Schoonover Farm Blog

I worked on Monday and then Tuesday we went back to Harborview Hospital for the rest of the week to try to entertain William, support the parents, and advocate for his care.  At one point on the first floor near the 8th Avenue lobby, there was a frustrated woman who was confused about directions.  She said that they should tear the whole thing down and start over.  I told her that I didn’t agree and gave her directions to get to parking.  But then I got verklempt.  I was thinking this hospital saved the lives of my husband and grandson.  Plus all of the people we have encountered in all the hospital stays have been kind, highly skilled, hard working and compassionate.  I also did my ER training in medical school there with Dr. Copass.  Plus my aunt was a longtime nurse manager for the clinics at Harborview.  So it has been an incredibly important part of my life episodically.

On the way down Tuesday morning we saw some protestors.

On Tuesday morning, after we arrived his oxygen had been stopped, and his nasal feeding was removed.  But he still had the chest tube.  It had been taken off suction, and he was having daily chest x-rays with persistent air between his left lung and ribs.  He was still in the ICU but on medical status.  So the monitors were taken off as well.

Here he is with the physical therapist walking the hall in the ICU with some construction going on.

At lunchtime I appreciated this quote near the 8th avenue lobby.

Tuesday afternoon I was knitting in the waiting room as my father was also visiting.  Only 2 visitors at a time.

Wednesday morning we were heading back to Harborview.

When we got there we rolled William around in his chair to see the sights on the same floor.  This is the view from the skybridge nearby with the oldest portion of the hospital on the right and Mount Rainier ahead which was hazy.

William didn’t appreciate the sun so didn’t last long.  I managed to get some knitting in by his window which was now directly above the ED entrance so good for people watching.  He had changed rooms in the ICU.

Later that morning the occupational therapist took him for a walk with Russ and us.  

We ended up in the therapy room with a Wii bowling game.  William enjoyed it and smiled more than I have seen since the crash.  He beat Russ too which I think he enjoyed.  He did have to sit down between each of his turns so definitely lacking stamina.  But the OT was now thinking that he wouldn’t need inpatient rehab anymore.

We went to lunch in the Harborview park. Some employees were playing with a soccer ball.

That evening we crossed Lake Washington with nice views of some rowing crews practicing with Mount Rainier in the background.

We had picked up some pizza and had dinner with my mom and Al, catching up on things.  It was nice.

Thursday morning was another commute to Harborview.

This time though we were on a mission to find eclairs.  William had requested one for breakfast.  We went to the Pike Place Market while things were still being set up.  Not too many tourists yet.

And we found eclairs at Le Panier there.  Unfortunately I don’t believe he ever ate his.  The adults did though and really enjoyed them.

He had moved to the 8th floor overnight, and his room was much smaller.  Really only room for chairs for 2 people at the most.  So I ended up knitting more this time in the bridge as there is no waiting room for the eighth floor.

We were waiting on news for the plan for the chest tube as nothing was changing.  Tom and I finally gave up waiting and decided to pick up lunch from Potbelly for everyone.  (The surgeon did arrive while we were getting the sandwiches.)  We spotted this Honda CB 550-4 (like mine) while walking.  We did see him park his bike,  but he didn’t want to talk to us.

Here’s the inside of the sandwich shop.  We picked up our order and headed back to the hospital.

Tom distributed lunches on the eighth floor, and I grabbed drinks from the car (which we have been living out of for most of 1.5 weeks).  Then we met again at the park.  And I had the best sandwich of my life.  And there was a really, really cute doggie there.  The photos do not do him justice.

It made me miss having our beagle with us at this park for lunch and walks.  But it wasn’t fair having her sit in a car almost the entire day in the parking garage.  So we had dropped her off at her boarding facility (which she loves) on Monday.  Here’s a photo we were sent from her adventures there.

William was doing well, playing with his devices.

We had a vacation scheduled for this week which we cancelled.  But I was trying to keep spirits up so tried to make it sort of a vacation.  So I was looking at Seattle restaurants on my bucket list.  The pizza we got for Mom and Al was on that list but wasn’t very good, in my opinion.  But I had made reservations for the Little Beast in Ballard.  My options were 5 or 7 so I chose 5 earlier in the week.  Unfortunately I didn’t realize we would have a late lunch while waiting for surgeons to show up.  So we weren’t very hungry.  We did arrive for Happy Hour though so we got discounts on cocktails and appetizers.  I got a Pimm’s Cup, and Tom got a French 75.

