Persons attempting to find a "text" in this [story] will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a "subtext" in it will be banished; persons attempting to explain, interpret, explicate, analyze, deconstruct, or otherwise "understand" it will be exiled to a desert island in the company only of other explainers.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR - Wendell Berry's introduction to Jayber Crow.
As of this week, my brother Brian is able to walk for the first time in 2 years without the aid of a wheelchair, walker, or crutches. What a great week!
On June 21st, 2005, Brian was in a motorcycle accident, suffering broken bones, severed ligaments, nerves, and arteries in both legs. Thanks to a number of surgeries, a lot of rehab, and a lot of prayer, Brian was miraculously able to keep both legs.
Here is a link to all of the articles posted to Jayber about Brian’s recovery.
Since the accident, Brian has gone through a roller coaster of physical therapy and recovery — too many ups and downs to list here. However, due to one more surgery a few weeks ago, he’s now able to put all of his weight on both legs, and walk without aids.
Although this is by no means the end of the healing process, it is a major testament to God’s healing hand, and a significant milestone in Brian’s recovery. Congratulations bro!
Here’s a picture of Brian and I from Brian and Jill’s wedding in 2004:
Almost 8 months ago, right after my Brother’s motorcycle accident, our family was ecstatic to report that he had pink feet. This week, I’m tickled pink (pun intended) to announce that Brian has cold feet. Boo-yah! Read on for an exciting update on Brian’s recovery.
Since the accident, Brian’s been making continuous progress, but has not had much of any feeling in his lower-left leg—neither pressure, nor temperature sensitivity.
This week, while Brian was putting his foot into a tub of wash-water that Jill (his wife) had prepared for him, he noticed that something was different.
Brian said to Jill, who was in the other room, “Hey Jill, the water’s cold.” Jill came running in. “What did you say?”, she said in disbelief. A pause ensued. “IT’S COLD!”, they hollered simultaneously.
Some other updates:
For those of you that know about my brother Brian and the accident he was in this past summer, you may be interested to know that last week, he played his first bit of tennis.
On Monday, I had a USTA match at the Wooddale Rec Center and Brian and Jill came to watch. Afterwards, Brian and I went out on a vacant court and played a game of Short Court which is just a version of tennis that you play up close to the net.
Some of the other guys on my team saw him play, and immediately knew why he was a MN state doubles force. He’s always been a great player and it was cool for people to be able to see him volleying so well even though his lateral movement was limited.
It was an especially encouraging day for Brian. Tennis has played a big part in our family’s life as both Brian, Heidi, and myself, played a lot growning up. Brian even started the Men’s tennis program at Southwest State University.
Brian continues to make steady progress in his recovery. Thanks for your prayers. The main concern still remains: that feeling would keep returning to his left leg.
As many of you know, my brother Brian Benson got in a motorcycle accident this summer. Over time, he’s moved from ICU, to a hospital room, to a wheel chair, to crutches, and now: he’s able to walk completely on his own!
Aunt Karen and Brian
Even though Brian’s able to walk without help of external apparatuses, he’s still taking it easy since he needs to keep on building up his muscles. If he walks for very long at all, his knees regret it. So, please keep praying for his body to keep healing and rebuilding.
Also, something that you can keep in mind is that Brian doesn’t have much feeling in his lower left leg. This is likely because of nerve damage from the accident and the doctors say, will continue to heal for up to 2 years. We’re unswervingly optimistic.
Thanks for everyone’s support yesterday at the benefit in Willmar, MN. And congratulations to Brian on this great milstone!
My Dad sent me a copy of an article that ran in the West Central Tribune (our hometown newspaper) yesterday about Brian’s accident. As my Dad said about Rand, the author: “he got most of it right”. Here’s a transcript of the article.
Benson recovering
West Central Tribune, Wed September 21, 2005Brian Benson was a co-captain, co-MVP and state doubles qualifier (all with Kyle Rice) in the 1999 tennis season before going on to play tennis at Ridgewater College. On June 21st in Bloomington, where he lives, Benson was in a horrific motorcycle accident breaking both legs in three places. He spent three weeks in the hospital. Surgeons rebuilt the shattered limbs with rods, plates and skin grafts. Damage to the right leg was more extensive. Full sensation has not yet returned.
His mother Darlene said this week that her son just got out of wheelchair and is on crutches and able to drive. He is back at work half-days for a tool and die company.
