Ron Toole Seriously Hurt

[lhoover]

Ballers, here is a Saturday morn, June 30 update from Ron's son, Greg.

 

My dad was released on Thursday afternoon. I got to visit him on Friday morning. He seemed to be doing fairly well when I got there, but as the day pressed on, his pain & discomfort increased. By the afternoon, he was running a 101.8 fever, having major chills, bright redness around the wound, increased swelling of the hand & forearm & a significant increase in pain level (dad said worst of his life). On the recommendation of the doctors, we brought him back to the hospital.

 

They finally got him into surgery at 1:00am this morning. They opened the wound, cleaned, debreaded, & flushed it. All the vein grafts are strong & healthy. No visible sign of infection inside the wound. They took cultures & blood just to make sure.

 

They think the reason for the high level of pain today is because of all the nerves waking up (a good thing) & him being overly active the last couple of days. They feel that the high temp is attributable to the massive trauma his body has undergone over the last week. They closed the wound back up & replace some of the dead skin w/ synthetic skin called integra. They also have him on a wound vac now. This is just a reminder of how serious this injury is & how long of a road to recovery we have ahead of us.

 

The doctors again commented on how amazed they are that a man of any age could sustain such a massive injury & manage to keep his arm, much less a 72 year old! They said if he had lost the arm in the accident, he would have most likely bleed to death. We told them he defiantly had some help from the Man upstairs!

 

The plan now is to keep him in the hospital for an indefinite time, heavy IV antibiotics, & pain management (now apparently becoming a major issue). They will continue to clean & redress the wound with integra every couple of days. There will be more surgeries down the road, the what & when are dependent are how he recovers. They do not plan to release him quite so quickly this time :-)

Here is a pic of what is left of the ski handle that did this to him:-(

 

Please keep Ron in your thoughts & prayers! They are definitely working!

[lhoover]

I apologize if this handle pic is not viewable.

[klled218]

@lhoover, do you know if Ron is back at Memorial Hermann?

[6balls]

Just a comment re: the bleeding risk mentioned above, ski tourneys and trauma etc. A finger often stops a spurting vessel better than a pressure dressing that could just get soaked holding the blood but not stopping the hemorrhage while the patient continues to lose blood. Since we all have fingers, something to keep in mind. Simple, but can save a life til help arrives.

[lhoover]

Monday morning report on Ron. Was in good spirits after another surgery late Thursday eve/Friday morn. Has another scheduled Tuesday but is doing well. He is bouncing off the walls but they are not discussing his going home for the time being. Sends his thanks and gratitude to all who are thinking of him and praying for him in this great ski community. You may drop him a line at the following address:

 

Ron Toole

Jones Pavilion

Orthopedic Unit

Room 333

6411 Fannin

Houston 77030

[lhoover]

Ballers, here is a July 4 update on Ron from his son.

 

My dad had another surgery last night. It was the same type as he had Friday night... A clean out & inspection. Everything went well, the vein grafts are healthy & doing fine. The goal now is to get primary closure of the bicep region. A skin graft is in the future, but there is not enough healthy tissue for that yet. Hand and wrist movement continues to improve. The swelling on the hand is down slightly. The mobility of his elbow join is better. He still has no muscle to flex the join on its own, but can move it slightly with his other hand assisting & with no pain! This is a drastic improvement from a week ago.

The culture from the Friday night surgery reviled the arm is infected with Gram Negative Rod. This is a comon infection from fresh water. The antibiotic they have him on is very effective against this bug. They are not too concerned about it.

His pain level today is a 1 or 2!

They plan is to do another of these surgeries on Sat. They plan to change him to a smaller (portable) wound vac machine during the surgery also.

Dr. will not commit to a departure date, but dad thinks next week sometime.

He is feeling pretty good, and has his phone with him, so please feel free to give him a call or drop by for a short visit. He is @ Hermann in the Jones Pavilion room 333.

I would like to thank Jeff Tobobin & the guys from the ski club for getting him an iPad! He is enjoying watching movies & surfing the web between those annoying nurses checks!!! We have him set up where he can do face time calls on it & his phone now.

 

Please continue to keep him in your thoughts & prayers!

 

Thanks,

[lhoover]

Latest on Ron is mostly good news. He got to go home on Wednesday and has been doing pretty good with wife Sylvia changing some bandages quite often every day. He is scheduled for Friday the 20th to have another look and see if the "fake skin" is growing and/or attaching properly. If all looks good, then they schedule him for skin graft operations about 2 to 3 weeks later.

 

Swelling is terrible during the day but pain is under control. He can move his wrist and outer 3 fingers some, but has very limited motion and feeling in forefinger and thumb. His attitude is good, still speaks matter-of-factly about the accident, and just glad the odds of losing his arm have dropped to nearly zero. He has zero biceps muscles and about 25% triceps.

 

Folks, as we have talked and I know you are tired of hearing, he would buy each of you a handle guard if you tell him you will use it. He has no idea if a handle guard would have prevented this, but would love to have been in the position to know. Please give it your serious consideration.

 

Continue to pray for Ron and the family because we sure do miss him at muddy waters. He very much appreciates all the prayers and good wishes and says the volume of attention has been over whelming. He still has quite a row to hoe, as you can imagine.

[klled218]

@lhoover, can you post a mailing address for Ron?

[lhoover]

Glad to:

 

Ron Toole

12344 White Oak PT.

Conroe, TX 77304

 

(12344 is not a misprint!)

[lhoover]

Ballers, the latest news on Ron is pretty good. He had skin graft surgery on Thursday the 26th which ended up being a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. It went well although both spots are still oozing and bleeding, which was to be expected. His pain is not too bad and easily handled, but his swelling is still very bad the instant he arises after propping the arm all night. He has some bad days where he just does not get around much but some good days, too, where he gets in the car with Sylvia for a little jaunt around the town.

 

He is very fortunate not to have lost the arm at the shoulder, he says, with as much trauma as was involved. The prognosis looks good with slow and painful, at times, rehab, but good days ahead. There is no indication of how much function will come back as only time will tell.

 

Thanks so much for good wishes and prayers, he says, and be safe while you enjoy our great sport.