And I got a Scotched Egg, and Tom ordered some Normandy cider.

Then we got our dinners.  Tom got a bavette steak and tallow fries with ketchup, and I got roasted chicken and mushroom pie.  We could only eat small amounts, and these were boxed up.

This morning we packed up from my dad’s house and headed back to Harborview.  We found out that Thursday evening they had tried to reposition the chest tube to help drain the air pocket using some sedation and lidocaine, but William didn’t tolerate this.  So today’s plan was to do this under general anesthesia in the operating room sometime today.  William wasn’t allowed to eat and seemed really tired.  So he fell asleep, and we left for home.  After we left he did have the procedure done which he tolerated.  We are waiting now to see if it works to drain this air.  There will be another chest x-ray, I’m sure, tomorrow morning.  Back at home we unpacked, picked up our dog and attacked the umpteen farm chores that need doing.  I did the animal chores while Tom mowed.  We harvested corn, beans, pumpkins and squash in the garden.  There is some beautiful basil in the greenhouse I rally need to do something with soon.

I sent a photo of Jameson to William to hopefully cheer him up a little.

Our cat Wally likes the lawn chairs that we never, ever get to sit in.  At least someone gets to use them.

We had the Little Beast leftovers for dinner.

So this where we are at.  We will be home this weekend, and I need to work 3 days next week.  Really hoping William gets to go home soon.

 

P.S. I showed William this video of our goat kids playing from 19 years ago.  That made him smile as well.

P.P.S.  There is a fund raiser to support William’s family during this difficult time.  It is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-williams-healing-journey

Last week started well with preparations to go to our Boles/Dad’s cabin to hangout with family.  We were getting the farm ready.  I pulled more morning glory

and was admiring our turkeys.

We drove to the cabin last Friday afternoon after I got off of work.  It was stormy as we drove, but we saw a rainbow that looked like it might end at the cabin on the way there.

And then there was a pretty sunset after we arrived.

We were joining Jay, Russ, William and Piper as well as Russ’ sister Kandice, her husband Aaron and their two children Isaiah and Elijah.  This was to celebrate Piper’s 7th birthday.  The kids were a little energetic, and it was approaching bed time so the parents had them look at their screens to calm down before bed.  I thought they looked cute on the coach doing this.

Saturday morning I was taking Ryeleigh for a walk and noticing the storm clouds dumping in the valley.  It had rained hard in the night but was only slightly sprinkling by morning for us.

Everything seemed distinctly autumn, but there were a few flowers still.

Jay and Russ brought their dogs Pips and Belle.  Belle got cold, and Tom warmed her up.  She is not really a tough mountain dog.

On another walk I noticed an elk sleeping spot fairly close to the cabin.  There were quite a few nearby.

We took quads and a 4 by 4 to Lions Rock.  It was definitely colder at the higher altitude.

It again looked stormy in the valley.

Here’s the photo that Kandice took of us.

Then it started to hail, and the pellets kept getting bigger. I am not sure why the video is smooshed.

Here is William running for the quad to get out of there.

When we got back to the cabin, it was beautiful.

There was a dragon egg hunt.  This is the kids looking at their loot.

Here is one of the dragons that were inside.

Tom and I had cocktails and were listening to music.  I thought the stir sticks looked pretty in the sunshine.

It was fun watching the kids in front of the Boles.

Then we had a great dinner, and Piper opened her birthday presents.  They did her party one day early so Tom and I could participate.

Here she is reading our birthday card.  Again, sorry the video is smooshed.

 

Then there was the birthday cake.

Sunset was pretty again.

On Sunday morning Ryeleigh and I went on a walk.  I got a little closer to a cabin that is in a gulley to the west of us.  It doesn’t look like it has been used in a long while which is sad.

We could see Mount Rainier on the way back.

When I was rounding corner on the road back, I caught a distinctive scent that I really can’t described.  But I smelled some of the nearby foliage and decided it was this plant (the photo on top is the one I took.

And then I looked up its scent and here is what I got.  I think the description of the odor is accurate.

Closer to the cabin I noticed this unusual (to me) plant.  It has little spikey balls under the flowers.

So this one identified as a curlycup gumweed.

The I looked up more about it and found out it is good late season nectar source and can be used as chewing gum as well as medicine.