Apparently Brian’s Suzuki hit a pothole. He was thrown into the metal post supporting a “No Parking” sign. He was wearing a helmet.
Darlene said her son is in “amazingly good spirits” and determined to regain full use of his legs.
A benefit is being planned by members of First Baptist Church from noon-2 p.m. Oct. 30.
Today, at Brian’s visit to the doctor, they gave him the go-ahead to use crutches!. This is so exciting! Read on for details.
Quoting Brian and Jill:
FROM 4’3” TO 6’1” IN 90 DAYS!!!!!
WITH 3 EASY PAYMENTS OF $150,000 YOU CAN DO IT TO!
Hey Guys this is Brian and Jill here with a little update and some exciting news. I went into the hospital today (the 8th of Sept) to let the doctor tell me what I wanted to hear. X-rays were at 1:30 and the appt was at 2:00, all the bones are either healed or in the last stages of healing.
This is exciting because the last x-rays taken showed a rather large chunk of bone still missing from the right Tibia and the plate on the high break via left Tibia was termed a Non-Union and so in home ultra-sound ensued to help the plate adhere to the bone.
Well it worked because in 3 short weeks I filled the divot in the R Tibia and the plate has adhered enough to warrant me putting about 40lbs of pressure on it. I officially have the go ahead to put all my weight on the right leg which grants me crutches as well, which in my opinion is long overdue :)
A couple minor questions that we had were also answered in our favor, one being if there was any reason why I shouldn’t drive and the answer being no reason, feel free. I can now put the left leg in the shower with me which I couldn’t before because the skin graft was still healing aggressively. Also I will be getting what is called an AFO (Ankle Foot Orthotic) which is small enough to put inside a shoe …. Cool eh?
So now I have shoes on both feet the only catch being that the left shoe is a size 13W and the right shoe is a size 12. But now that the crutches have arrived and the left leg is able to bear a little weight and can now go through walking motions which then means the ankle, knee, and tendons will be stretched by default. I like that.
Thank you all for your good thoughts as I look forward to giving more progress reports in the future. In the mean time….it’s all Physical Therapy and Working Out!!
Adios for now
~Brian and Jill~P.S. I can now stand up to pee!!!!!
Here’s a couple more photos from today.
Brian paid a visit to the doctor yesterday to get X-Rays, and to see how his wounds were healing. Again, I wasn’t able to be there, but Mom and Dad (and Jill of course) were. Here’s the low-down from Jill.
Dennis and Darlene made the trip last night to spend a big day at HCMC with Brian and me. We went to the see Dr. Templeman at 9:30am only to find that he was on vacation. Brian had X-rays done, was seen by Dr. Templemans substitute, and talked with an Occupational Therapist. We got some good news and some not so good news.
The good news is that the skin graft and wounds look great. Brian has the go ahead to take a shower. The OT was able to adjust his boot so we may be able to keep theone we have. There is bone grow in every area, which we can tell by cloudiness on the X-rays.
The not so good news is that the bone growth isnt quite how the doctors want it to be before weight bearing takes place. Therefore, Brian was not able to take his 2ndfirst steps today.
Although, he was upped from about 20-30% to 50% of his weight on the right leg, so we are going to help him be upright, using a walker, tomorrow. We were all disappointed about the not so good news but we know that it will happen in three weeks at our next appointment.
After HCMC we went out to eat at Dennys for some breakfast at 1 pm. Then, we went to the Minnesota Zoo where we saw lots of animals, took tons of pictures, and we went to the IMAX and saw African Safari. It was a good show but with a lot of movement so we came out a bit tipsy.
While we were traveling the grounds, Brian was eager to wheel up every hill that was in our path. We were all amazed. He is bound and determined to get back to 100%. We are all behind him and praying the next visit will grant him his 2ndfirst steps.
In the mean time, he is doing physical therapy three times a week (doing exercises at home on the other days), using ultrasound twice a day to stimulate bone growth in two areas, and stretching threetimes a day to increase range of motion, along with the all the everyday things.
A few people have asked how Brian’s surgery went yesterday. Who better to tell you, than Brian and Jill themselves? Since I’m in Santa Barbara and haven’t been able to be around, Brian and Jill sent me the following update via the miracle of Email.
