess when he will be coming home, I would guess Tuesday or Wednesday. There's no definitive answer for now.

Overall, he is doing great. Physical therapy will be coming today and he will be able to get up for the first time. We are excited for that! I know I've said this before, but the staff here has been great!

Saturday afternoon:
Brandon got up for the first time today. They helped him walk around the nurses station 3 times. He felt like it was more like 30 miles I'm sure. Later in the evening we took him for his first wheelchair ride to see daylight. He wasn't feeling too well so we made it a short trip. I'm sure we'll be able to do a lot more tomorrow. He can hardly wait to get home!!!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Brandon has really started doing better today. He had a good dinner last night and ate a pretty good breakfast. It makes a big difference when he can get food into his body. His dressing change was seemed easier today today than yesterday. Tomorrow we have a dear neighbor (who is an RN) coming up to learn how to take care of him when we get him home. It's still a big question as to when he is coming home. Earliest we have heard was Monday, but some are talking about mid to end of next week. I guess it just depends on how things heal. It's looking pretty good. Tomorrow he might get a few of his staples out. He is excited because they may start letting him move around in the next day or two. He is only allowed to lay still on his back right now so that the skin graft can take and won't move around.

Brandon had a few visitors today and they played some football on the PS2. It was fun watching how the game made his heart rate go crazy. He had a great time, but Brandon caught a few Z's now and then and was sawing logs soon after the fun. He gets tired pretty easily.

All in all, things are going well. He has had exceptional care. The nurses and doctors are wonderful.

I have been reading him your postings and emails. We have really appreciated all your support! We have an amazing community.

Newspaper info

We have had some people tell us that they saw a news article written about his accident in the Daily Herald. It was sometime between July 2 (Wed)-July 5th (Sat). If anyone knows which day it is in or has a copy, we would be interested in getting a copy to keep for him.

Thanks

Thursday Morning

Today was a big day for Brandon. He had his first dressing change since the surgery. It went really well and there does not seem to be any complications right now. Things look good. The staff here is amazing and we know we couldn't be in any better hands. Everyone is wonderful from housekeeping to nurses to docs. We have never had better care. They allowed us to stay and watch while they all dressed in what looked like surgery garb from head to toe. They were very careful to have a sterile environment. We were amazed at how they could change his dressings, bandage him from shoulder to toe, and change his bedding and clothes without hardly even moving him.

Our guess from what the doctor was saying was that he would be here at least 4 more days. They didn't really set a date, but told us what they planned to do with him over the next four days.

Brandon had some company yesterday. He wasn't feeling well for one and was asleep for another visit. Everyone was so understanding. Thanks guys!

The nurse said that a dressing change is like running a marathon, so he is going to sleep well for the next few hours. We may run down to see Natalie for a bit at her gymnastics camp. She is here is SLC. Maybe Brandon will be up for a game on the playstation when we bring her back.

Wednesday morning

Brandon is such a fighter. He stills struggles with a lot of pain, but hardly ever complains. He still isn't sleeping much due to the pain, but catches a catnap here and there. His Uncle Greg dropped by after his shift at the Firehouse (he is a fire fighter in SLC) and brought by a hand held PSP. That has been great. Thanks Uncle Greg!

The phone reception is really bad here, so he is not able to text whenever he wants. Still text him when you can. Every so often I take his phone out into another area of the hospital to collect his texts. He has really appreciated all the notes from his friends.

He is still on track for a dressing change tomorrow. We will know more then. We feel your prayers. Thank you for all of your support!

Hospital Update-Tuesday July 8th

Brandon had skin graft's yesterday. They took the graft from the right side of his back. He in the Burn Trauma ICU at the U of U. The surgeon stated that the burns were worse than he thought, but that he should have a full recovery. He struggled with a lot of pain yesterday and last night mainly from the donor site. He is not allowed to move much at all. He has to stay in bed and has learned to eat many things with veryyyyyyyyy long straws.

He has done much better today. They have allowed him to lay on his side instead of his back and has not needed near as much pain meds.

He has his cell phone (which sometimes gets receptions and sometimes doesn't) and that has been a nice connection to the outside world.

The doctor came in this afternoon and said they would change his dressing on Thursday. After that he would probably need to stay in a couple of more days and then they would evaluate if he could come home.

Our understanding is that after a couple of weeks, he should be up and around. He will have to wear this very thin vest for a long time, but should be able to play football if he wants. He will have to come up to the burn center every month for a year for therapy and a check up.

I have been able to be here with him and have a dear friend who is letting me stay at her home at night. She lives fairly close to the hospital. Doran was with us yesterday, but is holding down the fort at home today.

Brief story of accident

Many of you have asked about the accident. Here is a brief version.

Brandon and some of his friends were leaving the new high school parking lot. Brandon was alone in our van and Josh had 4 others in his truck. They both exited through different exits, Josh was in front of Brandon. Brandon tried to pass Josh. The road quickly narrowed and Brandon hit a patch of gravel. He lost control of the van and over-corrected. It rolled once ejecting him into the wetlands by the high school. The van rolled two more times landing upright on his left side pinning him underneath it.

The ground was very wet (water was knee high when the adults walked out into it). His fall was cushioned by the mud and saved him when the van landed on him. Josh and Andrew quickly notified help and helped to find him in the marsh. Rescue workers, neighbors and his Dad quickly arrived to assist him. The more they tried to dig him out, the deeper the water became and eventually made it so that Brandon could no longer hold his head above the water. Although they had tried before to remove the van from him, they knew that they had no time left to wait for other help. Officer Nelson directed everyone to try to lift the van again yelling, "Now!". With the help of all those who were present and no doubt many angels, they were able to save him.

Brandon sustained a very serious 3rd degree burn on the entire left side of his back but had no broken bones or scratches.

He is a walking miracle. There is no doubt that he was saved by the grace of God. We are eternally grateful for all those who stayed by his side to save his life and to help with his medical care at the scene and for hours afterward in the hospital.

A special thanks to his buddies, Josh, Josh, Andrew, & Linda, & Salem city officers and rescue personnel, & medical help at Mountain View Hospital.

Brandon's Blog

We decided to start this blog to help keep everyone up to date on how things are going. We have had such an outpouring of love and support this last week. We have felt your prayers and appreciated all the notes, treats, and visits you have made in Brandon's behalf.

We love you all!