TODDMAN's MEDICAL HISTORY

FREE HAND SYSTEM PHOTOS: `01
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4

UPDATE TO MEDIC PAGE

March 2009
Man its been a while since I posted here, so lets get you up to date. Since last Feb. I was good to go, until around July when my butt blew a gasket, evidently the surgery at JB didn't last. I then had to start the whole process over again, stay out of my chair, wound clinic & stuck in bed. I soon got tired of this & went to the Dallas VA to have the surgery again, oh joy! Nothing like spending 4 months in a hospital, with most of that being stuck in bed, not to mention missing another Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthday's & New Year's Eve for the second year in a row. I've spent nearly more time in the last 2 years at the VA hospital's, than I have at home! Hopefully all that's behind me & I can go on about my abnormal life. Thanks for all your support while I was away & hope too see you all soon!

Feb. 2008
I'm home & I'm not going back to JB!!!
Thank You, Butt... More to come!

Nov 2007 Part 2
A personalized Web page, called a CarePage, has been created for me, so you can easily receive the latest news, view photos and share messages of support, while I'm in St. Louis rehabbing at Jefferson Barracks. For more info on the services at Jefferson Barracks http://www.stlouis.va.gov/services/sci.asp

To visit the CarePage, please click the link below: http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=ToddmanAndAnnie

(If you cannot click through this link, please copy and paste the entire URL into your browser's address window.)

...or you can use these manual instructions:

1. Go to www.carepages.com

2. Click "Visit a CarePage"

3. Register (first-time users only)

4. After you've registered, enter the exact CarePage Name: ToddmanAndAnnie

Nov 2007
Well it finally happened, my luck ran out. My leg was broken in May & I had a rod inserted from the knee to my hip, oh joy more metal! Now I have a pressure sore breaking out in the same dam area I broke my leg, so the VA is sending me to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, MO. I'll be there for at least 2 maybe 3 months for rest & relaxing (like Hell)! This is going to be a real pain in the BUTT, seeing how I'll miss Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years & my Birthday. Hopefully I'll have internet access & I'll have something to do besides laying flat on my back!!!

June 2006
I'm back from Craig Hospital & everything went great, 1st time ever my re-eval finished early. I was done by Thursday & given a clean bill of health, so with that we decided to come home early & rest all weekend. We took some great photo's of Colorado's front range, Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, the characters at hospital & road trip shots!

May 2006
I had my biopsy & the results are negative, NO CANCER! I'm waiting on the formal meeting with the doctor to find out what the next coarse of action will be. I'll also be heading to Craig Hospital for my annual re-eval (I missed it last year), this should be fun.

April 2006
In January when I had surgery they informed me that my PSA blood level was higher then it should. They (the VA) put me on antibiotics and wanted to see if that would bring it down. Unfortunately it didn’t. They had me come in to talk with the doctor who informed me that in May 2004 (??) my PSA was up to 5.4 then took a drop to 2.8 and is now up to 5.2 from there latest test, a 2nd source had it at 5.1. The boarder is 4.0. So at this point the usual treatment is a biopsy, but with my usual UTI’s and having an indwelling catheter, they thought that another round of antibiotics would be good, but this time I'm on them for 28 days. I will be going back to the VA to talk with the doctor to see if the level has come down. At this point we are at a waiting stage. If the level is down, I will just keep an eye on it and if it keeps going up I will then look at other options.

My PSA results:
May 2004 - 5.4
Sometime in 2005 – 2.8
Jan. 23, 2006 - 4.5
Feb. 21 - 5.3
March 13 - 5.1 (from a 2nd source)
March 15 - 5.2
April 19 - 5.6

Feb 2, 2006
Well, I did it!! The VA repo'd my gall bladder, and all is going pretty well so far. I even asked the doc if I could see the gall bladder, no joy. So then I ask for my stones, but he told me that they where sent to Wesley hospital along with the gall bladder to the pathology department and I was welcome to call them if I really wanted them. So we will see how things go in the next day or so and if I can get up and on the phone to call. Surgery didn’t take long and even though they don’t do many surgeries for people in my condition (SCI), I have to say they did a “mighty fine job”. The nurses were very nice and the doctors and everyone we came in contact with were great & helpful, it was nice to have the same nursing staff that checks you before surgery to be their for you after surgery, most hospitals send you in one door & out another! After all the horror stories you hear about the VA hospitals you don’t expect much going in, but the Robert J. Dole VA hospital I would recommend it to anyone who would have a choice, extremely nice & very professional the rooms are very nice & modern, I was expecting some little hole in the wall dungeon.