Jill says:
Brian was scheduled for surgery at 1:00 pm. They called us at 10:45 am and asked if we could get there any earlier since there was a cancellation. We took off as soon as we could. Brian was to the OR by 12:15 pm where he waited until 1:48 pm. My being the resourceful wife that I am searched for him since it had been so long. I found him still in pre-op talking with his 2nd favorite nurse Prudence. He said they were saving someone elses leg so he was willing to wait. Brian, I might add, was very calm the whole day through.
Surgery lasted 33 minutes and consisted off manipulations of both knees. Basically the doctors just crank on them. They got the right leg to 130 degrees. Prior to surgery he could only bend to 90 degrees. Brian was a bit concerned that the guys who were going to be doing the manipulations were big guys.
Brian continues:
The aftermath of this surgery is one of extreme soreness. You can imagine, as Jill stated above regarding the degrees of bending, my muscles are really sore. It’s like having a partner stretching you in an athletic setting only to have them go twice as far as your legs could actually go. Manipulation - 2. The act of touching with the hands, of the skillful use of hands. So I’m sure that it was successful although it’s hard to say since it seems rather difficult and painful to stretch them at all right now.
A couple of other things that have developed since the surgery and my talking with Dr Templemen. The most prominent thing in my mind is the guarantee that I will be on crutches at the next Dr. Visit which is in 15 days, so in the mean time it means that I get to stretch like crazy and get the upperbody stronger. The other thing is that the open wound on the top of my left tibia is closing on it’s own so they didn’t close it and they also didn’t put a short cast on the left leg which I am happy about which also means that there was no need to put a wound vac on again which I was really not excited about.
Last night, my Dad, Aunt Annette, Cousin Ashlee, and a few other close friends got back from their 10-day trip to the Ukraine with the MBC, and Brian and Jill were there to greet them!
I’ll write more about the Ukraine trip specifically after I get some more stories out of my Dad, but I want to update you on Brian and Jill’s status.
Brian is continuing to heal at home and is going to the hospital for X-rays each week. The doctors have been waiting for Brian’s bones to grow around the rods that were put in his femurs, fibulas and tibias. His femurs are now both healed, and ready for applied pressure. His fibulas and tibias need a bit more time to heal which has been expected.
After Brian’s fibulas and tibias are healed, he’ll be able to start applying pressure to them and begin a more involved physical therapy program.
The next thing coming up, is a surgery that is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday). At this surgery, the doctors will be breaking up some calcium deposits in Brian’s left leg. This surgery will further enable Brian’s leg to heal properly.
For those of you that are wanting to know how you can pray, here are a few things:
Brian and Jill are now back online. They have an internet connection at their new place and are now beginning to read through all the comments you have written here. Here’s a special message from Jill.
First off, THANK YOU (That’s you!!) so much for all the prayers, love, and support! It’s all appreciated.
Brian’s happy, healthy, well—you name it—cells are doing great work to heal his legs and help him regain his overall strength. Speaking of strength, I cannot even begin to tell you how much God given strength Brian has shown through all of this. He is a real warrior. Warrior with style too. He is time and time again showing concern for other people and eager to be in conversation and cracking jokes, if I might add, even while the paramedics were working on him. They didn’t know how to respond but I couldn’t help but crack a smile and let out a slight giggle. Brian gave and continues to give me so much hope through it all. Borrowing from what Mark (Brian’s brother) has already shared in an update Romans 5 really shows God’s power. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Because God is so awesome, He has given His love to us all and specifically given Brian his hope, character, and perseverance which are far out-weighing his suffering.
I have faith that God will heal Brian. God has been sending his angels to watch over us all through this tough time. Two recaps of purposeful prayer answered…Mom Gustafson offered a prayer in a time of frustration when the nurses could not get the vac to work on Brian’s left leg. This was an issue throughout the hospital stay but this time it had been quite a few hours with minimal flow until it became totally blocked. Mom Gustafson prayed with me and when I returned to the room it was working again. A few days later Brian was scheduled for a 2:30 pm skin graft surgery and with having to be NPO (nothing per oral) since midnight the night before every surgery thus far he was understandably tired of it in more ways than one. I asked Mom Benson to pray for an earlier time, she did, and they came to get him for surgery at 7:30 am. God is good.
Brian and I are enjoying our new home. We are so thankful for our family and friends and beyond that for the friends of our family members who have been there for them so they can be there for us. Thanks. Love, Jill
My updates on Brian’s recovery are going to less often now that he’s out of the hospital, at home and resting, but I want to tell you about his trip to the hospital yesterday.