When I got back I was able to enjoy seeing Piper looking pretty on the front porch of the cabin.

I visited Steve’s grave, missing him like crazy.

And then we headed back home.  I was scheduled to work Labor Day so we had to leave early, which was hard to do.  On the way back, we saw the fire fighters’ camp near Cle Elum.

And we stopped at Twin Pines Burgers for lunch where there were firefighters enjoying lunch as well.

Heading out of Cle Elum we saw a blatant Trumper.  You don’t see many of them anymore.

And you could see the smoke in the mountains.

I was able to knit as we were driving home.  This is driving through Bellevue.

We arrived home and were unloading our stuff.  Then Tom got a phone call from William’s phone.  It was Russ crying saying that William had been in a bad quad accident where it flipped over on him.  He had to do CPR, but William then got a heart rate and started breathing but was still unconscious,  An airlift helicopter was on the way, but he didn’t know if they were going to go to Tri-Cities or Harborview.  So Tom and I hurriedly grabbed some things (much of which we hadn’t unpacked yet) and waited for word about which hospital he was going to.  I had turned on the Arlo camera at the cabin to see what was happening.  I caught this video of the kids trying to talk to William flying away in the helicopter with Russ.

 

Thankfully the weather allowed them to go to Harborview so as soon as we heard we drove quickly there.  Russ had arrived before us, and we met up with him in the Emergency Department while William was getting CT scans done.  He had been intubated (a breathing tube put in), a chest tube placed (to release air between the ribs and lungs), a neck immobilizer used, and IVs placed.  They were thinking about transfusing him with blood but ultimately did not.  The CTs looks good in that there was no brain bleeding, the spine looked good and no abdominal bleeding.  His chest x-ray however showed that he had aspirated quite a bit into his lungs (he had eaten pizza just before the crash).  With sedation, they put in a surgical chest tube, and he then was moved up to the pediatric intensive care unit.  I saw him in the hallway moving upstairs, and it was horrifying,  This unit shared space with the Burns ICU where Tom had been.  Tom and I went to the waiting room outside the unit on the 9th floor.  Kandice had driven Jaylene over the pass to the hospital and arrived.  So she and Russ went into the ICU room.  Aaron (Kandice’s husband) drove the kids and dogs all the way to Birch Bay to drop the dogs off.  He picked up Russ’ mother, and they came down.  Russ’ father came down as did Aaron’s sister.  They had wanted a hotel room near the hospital with a swimming pool to try to distract the kids from the trauma of the day.  So I helped make reservations.  This is the view from the waiting room (which I was already quite familiar with).  They had stopped his sedation when he arrived to the ICU, but he still wasn’t responding.

And a view from around the corner which I shared with the grieving family.

I will not share the worst photos of William. But we joined up with him Monday morning after trying to sleep at my dad’s place.  He really hadn’t improved.  He wasn’t responding  or doing any purposeful movements.  We had a beagle with us so she got to hang out in the car in the parking lot and get walks in the little park Harborview has each day at lunch and dinner times.  It was a nice distraction.  We started getting our lunches and eating them out there with her too.  Fortunately the weather was nice and allowed for this.

We came home Monday night as we had forgotten some critical items in our rush to get to Harborview.  Plus that afternoon they stopped visitation for him (except parents) as they wanted him to rest.  They had taken his breathing tube out but not much else was changing.  The neurologist saw him, and they were doing an EEG to see if he was having any seizures.  At home I was grabbing some snacks to bring with us and saw a bag of popcorn in the kitchen cabinet.  It made me bawl as I remembered how much William liked it when I made popcorn for him, particular when we were going to watch a movie.  I was scared this would never happen again.  Then we got a call from Kandice who was crying.  I thought the worst, that he was dying and we need to leave pronto to get back to him before he died.  But no.  She was crying out of happiness because he has whispered to the nurse asking what his name was.  The nurse answered and then asked William how he was doing and he said “OK”.  That was the extent of the conversation, but Jay and Russ were crying and let Kandice know in the waiting room.  Work got out, and everyone was thrilled.

We tried to get there as early as we could on Tuesday morning as the doctor’s rounds are supposed to start at 8:00.  I missed part of the rounds but able to get an idea of what was happening. He was off oxygen.  His EEG was OK.   This is the view from his room.  He had EEG leads on his head so I won’t share that photo either.  But he was talking some but also saying gibberish.  He seemed to be hallucinating too as he was grabbing at things in the air.  And he was so annoyed by the nasogastric tube, he needed constant supervision to keep him from pulling it out.  He was having episodes of agitation that had been hard to control as well.  So it was all pretty rough on everybody.

