Well shit, sorry to hear that. Hope you recovery goes well.

7/18/2007 11:03:11 PM

thanks. there's some cool pictures of everything back on page 4 and some others mixed in on the following pages if you didn't catch them.

7/18/2007 11:08:31 PM

number 11 in about an hour. w00t! i'll get some pics of the wild contraption they're putting on afterwards.

7/20/2007 6:16:39 AM

good luck man.

7/20/2007 7:25:59 AM

good luck man, i'm assuming you'll be in the hospital for the weekend, so we'll try to swing by when you are all doped up on morphine again

7/20/2007 9:47:17 AM

Anybody have any updates? Ivan, pulling for you, man...

7/20/2007 1:10:28 PM

I hope everythign tgoes well man, DIE INFECTION DIE.

7/20/2007 1:29:49 PM

are you still gonna have the iv tube? you havent tried mainlining vodka yet

7/20/2007 2:05:41 PM

Quote :

"DIE INFECTION DIE"

7/20/2007 5:10:19 PM

yeah, i'll still have the PICC line.

got out of surgery about 1pm. i've been in A LOT of pain since then, 8 rods going through your leg doesn't feel to great. they just switched me from morphine to dilaudid, and it feels better.

everything went well though as fas as the surgery is concerned. probably get out sunday or monday.

7/20/2007 5:15:29 PM

fentanyl if nothing else works will knock out the pain but you probably wont remember much.. but what you're on now should do the trick..

and, good luck

7/20/2007 6:52:54 PM

new pics. quite a wild contraption. looks like something i could have made with parts in my garage.

7/22/2007 10:43:54 PM

holy fucking shit

7/22/2007 10:48:50 PM

^ Watchin Batman 'eh?

That's a pretty amazing contraption! Does it feel weird to have all those rods going through?

7/22/2007 10:50:18 PM

^haha, yeah... wasn't much else on this afternoon.

yep, the rods feel REALLY wierd. especially when i move around and the skin/muscle starts pulling against them. alot of soreness/aching along their path too. they started feeling better today though.

7/22/2007 11:10:59 PM

we tried to call you this afternoon, Jeepman's mom is in town and wanted to come by to see you, and bring you some of those good damn oatmeal cookies


if you think the rods feel weird now, wait till all those hole start crusting over and itch like all holy hell, its been 2 years since i had the pin through my wrist and the spot still feels all weird sometimes

so whats the deal with the infection? looking good i assume since they put the rod back in?

7/23/2007 12:39:19 AM

yeah, i was passed out when ya'll called earlier.

i had an external fixator way back in november just after the wreck, but it was a different design. the rods from that didn't really give me any problems afterwards, so hopefully these won't.

the infection is still there. that's why they put this thing on vs. putting in another rod. i'll continue with the IV and pill anti biotics, and they'll check things out in another month or so. the cultures didn't grow the bugs as aggressively as before, but there were still a lot of visible signs of infection inside the leg. basically that means that the anti biotics are working, they just haven't killed everything.

x-rays will monitor whether or not this fixator forces the fractures back together. progress on the bone healing had pretty much stopped due to the infection sliming over everything and from the rod being removed. compression/pressure on fractures stimulates growth.

7/23/2007 1:34:36 AM

so the short answer is that it's generally good news and things are looking up at least some, but a different approach became needed?

[Edited on July 23, 2007 at 3:41 AM. Reason : and that is one helluva wicked looking rig on your leg]

7/23/2007 3:41:18 AM

^yeah, pretty much.

7/24/2007 10:19:53 PM

Damn, that is a pretty cool rig.

7/24/2007 10:29:58 PM

aw man thats an erector set, we had one of those growing up.

7/25/2007 12:25:09 AM

went to the infectious disease doctor today, and found out two of the four infections did finally grow in the cultures. pseudomonas (which has been the original one from the start) and prevotella.

the good news is it appears the other two are gone, they never grew.

7/26/2007 12:06:18 PM

What's the plan of action for the remaining two? What kinds of antibiotics are you on?

7/26/2007 2:44:58 PM

just continuing with the anti biotics i'm on. they are:

1.75g of vancomycin intravenously twice a day

750mg ciproflaxen by pill twice a day

500mg flagyl by pill three times a day

7/26/2007 3:04:27 PM

that actually sounds pretty encouraging, from my non-medical background

7/26/2007 7:56:22 PM

leg status sir!

10/13/2007 11:33:32 AM

word, it has been a while.

i went last week for a CT scan. it showed there is some new bone growth, but still a lot of little pockets/fractures present. so, i get to have this glorious erector set on for another month at which point they'll do another CT scan.

the doctor doesn't really have an explanation for why it's growing so slow. we're just happy it's growing at all, the infections had stopped it completely for a couple of months. he thinks there is possibly a little bit of infection hanging around keeping it from going faster, or it's just simply slow. the infection doctors think things are still under control, and i'm still on massive doses of pill antibiotics. the PICC line was taken out a couple of months ago, thankfully. it was making me miserable, throwing up almost daily and running fevers off and on. i went to the ER at one point with a fever of just over 105.

from the scans, since the support of the rod was removed my tibia has sort of V'd over torwards my fibula. it looks like they're going to fuse together into one big ball of bone there. the surgeon didn't seem concerned, he said that'll actually just make everything stronger.

so, overall things are at least progressing slowly but surely. not as well as we'd like, but certainly better than they have been.

the one year anniversary approaches in about two weeks... (oct. 31st).

[Edited on October 13, 2007 at 11:46 AM. Reason : .]