Jill and I loaded Brian up in the car and took him to the Orthopaedic Clinic at HCMC where they removed all of his staples and stitches (except for around the skin grafts) and checked to see how the skin grafts were doing.
Everything went well, and the skin grafts are taking hold as expected. The next scheduled appointment is next week on Thursday (July 21st) for X-rays.
Brian’s currently sleeping quite a bit, and lying down most of the time, but he’s more-than-able to get up and around in his wheelchair. These next few weeks will require patience while he continues to heal and his bones continue to strengthen. He’s really looking good, and doing great!
May God bless you for your kindness and faithful prayers,
Heidi (Benson) Sheard
More info on Brian’s recovery »Today has finally arrived. It’s sooner than I had expected, but things are going so well with Brian’s recovery, that he is going home today.
Yesterday, early in the morning, the VAC machine was taken off Brian’s left leg and his left leg was then rebandaged. That went as planned—although it was somewhat uncomfortable for him.
After taking the VAC off, they were better able to assess the progress of the skin grafts. These are taking hold well and there are no surprises. Thanks for praying about this.
So the plan is for Brian and Jill to go home this evening. Mom and Dad (Darlene and Dennis) are coming to the hospital today with a wheelchair for Brian that he can take home with him.
Brian will be coming back to the hospital for X-rays periodically, starting this Thursday to check the progress of his bone growth. If his bones grow back fast enough and healthy enough, he won’t need any bone grafting. This is something that Jill asked that I put up here so that people can pray about it. Another surgery means a longer recovery time. So, if it’s possible to avoid this, it would be nice.
Regarding physical therapy and rehabilitation, this is in the process of being worked out. Brian will definitely have exercises to do at home, and it’s likely that he will go to an outpatient rehab clinic periodically as well. More on that later when I know more.
I’ve got some remarkable news. Yesterday and today, Brian has been tooling around in the wheelchair; and today, Brian (with the help of Jill only) was able to get in to the wheelchair by himself! The doctors and nurses have been waiting until this point to start the discussion of when he will be ready to go home and it looks to be sooner than I had expected!
The two things that the doctors and nurses have been waiting for before Brian can go home are:
After today, number one (1) is finished, and after tomorrow, number two (2) will be complete as the nurses are planning to take the VAC off right in Brian’s room—he won’t need to make another trip to the OR (operating room.)
With all this complete, Brian’s on schedule to go home on Monday! Jill is already making plans for transporting him home, and making sure things are situated when he gets there.
For those of you who want to know what to pray for, please pray that taking the VAC off tomorrow will go well. This will also be the first time that they will really get to see how the skin grafts are doing.
Mandy and I brought a pizza to Brian and Jill over lunch today. When we arrived in his hospital room, there was no one to be found. Jill wasn’t in her usual spot on the couch and Brian wasn’t in his usual spot: his bed!
We asked nurse Dave where they had gone. Nurse Dave said that Brian was in his wheelchair again, and that he and Jill were out on an excursion, touring the hospital.
Mandy and I started walking down the hallway to try and find them and when we turned a corner, we saw Brian coming right at us, wheeling himself. I said, “hey brother, you’re looking straight money.” He responded, “I’m trying to race Jill back to the room.” Jill was walking about 15 feet behind him and neither of them were going very fast, but it was great to see him scooting around on his own. He said later on that it felt good to exert some effort and use his muscles.
The main update for today is that Brian is now off of the continuous IV drip that he has been on for the previous 15 days. He’s taking pills (Percocet) a couple of times a day for the pain. They’re no longer monitoring his heart rate or his oxygen saturation. He’s got a lot less wires.
Thanks for all of your prayers. Brian is at a very low pain level, is recovering on schedule, and does not have any infections. We’re so thankful for these blessings. God continues to take care of him.
Brian got another chance today to get out of his hospital bed and in to his wheelchair. Jill was running some errands, but Roger (Jill’s Dad) was there, and gladly took Brian on a field trip down to the end of the hall and back to play some checkers.
While Brian and Roger were playing checkers, a nurse came by and took his blood pressure. A little while later, the Physical Therapist came by and put on his foot plate. When Mandy and I were at the hospital after work today, he was telling me about his excursion and how he couldn’t get away from the nurses. He told me, “jeez, can’t a guy just play some checkers in peace?”
