Wednesday, December 7, 2011

One Month Post-Surgery

Jack has been doing better since his surgery at the beginning of November. The surgeon was able to close up the wound without a skin graft; Whitney took his sutures out a couple weeks after that, and everything is healing really well, though he does have some really big scars.

Unfortunately, Jack is constantly in a lot of pain. He attends both physical and occupational therapy about four times a week and they have him doing exercises with his uninjured arm, too, so that messages will hopefully go to his other arm.  The hope is that eventually his other arm can move too.

Though Jack still doesn't have any feeling in his arm other than pain, when you touch his arm now it starts hurting faster than before so his nerves are reacting quicker, which is good. The injured arm swells a lot so Jack sees a therapist for a special kind of therapy to work with his arm and help lower the pain and inflammation.

On a positive note, Jack has been driving himself occasionally when he isn't in a lot of pain. Sadly the pain keeps him from doing many activities, but he still keeps up on his hay work phone calls, which gives him something to focus on other than the pain. The therapists all seem to have high hopes for him regaining movement in his arm, but they are unsure exactly how long that will take. It could take anywhere from six months to a year or so.

It's hard to say at this point what kind of recovery rate Jack will have, but he is in high hopes, and enjoys watching his sermon videos during the day.  Feel free to call and say hello to Jack; he probably wouldn't mind the distraction!