Friday, April 24, 2009

I-D-A-H-O Go Vandals

Now that is what I call a die hard Vandal fan. Carrie took in the Silver & Gold game tonight outside in the chilly weather of Moscow. Ty played well and the team looked good. Our family (the Knott's) were delighted to see how wonderful Carrie looked. She had a a smile on her face that radiated all the way across the field. She even took the boot off one of her feet and showed us one of her ankles and the motion and movement she has in it. It was truly and amazing and blessed experience for us!

Her and Randy both shared many stories of their time in Seattle, their time at home, and their belief in the pure strength of God.

As I reflect upon keeping this blog over the past three months tears come to my eyes as I look at all we have learned through Carrie's process:
  • God can do great things with the body and mind
  • Family is the heart and soul - Randy, Jen, Ty, Bo you have been a true inspiration to families all over, the power of your love is evident through your wife and mom's success.
  • Communities keep the blood flowing - Carrie and I were talking tonight about all the great things that have been done from them, between the town of Orofino, their work communities, past communities they lived in and the faith community the prayers and outpouring of support has been truly amazing
  • Attitude! The positive mental state Carrie has kept through the entire process has been incredible. I remember Randy telling me not to long after they did the titanium plate in the forehead that Carrie's reaction was, "Well I guess I can teach my students spelling now with magnetic letters on my forehead."

All I can say to finish this post is ............
One amazing women, with one amazing family, healing by the work of many amazing doctors, living and working with amazing people, all under the guidance of one amazing God!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

A Powerful Message

From Carrie (in her own words)
Let me begin by saying thanks to all of you for your love, prayers, and support. God has blessed me with a wonderful family, friends to die for, and a wonderful, wonderful thoughtful community that I live in. Many miracles have occurred over the past two months and I continue to make progress that has astonished all of my doctors here in Seattle. The skin graft Doctors cleaned up my ankles Monday and were impressed to the point they rolled out black velvet and took photos of my feet to share with other doctors and to use in research. I have an appointment with the eye surgeon tomorrow (Friday) and should find out when they want to do follow-up surgery. I have a meeting with the foot surgeon on Monday (who rebuilt my foot bones with cadaver bones) and hopefully he will release me to come home sometime next week. I cannot bear weight on my feet for a minimum of 3-4 months, but my dreams are to watch Bo play a baseball game, see Ty play in the Vandals spring football game, and to spend time with my daughter, son-in-law, and chase my beautiful grandchildren. I cannot wait to walk back into OES and be with my wonderful co-workers and the students I love so dearly. My words of advice to you would be never again take any of the small things in your life for granted or take another day for granted. Hug your spouse, kids, loved ones and friends, and let all your friends and loved ones know every day how much they mean to you. I am so looking forward to getting back home and look forward to seeing everyone soon. Again, words can’t express my gratitude for what everyone has done for me and my family. I love all of you, and am thankful that God has seen us through this. May God bless each and every one of you. Carrie

From Randy….
Here is a list of injuries and I will follow that up with miracles. She has had 12 surgeries and will have at least one more on her right eye.
Forehead crushed, removed and replaced with titanium – sinuses removed
Right eye socket crushed, now has three sided titanium eye socket
She needed internal stitches and 15 external stitches on the right eye and eye lid. (she can’t open the eyelid yet due to swelling, but her vision is fine in that eye).
Base of skull broken (basal skull fracture)
Lining of brain torn (had to be stitched)
Hemorrhaging in the short term memory area of the brain
Broken nose
3 fractures on right cheek and right jaw fracture. Titanium right cheek area and in front of ear area is titanium.
Muscle separated from right jaw
She bled out of both ears
(all of this should have caused brain damage but she is perfectly fine)
Bruised lungs
Fractured C7 on neck
Fractured L4 on back
Both heal bones crushed like croutons
Both talus crushed (this is the bone in front of the heel bone that the tibia comes down to )
Both tibia (shin) bones were sticking out of feet, both feet rolled back touching legs outwardly
Has a small blood clot in left leg

