Goodies

Brandon wonders how we will get all these ballons home!! hahaha



Brandon has been very furtunate to get some gifts while staying at the hospital. He has received a box full of cookies, a bouqet of ballons, a basketfull of many different things, and some more ballons!! Just wanted to share these with you all.
Thanks so much everyone who has sent stuff, it is greatly appreciated and brightens the room.

New Pictures...always smiling

Right after surgery and recovery, this was the first time we saw him.


His face was pretty soar last night, so this was before the they put the medicine on.


Here he is in his Barney Rubble out fit with the PT!

Tuesday Morning

The energy bunny died lastnight. I am sorry I didn't get a chance to update the blog, we finally got to Brandon's room around 6pm. We were all so tired. I didn't even want to drive home lastnight. We finally left his room around 9mp. Those are the visiting hours 9am to 9pm. Once I went home I went straight to bed.

Everyone here in the Burn unit has been so nice. His first nurse was from Germany and she was so nice. She loved being in the states. She said she loved everything about the USA. Her dream was to come here, so 10 years she left Germany and came to Vandy. She is very happy here and has no plan on going back. So that was nice to here. But his nurse lastnight was really sweet, and then his nurses today have been really funny. They made some shorts for him they said they look like pirate shorts, but I think they look like Barney Reble shorts. (i have a picture I will post later).
Today when I got here, he said that his Donor leg was bleeding pretty good. (this is what they call the place where they took the skin from) It was bleeding more than they usually like to see. So they are keeping him probably for 3 days. Just so they can monitor his donor site and his pain. He said he finally felt the pain meds kick in this morning. The PT stopped by and made him walk around so he doesn't get stiff. So we are just hanging out in his room.

Prayer list....
1. His donor let to heal, and for the bleeding to stop.
2. Reduce the swelling in his arm, and the skin to take
3. His face for continueing healing.

Brandon's Room Info is...
Burn Center
11th Floor
Room 11220
He can have visitors from 9am-9pm. Only 2 in a room at a time, if anyone would like to visit. Just give me a call to check and see what is going on.

Thanks for all the support.

Still going & going

Brandon got out of surgery around 1:30 today. That is central time for us, and we still haven't seen him yet. It is now 5pm. The doctor came down around 1:15 and told us that he was out of surgery and that things went good. We were shocked though when she told us that she had to graph most of his right arm, she graft the shoulder, bicep, and forarm. Alot more that what we were told or thought would happen. I just hope that when Brandon wakes up he will be ok. We only though that his bicep would be graphed not the majority of his arm. She said that it just wasn't healing properly so that is why they did so much. She said his face is healing nicely, but it will take time. He has waken up from surgery, but he is in a lot of pain. And the pain is around his shoulder. We need to pray that that pain goes away. It kind of worries me, because the pain is suppose to be in his leg. So the nurse said she is shooting him up with a lot of drug so he is resting comfortably right now. Hopefully soon we will be able to go and see him. He will be spending the night tonight, and we will know more tomorrow. Everyone has been so supportive. Thanks for all the emails, messages, calls and everything you all our doing. Its nice to know that we have support during this time. I will write more later.

Oh if you would please pray for the family of Pastor Ray we meet his family at the hospital while waiting all day. A week ago he was in a car accident, and he has been in trauma 1 since then. He has numerous things wrong with him, and they aren't sure he is going to make it. He is a pastor here in Nashville at Cumberland Presbyterian Church here on Nolensville Rd. So keep his family in your prayers. If you want to read about him go to www.growingandgrowing.com.

I will keep you posted. Thanks for everything.

Its a Monday

So we arrived at 5:30 this morning thinking that everything would have been ready. Well welcome to mondays and hospital management. We went to the surgery check in desk, and nope couldn't find Brandon Hoop anywhere. So they told us to go to Admitting, to see if they could find him. So we went over there, and nope no Brandon Hoop there either. Finally we had a nice women work with us to try and fine what is going on. Basically what had happened was that they put everything under his Stat name. Some of you might wonder what a stat name is. Its a name they give a patient that is brought into emergency and they don't have enough time to get all their information. His stat name is Newburgh, Stat!
So she found the information out so we were booked in OR 3. So now the surgery isn't suppose to take place until 11. We are thankful that he is on the board and that he will have it done now.

Resting

Last night he was feeling better. As you can tell by the pictures! You can see a difference in his face!! We can.


We were all tired last night, Maddie was tuckered out!


Here is Nala in one of her favorite position when she sleeps!


The patient was starting to get lippy with me! He was feeling pretty good last night.


This weekend Brandon's parents came into town, to help with things. And let me tell you what a blessing that was. His mom is a Nurse, so her help has been greatly appreciated. His Dad, well lets just say he doesn't know how to rest. He came here with a servants heart this weekend. Helping around the house, trimming plants, cleaning, and just doing things Brandon would be doing if he could. This was a great help. His mom helped with cleaning and cooking and taking care of Brandon while I get things done by running around, yesterday I seemed like I was on the go picking up things, taking Maddie to the vet and so on. Last night I was really tired, but we did all go out and get Ice cream.
Brandon has been doing really good. The mornings are harder. He usually is running a temp. His arm is swollen, so we need to make sure that he is keeping it propped up. The evenings he becomes himself more. Especially tonight because its sunday night football, and his team is on GO BEARS!!
Just so you all know his face is getting much better, today though it was really sensitive so we couldn't do as much scrubbing. He is taking morphine around the clock, and if the pain becomes over powering he has codine. He is eating lots of protein, and drinking tons of Propel. He needs to be drinking lot of water. I need to get things around for tomorrow. It will be a early morning for sure. Leaving the house at 4:45am, since he needs to be at the hospital around 5:30. I will update tomorrow. Hopefully they will have wireless internet!

Two Days

Waiting to be discharged from the hospital

The black badges are made of silver, and silver is very good on the skin.

The upper part near his shoulder, basically on his bicept is the area that is going to get the skin graft. Not sure the size of the area yet, but it won't be the whole are you see covered.

The first night, as you can see the swelling is beginning.

The second day. The darker spot is the area we need to scrub! But you can see the healthy skin!

Things the past two days have gone rather smoothly. Brandon is doing good. We are scrubbing his face 3X a day. Slowly the dead skin is coming off. The new skin looks good, healthy and white! Today however he wasn't feeling that good. He woke up and needed more pain meds, and slept most of the morning. He didn't really have much of an appetite and was running a temp. But around dinner time he was getting hungry which is a good sign, and was in better spirits tonight. Brandon's parents arrive friday night, and that was a great blessing. This morning I was running around like crazy. When i got home this morning from going to the grocery store, Maddie has decided that she wasn't feeling good. So I called the vet, and took her there and got her taken care of as well. Attached are some pictures that we have taken the past couple of days. Not sure if some of you have seen these or not. I will update tomorrow as well, with new pictures.
Yesterday his face was pretty swollen in the morning and from then on the swelling has decrease, so that has been a huge blessing.
Thanks for all your prayers!