10/13/2007 11:43:31 AM

Quote :

"my tibia has sort of V'd over torwards my fibula. it looks like they're going to fuse together into one big ball of bone there. the surgeon didn't seem concerned, he said that'll actually just make everything stronger. "

That is how my leg is. Doesnt bother me much at all. Glad to hear al the good news.

10/13/2007 3:44:26 PM

ONE YEAR.

what do the military people call it, your "alive day" or something?

10/31/2007 1:15:48 PM

Congrats on the year dude. That looked like a gnarly fucking wreck.

10/31/2007 1:57:54 PM

y0 ivan congrats on the progress

are you getting enough calcium and vitamin D?

hit up some supplements.

i broke my femur, and well i would have heartburn also so i would pop tums like it was no ones business.

Dr. said that my leg was healing pretty quick. although people are different, im sure it wouldnt hurt to take some calcium and D.

but dont pop too much, i ended up getting a kidney stone.

[Edited on October 31, 2007 at 2:04 PM. Reason : ]

10/31/2007 2:03:48 PM

Stay White

10/31/2007 4:13:24 PM

Lock yourself in your room And T dub all night. Hell even sit in the bed

10/31/2007 4:52:44 PM

^^^yeah, i asked my doc about that, but i can't because calcium interferes with one of the anti biotics.

^i had to go out earlier for some work stuff, but i'm definitely staying in the house the rest of the night.

10/31/2007 5:01:37 PM

i remember that shit like yesterday. cant beleive it been a year, but im sure it seemed like forever to you with all the hospital bullshit. ill be driving to nc tonight and def gonna give you a holler if you are free in the pm.

10/31/2007 6:30:24 PM

I think we shall have a lil get togather for Ivans wreck 1 year and he still has his leg WOOOOOOOOOOOT

10/31/2007 6:54:53 PM

yo bigblue ram

11/7/2007 2:31:52 AM

sup

11/7/2007 12:04:53 PM

another ct scan tomorrow. x-rays this past thursday showed some additional growth, but the new scan will tell the real story.

11/14/2007 2:27:22 AM

Fingers crossed all's going good, dawg. I don't know if you believe in prayer, and I'm not sure I do, but how about some well wishes...maybe that's helped, all the well wishes and prayers from friends.

I think you're a pretty fortunate guy, Ivan. God done smiled upon ye even if you hadn't been able to keep yer leg.

11/14/2007 3:48:00 AM

I'll be in NC tomorrow. Gunna kick that fucker right square in the nuts and he won't even think about his leg.

11/14/2007 8:17:14 AM

good luck man.

11/14/2007 1:32:07 PM

update?

11/16/2007 10:16:37 AM

surgery number 12 in a couple of hours. to do list:

1. remove external fixator and assess the amount of flex/movement in the bone fracture and graft areas while monitoring it under an x-ray machine. this will determine whether they put a cast on or just a removeable brace (hoping for the later of course). they're doing this because the ct scans have become unconclusive. they're able to see that some bridging and fusing has occured, but it's hard to tell just how many pockets and tunnels are still left. it's funny to me that with so much medical technology that it's boiling down to them simply taking the thing and yanking it around an seeing what happens.

2. make a small incision to check for infection. enlarge the incision and debride as neccessary. tissue and bone samples will be taken as well for cultures.

this is supposed to just be a same day thing, no overnight stay which is nice.

12/17/2007 4:34:00 AM

shit man i cant believe all these surgeries are still goin on. cant believe u still have a positive outlook on the sit. i know i wouldnt. slap a nurse in the ass for me.

12/17/2007 5:01:34 AM

yeah, well the biggest thing to remember is that it could alway be worse. i just constantly remind myself of what could have happened, and how blessed i actually am despite what did happen. also just look at the horrendous things other people suffer and still make it through. it's been tough mentally, but i'm too much of a stubborn asshole to let too much beat me. good for stuff like this, not always so good other times. it will be neat in a somewhat morbid way to have completed a dozen even surgeries. just sounds better than 11, lol.

yeah, i'll try to get a nurse but the pickins are pretty slim. the closest i've come to slapping anything was throwing a blood pressure machine at a male nurse because he kept messing with me while i was in a lot of pain one time.

i'd probably fall out of the bed if i saw any nurses like that. in all my time there, i've maybe seen 3-4 that i would consider attractive out of the probably 75-100 i've had. most of the nurse anethesists seem to have it going on, but you only see them for a few minutes as they knock you out...

[Edited on December 17, 2007 at 5:35 AM. Reason : throwing shit]

12/17/2007 5:33:34 AM

Hey Ivan- Good Luck today man... I hope everything goes well. It was good seeing you this weekend. Tell your girl I say hi

12/17/2007 6:56:16 AM

Quote :

"most of the nurse anethesists seem to have it going on"

funny you say that, ex-gf's smoking hot best friend just got into school to be one of those

good luck with the surgery



[Edited on December 17, 2007 at 9:58 AM. Reason : pic maybe workie]

12/17/2007 9:53:46 AM

gluck ivan.

oh and get some xrays for us plz

12/17/2007 9:57:46 AM

Ivan...I hope everything goes/has gone well. Got my fangers crossed fer ye, man! I'll holla at a nigga soon.

^^BTW, I don't really find her to be all that smokin'...she need a little mo' meat on dem bones. Little too scrawny for me. That and the smile looks like fucking Cruella Deville.

[Edited on December 17, 2007 at 12:15 PM. Reason : Cruella Deville, Cruella Deville...if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will...]

12/17/2007 12:12:10 PM