Pat Freeman
Well-Known Member
Hi Folks - it was 1 year ago that my dad was in that bad mining accident. I got a lot of responses for well-wishes for him since then from the members here and wish to give you all an update. Not much has changed. After many attempts to get his hip replaced, he seemed to aways come down with an infection right around the time of a consult with the doctor, preventing surgery. On top of that, no one wanted to see him for an eye exam until he could sit at the equipment.
He is currently at home with a visiting nurse and my step-mom taking care of him. He has enough strength to use a walker to get around on one leg. He still has pain from the hip healing after it was broken. He goes to Philly this week for another consult with that doctor and we hope that he will get the OK for the surgery this time. Since he's out of the hospital/nursing home, he has had no illness or infections.
He was able to get to a neurological eye specialist who could see nothing wrong with the eyes so they did an MRI and saw no brain damage. Dad claims he could see right after the accident, up until the EMTs put him under for the flight to the trauma center. At this time, we don't know what could have caused his blindness and expect to get another appointment with the specialist.
He has healed from his chemical burns just fine but is very sensitive to temperature changes and gets cold or hot quickly. He tolerates that just fine and has been able to get around the house, feed himself, etc. with my step-mom's help. He believes he will be blind for life and is depressed. He has sold off most of his possessions of value but still has the orange 07 ST that my step-mom uses. Amazingly, dad can get in with help and she can take him to appointments.
We appreciate all the well-wishes, prayers and concerns from everyone. Please keep us in your thoughts as we get over the next few hurdles and hope that he can get back on both feet and possibly find out what cause his blindness.
Pat
He is currently at home with a visiting nurse and my step-mom taking care of him. He has enough strength to use a walker to get around on one leg. He still has pain from the hip healing after it was broken. He goes to Philly this week for another consult with that doctor and we hope that he will get the OK for the surgery this time. Since he's out of the hospital/nursing home, he has had no illness or infections.
He was able to get to a neurological eye specialist who could see nothing wrong with the eyes so they did an MRI and saw no brain damage. Dad claims he could see right after the accident, up until the EMTs put him under for the flight to the trauma center. At this time, we don't know what could have caused his blindness and expect to get another appointment with the specialist.
He has healed from his chemical burns just fine but is very sensitive to temperature changes and gets cold or hot quickly. He tolerates that just fine and has been able to get around the house, feed himself, etc. with my step-mom's help. He believes he will be blind for life and is depressed. He has sold off most of his possessions of value but still has the orange 07 ST that my step-mom uses. Amazingly, dad can get in with help and she can take him to appointments.
We appreciate all the well-wishes, prayers and concerns from everyone. Please keep us in your thoughts as we get over the next few hurdles and hope that he can get back on both feet and possibly find out what cause his blindness.
Pat