Brian is doing really great. His legs are still very tender and the doctors say that it will be a little more than a month before he’ll be able to put pressure on them. But, so far, no infections, and he’s continuing to make progress each day. He’s an amazing kid.
Brian had two physical therapy sessions today where they tested the full range of motion in his right leg. This involved moving his leg around and bending it at the knee and ankle. This did not cause much of any pain and Brian actually said it felt good to feel it move like that again. The physical therapist also worked with Brian’s left ankle. He’s got less mobility in that ankle and they didn’t try to move anything else on that side today.
Please be in prayer now for the physical therapy sessions and for Brian’s body as it heals. The doctors are putting foot plates on his feet that stretch out the back muscles and tendons. Their goal is to get his feet to the 90-degree point—as they would be if he was standing. He’s making great progress.
After a good night’s rest, the doctors came and got Brian at 7:30 AM (earlier than we had thought) this morning and took him to the operating room for his last planned surgery: skin grafting.
Brian got out of surgery around 12:30 PM and has had some discomfort in his left leg. But things went well.
Today, Brian dozed in and out of sleep and Heidi and Jason visited over lunch. He had his pain medication changed from a Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) to an Oxycodone (Percocet or Percodan, I can’t remember which) which will hopefully reduce the numbers of hallucinations and bad dreams he has been having.
The reduced pain (and reduced pain-medication) is an answer to prayer. Thanks for praying everybody. Brian is doing great and he is relieved to have all these surgeries finally over with.
Today was the first day that Brian was out of Bed! The nurse, along with help from a few of us, lifted Brian from his hospital bed, to a wheelchair. We then then took him for a walk around the hospital and outside for some rays of sun.
This was great for Brian. He told me afterwards that he felt dizzy because he almost got too much fresh air, but that it felt good to get out and around, to smell different things, and to see some changing scenary.
It was good to see that his legs were alright even when the wheelchair would go over small bumps. Until now, they’ve been sensitive enough that it’s painful to even lay a sheet over him.
The nurse said that Brian should ask to get out of his bed and in to that wheel chair once or maybe twice per day. This is a milestone in his recovery.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), Brian is going to have his skin grafting operation. I’m not sure as of the time. Please be in prayer for that as I think it will be one of his last surgeries.
Brian’s I & D went well today. His left leg has been very swollen, and the doctors tried to remove dead tissue in order to reduce the size of his leg in preparation for the skin grafting operation early this coming week.
Following the surgery, Brian was in a lot of pain again, as has happened each time following his I & D operations. Please keep praying about the pain, it takes a lot of mental energy for him to try and keep on top of it and it wears him out.
Today, about 20 members of our family helped move Brian and Jill’s belongings from their old townhouse to their new townhouse that’s on ground level and will be easier for Brian to move in and out of in his wheel chair.
For dinner, everyone came to our house for a BBQ and birthday celebration for Heidi. Happy Birthday Heidi!
As far as prayer for Brian, please be praying in anticipation for his skin grafting operation that’s coming up this week. I’ll write more when I know when it will be.
Today was the first day that Brian has been able to lay on his side. Until now, he’s been flat on his back. After he was rolled over, he got a good backrub from his nurse. He said afterwards, “That was the best back rub of my life.”
Brian has another I & D scheduled for tomorrow morning. He’s still healing well, but the doctors are being pro-active in making sure that nothing get’s infected. Thanks for your constant prayers about this.
Brian’s pain medication has been lowered a bit. He gets to have a clicker that he can use to bump the pain medication if he needs it. Today, he didn’t use it very much at all. This is great news as he’s been in a fair amount of pain over the last 1.5 weeks.
Today, a bunch of family finished painting Brian and Jill’s new townhouse. Tomorrow, we’ll move their furniture and clean up their old place.
Prayer requests:
Today, Brian had a successful I & D operation. It lasted 4 hours and he got out around 6:00 PM. Following the operation, he was in a considerable amount of pain. The doctor came and increased his medication which has helped.
Around noon today, Heidi and Jason visited, and this evening, Roger and Fran (Jill’s parents), Ann and Jeff (Jill’s sister and brother-in-law), and Francis (Jill’s great aunt) visited.