Now for the miracles – Every day, multiple times, we stood over and prayed over Carrie for her healing.
1st – the highway patrolman said she shouldn’t have lived but she did. The car is unrecognizable.
2nd – a traveling trauma nurse (Jamie Tyler) was there right after the wreck and had an IV she hooked up to Carrie – her blood pressure was 60 over 0 when she got to 1st emergency room. This lady saved her life. Dr McGrath was able to stabilize her (and Dr. Amy Schochler). Thanks to them and Jamie Tyler.
3rd – no brain injury and her spirits are high (all the time). I was told by a neurologist to expect short term memory loss as she had hemorrhaging in that area of the brain. Her memory is fine now!
4th – Dr in Spokane wanted to amputate both feet below knees– my buddy Joe McCarthy had friend who was a foot surgeon. Joe called him and he called me and said get her to Seattle to Dr. Benirschke who was the best in the world with rebuilding the calcaneous bone (heel bone) – so we were close to the best in the world and didn’t have to go to Miami or New York or somewhere. After the Dr. in Spokane said this was the worst he had seen in his 30 years of practice, Dr. Benirschke in Seattle looked at her feet and said “I can fix those!” We were also told to expect infection in the feet as they removed bits of carpet, dirt, and other debris from the car floor mats that had gotten in her wounds, and that the degree of infection would determine the future of her feet. She never got an infection….
5th – When we arrived in Seattle, scans showed her two spinal injuries needed to be fused with cadaver bone, so I signed the consent forms (Carrie was pretty much unconscious). Two days later when they went to do the surgery, the neuro Dr. said he must have read the films wrong, and they didn’t need to do the bone fusion after all. She just needed to wear a neck and back brace.
6th – the right inner ankle was so gouged out and torn up the Dr. told me he would need to take a small muscle from her inner thigh and transplant it to her inner ankle, as the two tendons were exposed. So, I signed the consent form on Monday for a Thursday surgery. They were going to do the operation with a microscope and the Dr. told me it was equivalent to an organ transplant and no guarantee it would take, depending on the blood flow. So they took her to surgery 3 days later. The doctor said it would be an all day surgery. He came out after an hour an told me he couldn’t explain it, but the tissue had grown back “miraculously” and they didn’t need to do the muscle transplant, that all they would need to do was a skin graft. I told him it was God’s miracle and the power of prayer.
7th – the skin grafts were originally supposed to be fairly big, but her own skin was growing back fast enough they delayed the skin grafting a week and only needed a small 2 by 8 strip taken off of her upper thigh.
8th- Dr. Benirschke, the foot surgeon, is the world’s best and most renowned, was able to piece back together her talus and calcaneous (two bones in the back of the foot) using titanium, cadaver bones, and lots and lots of screws. The surgeon in Spokane said it would be impossible to rebuild them. Dr. Benirschke has already given a talk using pictures of Carrie’s feet to other orthopedic surgeons. He says she will walk again when others said I wouldn’t.

Aside from some cosmetic surgery on her right eye due to the big scar she is home free. She has had 12 surgeries so far. I have always heard of miracles, and always wondered if I would ever get to witness any. God had shown me more miracles in the last 6 weeks than I ever imagined. These are truly miracles to have Drs see something one day and then see something vastly different the next. What a powerful testimony!!!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Great News

Out of the hospital ~ Carrie gets her first night of sleep at the apartment tonight. They will have to spend two weeks in Seattle. And then home to I-D-A-H-O. She is so excited that if all goes well they will be able to make it to the Silver & Gold Game!

She has a very small blood clot at the ankle; they are not too concerned since it is below the knee, but are watching it. They have removed the large plaster casts and she now has boots on similar to ski boots. (Very expensive ski boots as Randy put it)!

The house is get tuned up by Carrie’s mom who is there preparing for her arrival home. A work crew is also there this week to pour a cement pad for the car, cement walk way, and a ramp. So many blessings and loving people.

While on the phone today with Randy he had me hold-on for a moment, I sat and listened to him speak to someone else. That someone happens to be a homeless girl there in the hospital that Randy has befriended. It seems that she looks to him for the occasional soda or two. He called it paying it all forward; I see it as someone with a heart of gold.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Surgery #12 Went Well

The 12th surgery went really well. Docs continue to be amazed by the feet and how much they are rejuvenating blood vessels. Now she can focus on healing and getting home. Yippee!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

1 down, 1 to go!

