January 31, 2009: Ana's county-provided trauma insurance expires today. Not only is she uninsured at the hospital where she's currently being treated, she no longer has coverage at the facility where she was being treated for the past 9 1/2 months. I shared my "Angels for Ana" website idea and she agreed to let me give it a shot.
January 29, 2009: Thankfully, Ana's staph infection can be treated with antibiotics. The doctors believe that Ana's wounds are healing. Slowly, but surely. They wanted to do skin grafts (from her own body, not a petri dish) but want to monitor her for a few more days to see how the wounds are healing on their own. She's in much better spirits today.
January 28, 2009: The doctors confirm that Ana does have a staph infection and that may be the reason why the skin has come back off and her wounds are so sore. It will be another day before the tests confirm if the staph can be treated with antibiotics or not. If not, this could be a life-threatening infection. Ana sounds terrible and my heart breaks for her at the thought of this setback.
January 27, 2009: Physical Therapists and nurses at the hospital have told Ana she has to walk, walk, walk. They made her walk to the gym and back and climb a few flights of stairs. This is the first time since April that she's been on stairs, as the last doctors told her she was not allowed and had to go up and down on her tush. The new therapists also showed her why the way she had been walking was wrong, and her helping to re-teach her how to walk again. They are also providing the appropriate level of pain medication to ease with the pain from the therapy. Though exhausted, she sounds more hopeful and optimistic today than she has in many months.
January 26, 2009: Ana decided to visit Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn (Trauma) Center for a second opinion on her wounds. She knew the hospital did not take her temporary insurance and could not provide her with any, since she does not live in the county where the hospital is located. Upon seeing her injuries, the doctors determined that she most likely had a staph infection and had to be admitted for further observation and treatment. They told her that her burns looked about 3-4 weeks old. They happened 9 1/2 months ago.
Ana was asked to provide a $17,000 deposit (the cost of 5 days at the hospital, not including doctors or medication). Unable to pay, Ana told the doctors she could not stay. The doctors and nurses went to bat for her and got her a bed. They expect she'll stay for 1-2 days. However, the bill will still follow.
January 24, 2009: Ana's spirits are low. The wounds are once again becoming very painful and have been burning badly for several days. About 10 days ago, the new skin that had been covering the wounds began to come off, leaving the wounds open and exposed once again. She is not able to take as many steps on her own.
January 9, 2009: I took the day off from work to do some projects around the house. I brought Ana to my house so we could spend the day together while I worked, and was thrilled to see that she was able to walk short distances on her own without the help of the walker. A thin layer of skin is finally beginning to cover the open wounds.
December 2008: Ana has started Physical Therapy again and is beginning to build strength in her feet, ankles, legs, hips and back once again. By the end of the month she'll finally be able to take a few steps with the help of a walker... her first steps since the accident back in April.
August 2008: This picture was taken on Ana's birthday, you can see the bandages on her legs and feet. She's admiring a gift that my daughter Rachel made for her, and on her lap is a quilt we made for her. It's in shades of her favorite color (purple!) and has embroidered hand prints of her 3 sons and 2 grandsons.June 12, 2008: The skin grafts from last month had been healing well, but last week when Ana went to have the bandages changed (she had been going once/week, no more in-home nurse), the bandages were stuck to the skin and in the process of removing them, the skin grafts came off with the bandages. Ana’s wounds are back to where they were prior to the procedure. She is now going twice/week to have the bandages changed in the hopes they won't get as "stuck" in a shorter period of time, but the changing and cleaning is very painful. In addition, she now has started physical therapy (at home) 3 other days/week, which leaves her in a lot of pain. It's been 2 months since the accident and she's not walking yet. In addition to her feet and legs, her hips and back are sore from not moving enough, and she'll need intense PT on those areas, as well.
May 5, 2008: After weeks of back-and-forth between doctors, they have decided that skin grafts are in order. They have decided to use grafts from a petri dish, not Ana's own skin.
April 25, 2008: A nurse begins coming to Ana’s house to clean her wounds daily. I was with her today. I let her squeeze my hand to ease the pain during the cleaning, and I hope to have the feeling back in my fingers within a few says. The foot of the stuffed bunny she was biting (to keep from screaming) managed to stay attached by a few threads. After washing her feet and legs, the nurse put on creams made to eat away at the dead skin so the new skin could grown. The cream is very painful because it eats the good skin, too. This is the first time I’ve seen Ana’s burns and I’ve never seen a horror movie that even comes close. I can’t imagine the pain she is in.
April 24, 2008: Ana is admitted to the hospital in the morning to have a surgical procedure to clean her feet. Due to the severity of the burns (3rd degree), however, the doctor decided not to do this procedure and instead explore the option of skin grafts. She was released from the hospital in the afternoon.
April 23, 2008: Ana is out of the hospital but must return every few days to have her wounds cleaned and bandages changed. She must go to one specific burn clinic (at the trauma unit of the hospital where she was first treated) due to limitations of her temporary insurance. The latest treatment has been "whirlpool cleanings" where she is placed into a large whirlpool to help loosen the dead skin on her legs and feet, which is then scrubbed off with a brush to make way for the new skin growth. The pain, even with medication, is so severe that she is in an out of consciousness during these cleanings. The doctors decided today to admit her to the hospital and put her under to do the cleaning.
April 14, 2008: Ana is still in the hospital but is able to sit up in a chair for the first time in 3 days, though still not allowed to put weight on her legs. She is reacting (with nausea) to every pain medication the doctors have tried, so each round of pain meds is followed by a round of anti-nausea meds. Very good news, though, is that she qualified for a county-provided insurance coverage which will cover her trauma-related care and some amount of after-care and physical therapy.
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April 12, 2008: Ana returned to the hospital to have her bandages changed. Her body temperature was dangerously low (she was in shock) and the blisters and pain were considerably worse. She was admitted to the trauma unit for observation and treatment. She was told it would be several days before she’d be able to walk on her own.
April 11, 2008: Ana received very severe 2nd and 3rd degree burns to both legs and feet (above the knees to the toes) when a large pot of boiling water tipped over next to her. Fortunately, there were other people nearby who were able to throw her into a sink, pour cold water on her legs, remove her shoes and call 911. She was air-lifted to the closest trauma center where she was treated and released with instructions not to put any weight on her legs or get them wet. Ana did not have any medical insurance.
