Day 1 at St. John’s

J’s traction was adjusted at Washington Regional before he was placed on St. John’s helicopter. Upon arrival at St. John’s, he started their assessment process of x-rays, blood work, family history, etc. Cara and J’s parents met nurses, the orthopedic surgeon and the chief of the trauma unit. While the family found the St. John’s ICU much busier than that of Washington Regional, they still described it as family-friendly.

Around 4 in the afternoon, J started experiencing some difficulty breathing and some disorientation. He seemed to have some lung congestion. While he was wearing an oxygen cannula, his oxygen levels were dropping. Plus, J was trying to remove the cannula.

The disorientation and confusion could have been attributed to several things including the pain medications, the recent surgery, the helicopter flight, the trauma of the accident, the difficulty breathing, the combination of all this or something else entirely.

During the confusion, J argued about ever owning a motorcycle, much less having an accident. He didn’t believe that he was in Tulsa. He wanted to leave St. John’s, and he certainly didn’t believe that he had broken legs. The entire scene scared Cara and his mom.

The ICU staff and doctors decided to place a ventilation tube to stabilize his oxygen levels. Once the oxygen levels are stabilized, they will be better able to fine tune his pain medications.

His parents and Cara were talking to the nurse about how well J had been doing up to now and how this really surprised them. One of the factors could have been the pain and a delay in the pain medication. When he first arrived at St. John’s, he didn’t receive any medication, because he didn’t have any doctor’s orders for it.

The transfer between hospitals was very difficult, and the wait for a treatment plan was very difficult. BUT, since he’s been placed on the ventilation tube, he’s resting peacefully. The anesthesiologist used a scope for placing the tube. Since J had just had a tube so recently, using the scope made it easier to place the tube. One of the doctors also told Cara that placing him on the ventilator now would make it easier to take him off later. Hopefully, we’ll have some more information on that soon.