Carrie's surgery was a little over 11 hours yesterday. She had the surgeon from there in Seattle, as well as a surgeon from Ireland. They placed a ¾” cadaver bone wedge and the titanium heel plate in the foot. Randy guessed there were about 26 screws/nails in the heel. They removed the external metal pins from the foot/ankle as well. The doctors were very optimistic about the work as well as that the foot is rejuvenating blood vessels. There is some concern over lack of cartilage and the on-set of arthritis, but this is something they will deal with at a later date.

They are already using Carrie’s case for educational purposes.

The right foot surgery will take place on Friday. They are expecting it to last about the same amount of time.

Randy’s mom is in Seattle now also, so he is getting a lot of support and assistance.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Happy Birthday Randy!

Today is Randy's birthday, I won't mention how old, but we all know that he is young at heart. He and Carrie were able to take an excursion outside the hospital and spend a couple hours back at the apartment. Picture this..... Randy pushing Carrie down the streets of Seattle in her wheelchair four city blocks. It makes me chuckle and surely was fun for them. :)

The 1st heel replacement is scheduled for Tuesday morning so crank up those prayer chains and keep them in your heart.

The Vandals have started spring ball so Ty is back to the practice schedule and was featured in the newspaper last week. Bo has been busy with baseball and Jenn and her family are doing well.


NOTES - Idaho' Vandals first full-scale scrimmage will take place next Saturday at 10 a.m. The Vandals will also scrimmage April 11 and 18, leading up to their Silver and Gold Game on April 24. ...

Orofino rallied past St. Maries 17-8 in a rain-soaked Intermountain League prep baseball game. The second game was rained out. Doesn't the weather know it is baseball season, 5 inches of snow in Moscow today!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Grafts Look Great

The doctors removed the bandages today and the skin grafts look great. She still has external metal (rods and pins) attached to the ankle. They are now planning for the two major surgeries on the ankles and should know either today or tomorrow when they will be.

Randy went home over the weekend to bring the boys back, get more clothing, and take care of a few things at home. He also stopped and looked at the vehicle. He said it is truly amazing all the miracles that have come.

Keep up the prayers.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Surgery Went Well

Carrie had the skin graph surgery yesterday, the took skin off the right thigh and put it on the ankles. Miracles continue to happen as they took less skin then expected. She is resting well today and in some minor pain. They will keep them bandaged until Sunday and then look at them. They are still planning on surgery for next Tuesday on the heal.

The eye is still swollen but the docs are very optimistic that with time the swelling will go down.

Keep up the prayers and well wishes!

Monday, March 16, 2009

A letter from Carrie!!!

Thank you for your love, support and prayers! I cannot begin to describe the strength I receive from first of all God, and then my family, friends, and community.

When I was first told I might lose my legs, my response was simply, "That’s okay because I can still teach from a wheelchair".

Kids if you’re reading this, know that I love and miss all of you! On difficult days, thinking about you and my desire to get back to school is what keeps me going.

I am improving everyday and know that I will make a strong recovery.

I want to thank each and every person for all they’ve done to support my family and me during this time. I am receiving cards and letters of encouragement from across the nation.

Orofino truly is a little community with a great big heart! How fortunate I am to live in such a beautiful and spectacular area! I hope I have an opportunity to someday pay my family, friends and community back!

Take Care and Love to All,
Carrie Brooks

Friday, March 13, 2009

Scheduled Out, But Seeing a Light

They have re-scheduled the skin graph for next Tuesday morning. They will keep them bandaged for five days and check them on Sunday, March 22. Tentatively the world renowned foot surgeon will do the titanium heal bone (Calcaneus) replacement on Tuesday the 24th.

I found this great website to explain to me what the Calcaneus bone is and its function, I encourage you to take a look at it. (Note: it is kind of graphic for those that are queezy at heart)
http://www.mdmercy.com/footandankle/conditions/trauma/fracture_heelbone.html

They still one stitch in here right eye in order to keep it closed and moist and a lot of swelling but her vision continues to remain fine. Ty is headed to Seattle this weekend, and they are all looking forward to a weekend of rest and togetherness.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Today's Surgery

Carrie went in for skin graphs today, they ended up not doing them. They did an abrasion on the tissue to generate blood flow to the surface. They ended up pulling the tissue closer together and put some stitches in. They are planning the skin graph for next Tuesday. She will continue to have surgery every two days to do the bandage changes.