Surgery started a little after 10 AM and I was done by 11 AM. The doc said that the gall bladder definitely had stones (didn’t give me an idea of how many, but they were there), he also said that there was scar tissue around the gall bladder which showed signs of the gall bladder had at lease been inflamed once or more. He also said there was a small growth (like a hernia) coming off it and that he stitched it on so they would make sure to run test on that. He did want to think it anything to worry about, but he didn't want to rule anything out.

Around 1:30 I finally had a couple glasses of hot tea and a half a cheese sandwich and then they let me come go. By the time I got off of that hard bed my right shoulder was really starting to hurt, but I can home and got back in MY bed and have been sleeping on and off, and had some soup for dinner. I have no restrictions at this time, just as long as I tolerate it, so SUPERBOWL is still on.

I will be going back to the doc on the 10th & I will be checked out for any problems, until then.

--Later

Jan 2006
Wow, its been a whole year since I posted anything, not good! So here's the scoop, I've been laid off for a year now & I'm still going some how. I found out I have rocks in my gall bladder, so the VA hospital is going to repo my gall bladder on the 31st. Maybe I can sell the rocks on EBay! Before the surgery the VA had me do some lab work, blood, EKG & chest x-ray. They freak out on the chest x-ray when they saw my chest implant for my hand ( see photo ) had to explain to them what it was & how it works. Next came the EKG, they had fun trying to get a steady reading, you're suppose to sit still for 8-10 seconds, I can do that but my body can't, I'm always having spasms. they finally got some kind of reading. Last was blood work, I can only be stuck in my left arm, because of the wires in my right arm. When you try to draw blood from me it's like getting it blood out of a turnip! I just don't flow very well & to make it harder I hit my elbow & it was swollen, needless to say they found enough for their tests. Now the bad news from the blood test, they (VA) called & said I had high PSA levels, great now I have too wonder if I'm having Prostate problems. Anal probing does NOT sound like fun!!! I'm sure the VA has some interesting way of sticking it to me!

More too come, stay tune this could get interesting!

Jan 2005
Health is holding up, too bad I can't say the same for my job at Learjet fight test center. Oh well, if you don't have aircraft to test, some one has to go. It's been 14 years in flight test, now is a good time as any to move on to something bigger & better.

Nov 2004
Passed my physical at VA hospital, Yea!

June 2004
Back to work & makin' money, Yea!

May 2004
I'm currently working out trying to get my endurance back so I can go back to work, with any luck, the Doc's will let me go back in June.

April 2004
I'm back (yea), from Craig hospital. I had a successful flap surgery & I'm currently getting use to sitting in my chair again. Hopefully I'll be back to work in May sometime, until then, it's workout time around the house!

February 7, 2004
The bone scan came back showing that there is no significant change either way. Dr. Olson decided it was time to see a Plastic Surgeon. I'm not too familiar with Plastic Surgeons, and I'm sure that he is good BUT I did not go away feeling great inside. His conversation with us went something like this:

He does do these type of surgeries (Flap surgeries), doesn't care to do them because of many issues (i.e., it takes a lot of team players, the recovery is long and difficult, he won't be the team leader, and he will only do it if he feels the patient is committed to prevention after healing, etc.). He did find that I would be a good candidate, but the recovery was very tedious. First the surgery in a nut shell, first they will remove the infection off the bone (the call it shaving the bone), then they cut a large incision in one of two spots, stretch the muscle over the bone and stitch it closed. Then the recovery was the tedious part. I would be transported home in an ambulance to spend six weeks flat (no degree of sitting at all), next the physical therapy would begin. I would need to be put in my chair for 2 to 5 minutes at a time for several times a day, and that would increase until I was able to sit for hours at a time. The doctor told me that would then be my responsibility. I left thinking about what my options would be. I thought about contacting Craig for a 2nd opinion.

