Home at Last! September 30th, 2004

Today is the day- Nikki came home, for the first time since her accident on 7/23/04! As you can imagine, we're all excited by this, especially Nikki. Once again, we had to say goodbye to some wonderfully caring people. At least there wasn't 8 weeks of attachment here, like in Cleveland, so the goodbyes were a little easier. Nikki keeps saying that she still can't believe that she's out of the hospital.

She had a pretty busy day before finally being discharged at 3pm. We started with another dressing change in the burn unit. This gave me a chance to practice my dressing skills, and also gave Bob, the Director of Rehabilitation Services, a chance to go over Nikki completely. Bob has over 20 years experience in burn rehab, and his insights are very important to Nikki's future care. Nikki's open wounds have shrunk to mere sore spots now, with no openly bleeding wounds. Since her grafted skin can't handle tape, though, wounds must be wrapped in bandages and Ace wrap, which covers her torso and shoulders completely.

Nikki has the beginnings of heterotopic ossification in both elbows and right shoulder. This is a condition where bone material starts to sprout off into surrounding muscle. It isn't uncommon in burn and other trauma patients, and can be crippling. Physical therapy and anti-inflammatory drugs are used to combat it. Surgery could be needed to shave the bone growths, so we'll be following this closely.

After dressing changes, we had some instructional physical and occupational therapy. I was tested on my ability to help Nikki with the numerous exercises that she will have to do on her own, in addition to outpatient therapy. Nikki will be going to outpatient therapy at least 3 times weekly for a while. The clinic she will be attending has a strong specialty in hand and burn therapies. We're lucky to have such a specialty unit close to us here in Columbus.

The outpatient clinic will also handle the fitting of Nikki's pressure garments, an important part of her recovery. These custom-made garments exert smooth, even pressure to her grafted skin. This pressure helps to smooth wrinkles, folds and scar tissue on her grafts. They also improve circulation (promoting healing) and help reduce itching. It's these garments that will help her grafts to return to a nice, smooth texture, with a healthy look, and greatly reduced scarring. Both MetroHealth and OSU are strong believers in pressure garments. Wearing them is an exercise in dedication- requiring 23 hours each day, for 12 - 18 months. This includes facial garments, which are usually a full-cover mask.

After we got home this afternoon, Nikki went out with me to get her prescriptions and some other items that she needed. We went to 2 businesses, and she seemed very comfortable out in public for the first time. Other than a few staring children, everyone took her in stride. One of her medications was to have been Vioxx, which was just pulled from the market today due to adverse effects. This became Celebrex, which Nikki's insurance requires special prequalification to cover. So for now, its ibuprofen, to help reduce the effects of ossification in her elbows and shoulder.

Nikki still has several surgeries coming up. The right eye still needs a lot of work, and plastics is actively discussing their strategy. There was some talk of operating as early as next week, but that's not confirmed yet. In addition to the eyelid repair, it was found that Nikki's right eye is actually out of place. It's quite a bit lower than it should be, and a little to one side. So the eyeball will actually be moved and secured as part of the reconstruction. This may also involve maxillofacial surgery, to rebuild the right socket. In the future, they'll also rebuild the other socket and sinus cavities, and straighten her nose. Even though the hospital stay is finally over, it's obvious that there's a lot of work yet to be done. Aside from outpatient care, Nikki will be in and out of the hospital several times in the coming years for more surgery.

Lots of thanks and sincere gratitude to those who have helped to support us throughout this difficult time. All of the cards, letters, emails and other contributions have been a huge help to us, in many ways. I'll continue to keep everybody updated on Nikki's progress, as long as people seem to be interested. I'll also keep the web page updated, so that the full history will always be available to those that are interested.

Stay tuned!