Randy's co-workers from across the state are together in Moscow this week for a conference and had a great fundraiser and rally of support.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Operation #9

Carrie will go in for operation number nine tomorrow for skin grafts. Her eye is still stitched shut but the doctors say it is in great shape. She is in great spirits and her and Randy are doing well!

Keep up the prayers, it is often said families need the most support weeks and even months after a crisis. Let's not let Carrie, Randy or the family down!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Turned the Corner

Had a great conversation with Randy. Surgery went well, they put a titanium plate in Carries forehead during the eye socket surgery. They still believe her vision fine and are amazed that she has no brain injuries. She came out of surgery with no tubes left in her except for the IV. After awaking from recovery she had Randy bringing her buckets of water and soap and brushes. She has a new outlook and is ready to get up and about. She will still have to go through the heal reconstruction, but all is looking very good.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Eye surgery

Randy and Carrie are waiting for the hospital to take her in for the Orbital Eye Socket Surgery today. They didn't get much sleep last night so hopefully Randy can rest during her surgery. I will post again when she gets out of surgery.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Amazing News

Carrie went in to surgery at 11:00, this was expected to be a 6 hour micro surgery, graphing muscle, tissue, and skin to the right ankle from the thigh. Randy received a call a little while ago from the Doc. When he got Carried into surgery they found that the skin, tissue, and muscle had started re-growth on their own. Mind you, just yesterday this process was not yet visible. Randy was very stoked regarding this news and couldn't wait for Carrie to come out of surgery and hear the news herself.

She is living proof that miracles do happen and the power of prayer is immense. Please keep up all the love, support and prayer. Sometimes it may seem that we are helpless and can't do much in their time of need, but all the love, support, and prayer are truly helping to create miracles.

Monday, March 2, 2009

More surgery ahead but spirits are high!

Carrie' s spirits have been high. Yesterday she walked Randy through their bills and knew all account numbers and passwords. He was very impressed with her lucidness. Her eyes are still very swollen due to last weeks surgery. She had a pressure bandage change this morning and will have surgery tomorrow. Tomorrow they will remove a long small muscle and skin from her inner thigh and graph it to her right ankle bone. This will be a fairly long surgery and will need to be watched carefully following to make sure the blood flow maintains through the veins. The right eye socket surgery will come after this now.

Randy has been reading comments from the blog to Carrie as well as cards from Orofino Elementary. He wanted me to pass on the following message:

"I am overwhelmed by the support from our community, family, friends, and even strangers. It is just amazing, I will be forever grateful of the outpouring."

Keep up the prayers, love and support.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Bo Took 5th


Bo recieved the5th place medal at state today. Randy was able to watch his matches on webcam from Seattle. Carrie had her bandages changed this morning and was starting to boss Randy arounf this afternoon about what to take care of! :) She is still scheduled for surgery for Tuesday on hr eye socket, and now has the stitches out from the gash across her eyelid.

Carrie was moved out of ICU last night and Randy was able to spend the night with her in the hospital room. She is being very brave an trying to limit pain killers.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Bo at State Wrestling

Bo won his first match at the Idaho State Highs School Wrestling Tournament 11-5. GO BO!

Morning Update from Randy

Just received information from Randy here is the latest:
Carrie made it through the first of two facial surgeries last night. She went in at 4:30 pm and came out about 10:00 pm. Randy did not get to see her last night (as she was still in recovery at midnight) but he was here by 5:15 am. The Dr called him and said he fixed her forehead (eliminated the rear wall of the skull and the sinus cavities on the forehead, and added a metal plate), her cheek (3 fractures there on right cheek), and repaired the lining of the brain at the base of the skull, where the lower fracture is. It is due to God ( and his miracles) that she came through this with no brain injuries. They will perform surgery next week to repair the lower orbital eye socket, While they were doing the cranial reconstruction, the ortho doctors changed her vacuum dressings on her feet and ankles and said there was no sign of infection and no sign of dead tissue. PRAISE GOD!