The next day I contacted Dr. Olson, after talking to his nurse (Rita) she thought I should talk to Dr. Olson personally. So Dr. Olson called, he had spoke with the plastic surgeon and he said that he thought things went very well. I was polite and didn't say much more then if I decide to go ahead with the surgery, but that I was going to check my options with Craig first. After talking with Dr. Olson, I was ready to go ahead with the surgery here, the doctor said he was the team leader and would do everything he could to help get me in to a rehab hospital here so that I would not be the responsible party for recovery. That is about the way it was left. But I did call Craig and explained the situation and they ask that I send everything, including pictures to them for a second opinion.

Monday was a killer of a day, Dr. Olson did not want to schedule surgery until my wheelchair was re-mapped and the pressure was off the sore. So that morning (snow and all) I went back to the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation for re-mapping and came back with the same results as last time, they could not get the pressure off the sore and new recommendations. They believe I need a new wheelchair. All I could think of was, no thanks. So Monday, (which I had all ready requested all my medical records from Dr. Olson) I sent all the records and pictures of the wound, overnight to Craig so the Plastic Surgeon could read and make a opinion of the treatment that is being proposed. I also called the outpatient OT and PT that has work with me and explained the situation. They had the same feeling pretty much that I had, I have one of the best chairs and cushions, which is not the problem. They believe that there needs to be some other adjustments to the chair.
Thursday I got the call from Craig with NEWS we have HOPED for. The surgeon has put me at the top of his list for surgery and it is now our call as to when we can get there.

This is a big weight lifted off everyone's shoulders. They have the facility to take care of the chair, which is first priority, then they will do surgery and he will stay flat for only four weeks and then they will do the therapy right there. Now we have to get the van ready, which we are not sure that it might need a new transmission before I get there. I have decided to go the 23rd of February, surgery is the 26th, and hope to return home around April 8th.

January 18, 2004
Friday was not a good day. Finally talked with the doctor early in the morning and he is setting up another bone scan, and bringing in both a plastic surgeon and an infectious diseases specialist. Dr. Olson is thinking that maybe the plastic surgeon will want to remove some more of the bone, and then maybe get a flap over it. The nurse was to be making appointments ASAP, but when I spoke to the office after lunch she had gone for the day and of course had heard nothing about what next week will be like. I did finally get through to the other nurse (which she was not the kindest person) in the office to find out that there were no signs of colon problems, but there was blood in the stool and yeast. So now I have to take another medication and Ammonium AD. The other culture has not come back, so I
will wait till Monday and bug the doctor s office again. I did try to call the hospital to see if a bone scan had been set up, but at this point it was not made at St. Joe, I didn't t think to check St. Francis. So Monday is the start of a new week.

January 14, 2004
Been going to the Wound Clinic about every two weeks for rechecks. On December 24th I was suppose to see the doctor, and was hoping to get tests taken to see if the infection in the bone had cleared up. Unfortunately the doctor was held up in surgery and was unable to see me, but the Wound Clinic took a culture of the wound. I should have been contact on Friday the 26th with results of the culture, but did not hear anything. I had not made a follow-up appointment so after waiting until the 2nd of January I decided to check with the Clinic for the results as I had just finished my first round of antibiotics. News was not what I had hoped for, several different bacteria were found in the wound, but this did not tell me
if the bone infection was cleared up. After contacting the doctor's office to find out what he wanted to do about this, he decided to put me on two new antibiotics (tetracycline and clindamycin) for 28 days. The only thing that he cautioned me was that the side effect of clindamycin could affect my kidneys, liver, and/or colon. Things went OK the first week, but on the Saturday the 10th I started showing signs of diarrhea and cramping. This was one of the things that I had to report immediately. So I had to call the exchange to have the doctor
call (which took a little over two hours), to find out what course of action to take. The decision was to stop the medication immediately and if it persists to call the doctor's office first thing Monday. Monday I did call the office to find out that we would take a sample in to be cultured, so yesterday (Tuesday the 13th) I delivered the sample to the office and now we are waiting for the culture to grow. There is a chance that I now have bacteria in the colon. I will have to wait till Friday to find out so in the meantime I'm in a holding pattern. Today was our regular appointment at the Clinic and we saw the doctor. We had a chance to talk about the next treatment that needs to be done. The doctor said the wound is looking GREAT, and so I ask why is it not healing . The only answer he had was that there are infections keeping it from healing. We did a Sedrate test today to see if the bone infection still exists, they also did more cultures of the wound which we don't expect the results of the culture until Friday. The results for the sedrate came back today, not good news. The first test showed the rate to be 52 (which should be below 10), well it has gone down, bad news is that it only dropped 3 points and is now 49. I did not hear back from the nurse today about the course of treatment the doctor is planning on taking. So I will be
contacting them tomorrow and hope to get an answer on what is going to happen. I
think I was very convincing about the need to get more aggressive to get this healed, that it has been extremely to long already.