This evening, to try and get through the pain, Brian suggested that we all sing a song together. He was the leader and we were the choir. He said, “I’ll sing the first verse, and you join me in the second.” He began:
Every cell
Every little cell
Every little cell
Is extremely well
Every cell
Every little cell
Every little cell
Is very healthy
(Repeat)
We sang this probably 10 times through, until Brian told us, “OK everybody, last time”. We finished with grand gusto.
Yesterday, Ann (Jill’s sister) and Roger (Jill’s dad), started painting Brian and Jill’s new townhome. This weekend, a few of mom’s siblings are coming to help finish the paint job and move furniture.
This weekend will probably be pretty quiet and hopefully restful; there aren’t any surgeries planned. The skin grafting is tentatively scheduled for early next week.
Thanks for praying everybody. The main prayer requests for this weekend are A) rest; and B) that Brian’s body would continue to heal.
Today, Brian is eating solid food and his body is getting used to digesting again. Previously, he was being fed intrevenously, and in recent days, he’s been eating Jello and Chicken Broth.
I’ve been reading comments to Brian that have been posted here, and he has been greatly encouraged. Thanks for all the words of inspiration.
In addition to digital letters, Brian has a multitude of cards and gifts all over his hospital room. Just by walking in to his room, you can see visually how much he is loved.
Tomorrow (Friday), Brian is going to have another, and possibly final, I & D (Irrigation and Debridement). Starting at midnight, he will not be able to drink or eat anything, and won’t be able to until the surgery is over.
There have been a number of answers to prayer since yesterday:
In case you weren’t keeping track, each of these answers to prayer directly correlate with the prayer list that I posted yesterday. Our God is faithful and is taking care of Brian and Jill. We can’t thank you enough for your prayers.
I want to share something personal. My friend Dan Lehto has been encouraging me daily with verses and Emails, and today, he reminded me of Romans 5 which says:
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.Those are motivating, and perspective-forming words. Sometimes it’s hard to see God’s plan when we see suffering laying on a bed right in front of us. The reminder that perserverence produces long-term benefits is revitalizing and heartening.
Brian is recovering like a champ.
Brian’s surgery lasted 4 1/2 hours today. His left leg is now all stitched up and has two rods (in his femur and tibia) and a metal plate on his tibia as well. Evidently, the doctors were also contemplating putting a plate on his left femur, but when they were in the surgery, they found that the fracture wasn’t as bad as they thought and they didn’t need it.
Brian was sleeping a lot of the afternoon and evening, but he’s awake now. Mom and Dad were here for the entire day; they just left to go back to Willmar.
In the early evening, Brian was very hot. He asked the nurse for a bag of ice. He used it to cool off his arm pits which did the trick!
Later this evening, he was feeling extremely restless. He was in a fair amount of pain and his mind was racing about nothing in particular. He couldn’t listen to music, or have lights around, or people talking. He was just generally irritated. We had the nurse come in and she gave him some more pain medication, and something additional (not sure what) that calmed him down. He’s resting peacefully now.
One aside: I now have a Sprint PCS card for my laptop which means that I can update the blog anywhere there’s a cell tower in range, including his hospital room where I am right now.
A few other updates: there is another I & D scheduled for Friday and a skin grafting operation early next week. Also, Ann (Jill’s sister) has been looking at getting a new townhouse for Brian and Jill to live in after they go home so that they can have a place that’s wheel-chair accessible and is not a split-level. Ann has a lead on one unit that’s in the same building where they currently live! More on that later.
Prayer requests:
Brian’s surgery yesterday went as planned. Besides doing the I & D, they also put rods in his right leg, and sewed it all up. That leg is now bandaged and healing, but still very sensitive. It’s possible that someday down the road, they will need to open his leg back up and do some bone grafting.
After the surgery, they moved Brian to a new suite that will be his home for a while. It’s on the 3rd floor of the Green building at HCMC and you can see the Metrodome right outside his window. It’s very nice. It has a fold-out couch, a pergo floor, some chairs, a lamp, and it’s quite spacious. It’s set up well for Jill to be able to sleep there overnight. Here’s the address:
Brian Benson
HCMC Room 3207
701 Park Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55415
The doctors decided that Brian is ready to have rods put in his left leg tomorrow! This is sooner than we had thought. The time of the surgery is still unknwon, but it will involve working on his femur and tibia, and putting in a metal plate on the upper part of his lower left leg. That leg, however, will not be completely done as they still need to do some skin grafting at a later time this week or next. Lots of muscles in his lower left leg are exposed right now.