She is lucid and talked to Randy when he got there this morning. They had to put a feeding tube in her last night as she has not been able to eat, nor has eaten since Friday. So, once she get the nutrients she needs, Randy expects recovery to speed up. Her black eyes are going away, and they indicated they might take the stitches out of her right eye today. The eye doc examined her eyes in detail yesterday afternoon, and could find no problems. She was able to read out of the right eye, but cannot swivel it yet due to the orbital fracture, which will be fixed next week.

So at this time, there should not be any more surgeries until next Tuesday, when they finish the eye socket reconstruction. They will take her into the OR every two days to change her vacuum dressings on her legs and clean up anything around the ankles.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Went into Surgery at about 2:00

Will post later how it went! Randy has shown some humor throughout the day!

More Surgeries Ahead

Update via Randy

She is scheduled for surgery on her forehead today and they will piggyback that with one on her feet as well. She is lucid this morning, but keeps her eyes closed a lot.

Probably have another surgery on feet Saturday, and then surgery on the eye socket next Tuesday, followed by more on her feet. Today they are removing the back wall of the forehead (there are two layers of bone in which the sinus cavity is in between). The back wall is so shattered they cannot fathom putting it back together, so they will remove all the fragments they can find and put a metal plate in the front to hold those front pieces together. They will remove the sinus linings as well, so she will not have a sinus up there. They indicated the brain would grow forward and fill in the vacated area. The biggest concern and area we need to really pray about is that she does not get infection in the feet. There are baseball size areas around the inner anklebone that has no skin. She sleeps most of the time away, but they say this is the brain protecting her. She does have short term memory loss which the Drs indicated will come back.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Surgery Went Well

First and foremost, Randy got what he called "quality sleep"! This is very good news. He has rented a place right next the the hospital that has a kitchen. He is relieved to be settled into that. Jen's husband, McKennzie (sp) is bringing the grandbabies up to Seattle, which will be good for all.

As for yesterday's surgery they were able to reconstruct both feet/ankles. There is a world renowned docotr that came in to see her during surgery. He has complteded ankle replacements and heals and will look at Carrie within the next three weeks.

She spent most of the night on the venitilator, but pulled it out in the middle of the night and is doing fine without it.

Randy had meetings this morning with the ankle surgeons, head trama team, and also the neuro and spine team.

Next steps:

Thursday she will have surgery to remove the back layer of the front of her skull. This portion is crushed and has fragments floating. They will not replace it and said she will be fine without it because there is a front layer.

The spine team is fitting her for a back brace for the L4 and C6 fractures.

The 3rd surgery she will have will be the orbital eye socket.

Randy wanted me to reiterate to all that they are so thankful for all the thoughts, prayers, and love. It is really giving him and his family some much needed strength.

will post soon

Waiting for update from Randy, he will be calling shortly, will post soon. Please continue all your prayers.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Surgery Update

The doctors reported to Randy that they operated on Carrie's right foot (the gas pedal foot) until about 1:00pm, they then worked on the left. At 3:30 the reported that the were beginning to close up the left foot and she should be out of surgery in about an hour. Keep your prayers coming and we will try to keep you up to date on her prognosis.

Surgery Update

Received word from Randy at 8:00 am. Carrie is heading to surgery for her feet, they are expecting the surgery to take 6-7 hours. They have scheduled surgery for her face for Thursday. Will keep you posted as today progresses.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Carrie is headed to Seattle

Just received word from Randy at 2:00 pm that Carrie is headed to Seattle. Randy and his daughter Jen and Carrie's mom are headed there as well. Ty is returning to Moscow and Bo is staying with a family in Orofino.

They have given them a 50/50 chance on saving her feet and will deal with he other issues as well.

I spoke with Harborview and they said the places near by include McDonalds, Pizza hut, Quizno's Starbucks, Costco, Safeway just to name a few.

Remember gift cards in any amount can be sent to the Latah County Extension Office at PO Box 8068, Moscow Idaho 83843 or Clearwater County Extension 2200 Michigan, Orofino ID 83544.


Randy will be updating myself and Marci Bonner and we will keep you updated as quickly as we can. The hopes is that this blog can get the information out to all and avoid the family from being inundated with calls. He hopes that down the rode he will be able to post to here and check the comments so feel free to send your prayers via the blog comments.