>11/19/03: Wednesday was an interesting day, I made to the doctor appointment and learned a little more. First, there definitely is infection in the bone. It was determined by several tests, but will be followed up by a blood test to check the sedrate levels. The level at this time is 52, his doctor said it should be below 10. Not sure if 52 is considered high, but I need to get it down. Of course that is being done by the antibiotics. The last update said I was taking Floxin and Cipro, well I was wrong, I'm taking Flagyl and Cipro and will be for the next six weeks. Then my sedrate will be retested and will see where I'm at. The rest of the blood tests came back OK. The only thing that was low was my calcium, but not low enough to do anything, but drink more milk. The doctor did check the bone and did not find any soft spots, which would indicate deterioration from the infection. So that was good news, he will not have to do any type of surgery to remove any of the bone. So chances of this treatment working looks better. Hopefully with the antibiotics the wound will now start healing. It has been at a stand still, which of course was one of the reasons why the doctor wanted to do all these extra tests. Last of all the doctor will not have a Plastic Surgeon examine me until the infection is gone. So hopefully it will be on the mend and won't need to go down that road.

>11/18/03: Well, I received a call from the Doctor's office today. We really weren't expecting to know anything until tomorrow morning when I am scheduled to see the doctor again. But, with the results showing that there is osteomyelitis (an acute or chronic bone infection) in the bone, the doctor wanted to start me on a treatment immediately. Not that tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough. So the doctor now has me finishing the Augmentin that was prescribed for the UTI, and the Floxin which was prescribed last week when he looked at the bone culture from the surgery, I'm now on Cipro (which is great for Anthrax) for six weeks. The only encouraging news that I can offer is that when they changed the dressing on Sunday they did see a extreme difference in healing since Wednesday. This is the first time they could really tell there has been an improvement.

>11/12/03: Went to the Wound Clinic and saw Dr. Olson today. Things are doing better, but not as fast as the doctor expected. The skin is not growing over the bone and so he sent a couple of samples to be cultured and has put me on another antibiotic. Plus he has scheduled some more tests. On 11/14/03 we will go to St. Joe for a bone scan and a complete blood workup. He is checking to see if there is any infection growing in the bone. The sample they had cultured from surgery had "conflicting results" (which we just got that information today). Then in a week we go back to the Wound Clinic to see the doctor and get the results of these tests. If there is an infection I will more then likely have to go through a round of IV-Antibiotics. That could be anywhere from 10 days to 4+ weeks, depending on the degree of infection. With the blood tests he is checking my nutrition levels to make sure that I have everything it takes to heal the wound. If there are any problems then we will supplement with whatever is needed to make me heal quicker. If things are OK with all the test, the doctor is recommending that a Plastic Surgeon be brought in to evaluate the wound to see if I'm a candidate for a "Flap".

>11/06/03: Well it's been awhile, so here's the latest. I've been off work since Sept. 29th. for a massive sore on my butt, caused by my seat cushion having a flat spot, which we didn't catch in time. I've had surgery on it, creating a class 5 wound (down to the bone). I'm currently on bed rest, with a vacuum pump on the wound. The pump is used to help speed up the healing process by sucking the wound closed, for more info on the pump see KCI. Not much else going on, just watchin' TV & playing on the computer.
Later, Toddman

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