Again, thanks for praying. I firmly believe that our God has Brian tight in his grip. Your prayers have counted for God’s glory and Brian is doing so well recovering. Thanks everybody.
Brian’s new pain medication (Dilaudid) is working better. He was able to rest a little last night but he’s starting to get pretty stiff from being in the same place so long.
This morning, the physical therapists put the boot back on Brian’s left foot to stretch out the muscles. This is what caused so much pain yesterday. Today, with the help of the new meds, very little pain. Thanks for praying about this. This is a direct answer to prayer.
Brian’s in the operating room now, but should be finishing soon. My understanding is that the doctors are putting rods in his right leg today at the same time that they are doing the I & D (irrigation and debridement). I’m heading over to the hospital now and I may not get an oppurtunity to write an update about the outcome of the surgery until tomorrow.
Brian got moved to his own room yesterday. It’s the next step from ICU where he no longer needs his vitals checked constantly. For this, and the fact that there isn’t so much noise and beeping around him, we’re thankful. It’s a more restful place.
Brian continues to heal, and there are no infections. He’s doing such a great job. He’s even more alert today than he was yesterday, but is periodically experiencing hallucinations from the morphine.
Today, the physical therapists put a boot on Brian’s left foot to try and stretch the muscles. Quickly, we learned that the morphine that Brian was on, was not enough. They removed the boot, and put him on some different narcotics, which are helping the pain better.
Please pray that the doctors keep on top of the pain, by giving him adequate prescriptions, that he resists infection, and that the I & D (irrigation and debridement) operation he’s having tomorrow would go as smoothly as it did on Friday.
Brian had his breathing tube removed last night and he is now breathing on his own. None of his injuries require him to be on a ventilator, but being heavily sedated, it was important to have the ventilator hooked up to make sure that he was getting good oxygen saturation while he was in such a deep sleep. Having his breathing tube out doesn’t imply a drastic change in his condition, but it’s nice for all of us to finally be able to talk with him—and for him to have that thing out of his throat!
Throughout the night last night and this morning as well, Brian has been alert and awake, altough pretty loopy on the morphine. His speech is slow and lathargic, but he can recocgnize visitors, and has been cracking jokes and talking in funny voices trying to get Jill to laugh.
Brian has been saying that he can’t wait to eat pizza, have a Dairy Queen Heath Bar Blizzard, and go horseback riding. At one point, he asked me if I had brought a grill. I said that I had not packed one with me this time. He responded, in a very slow, deep voice: “Bunsen burner… find a Bunsen burner.” That morphine does wierd things I tell ya. It will be funny to share these stories with him later to see what he remembers.
Thanks for continuing to pray.
Brian’s had his sedation medication changed to a new kind where they can wake him up in 3 minutes if needed as oppposed to an entire day. This will give the doctors and nurses more control over how deep a sleep he is in at a given time.
He was alert for a while yesterday and has opened his eyes and squeezed his hands. Although it’s the best thing for him to be resting right now, it sure is nice to be able to have him see us and respond in small ways.
His feet are pink as well, which is a wonderful sign. He continues to have a strong pulse in both legs. His right leg is a little more swollen than his left, but things continue to heal and get better.
Something you can pray for: Brian is going to the operating room later this afternoon (scheduled for 4:30 PM) to have everything washed out.
Thanks for all the offers for help. We’ve been truly blessed by that. Prayer is the best thing right now. We have a lot of family that are making the hospital their second home. I’ve been sleeping there each night and will continue to do so through the weekend.
I’ll put up more updates this weekend as things progress.
On Tuesday night, June 21st, at about 8:00 PM, my brother Brian got in a motorcycle accident. He’s currently in the Intensive Care Unit at the Hennepin County Medical Center and the main concern is his legs. He had compound fractures in his femurs, fibulas and tibias and went through 11 hours in the operating room where orthopedic and vascular surgeons worked to save his legs.
Currently, the nurses are getting pulses in both feet and things seem to be stabilizing, but he is still at risk of infection, and will be in the hospital for 1-2 weeks (current estimate). It is not known if there is any nerve damage at this point. We do know that Brian can wiggle his toes which is a great sign and gives us hope. We will write when we know more.
Please pray for Brian—that his body would heal, and resist infection. Also pray for his wife, Jill, and the doctors—that they would have wisdom.
And it’s Brian’s birthday today! He’s 24.