Here’s is part of the lunchtime beagle walk.  William’s room is in the second building back, on the top floor, about the fourth window back.

You could see Lumen Field easily from Harborview.

There were lots of ambulances with sirens coming and going as well as helicopters landing and taking off.  Tom took this video of a military helicopter coming in.  Sorry it is also smooshed.

 

On Wednesday morning, on the way to the hospital for rounds, I decided to stop at Bakery Nouveau in Burien.  I had long wanted to check this place out as it is supposed to be amazing.

There was a grinder visible below the floor.

We got treats for us as well as Jay and Russ.  I was able to relieve the parent who stayed overnight and participate in rounds to provide some medical translation.  He was pretty agitated overnight.  The Foley catheter had been removed.  At first it was hard to find a way to get him to pee, but that morning he was able to sit on the commode and go.  Here are the occupational and physical therapist assessing him for the first time.  This is his first time standing so thrilling for all.

I was able to get some knitting done while he slept.  He was quite tired.  But he was talking better and making more sense.  I thought it would be a good idea for Tom and Russ to go down to Lumen Field and find a Seahawks shirt for William to wear for the big game that evening.  There was a TV in his room that worked.  It was determined that the waiting room TVs do not work and as only two visitors were allowed at a time, it would be Jay and Russ watching the game with him.   Unfortunately the Pro Shop closed right as they arrived, but they were able to go to a different store and get swag for William and Piper.

I also had the bright idea of picking up take out Chinese food to watch the game at dad’s.  I picked Wah Kue restaurant as I had the bar on my bucket list as an example of a 1950’s era cocktail bar that is still surviving.  Dad mentioned that he had gone to this restaurant in the past and had enjoyed it but hadn’t been in a while. The reviews were quite mixed, but I thought I would take a chance.  We had cocktails in the bar while waiting for our take out order of family dinners.

And here is the restaurant.

And my dinner at Dad’s while watching the game.  It was all really good.  So I just put in a good review for the restaurant as I think some people have been a little unfair.  It is classic old-fashioned Chinese-American comfort foods.

The beagle took her place on the couch.

By Thursday morning (yesterday) William was much more talkative and you could have a conversation.  Plus his sense of humor was starting to improve.  He sleeps quite a bit.  His IV fluids had been stopped, but he still has the nasogastric tube and the chest tube.  He hadn’t been trying to pull the nose tube as much and slept well the previous night.  Unfortunately he also slept through most of the Seahawks game too.  Speech therapy has evaluated him and felt he was safe for pureed foods.  Unfortunately he is not a fan.  He no long required intensive care, but there was no room not the eighth floor for him to move.  The rehab doctors saw him and are seeing if he will need to transfer to the rehab unit at Seattle Children’s.

Here’s the lunchtime view of the older portion of Harborview.

And some plaques at the old entrance (no longer used).

In the afternoon occupational therapy had evaluated him, got him up in a chair, and noted ataxia with his movements, but he was able to build two pretty complicated dinosaurs.  She gave us suggestions of activities that could help him including puzzles and card games.  Here he is sitting in a chair for the first time.  So he is getting better and better.  He definitely has memory issues and is sleepier but otherwise seems like his normal self.  Obviously not walking yet but making really good progress.

This morning we packed our stuff out of dad’s house.  Of course, dad and Tom had to wheel and deal some motorcycle parts before we left.

Back with William.  Here are those dinosaurs he made the day before.  He had named them Timmy and Jeremy but not sure if he will remember that.

We were able to meet his new pediatricians now looking after him.  We need work getting him to eat and hopefully get the chest tube out.  It is kinked more that it is open to suction so doesn’t seem to be doing much good.  Plus it is bothering him more.  Tom and I went home as Kandice and her family was coming to visit for the weekend.  So it is kind of surreal being back on the farm taking photos of the peacock.  Plus there are no sirens or helicopters.  It’s weird.

The sheep seemed excited to see me.  Maybe it’s more about food though.

The peacock had this bug in his mouth.  I tried to save it.  I am not sure it will survive, but I have never seen this before.

We keep the birds in the barn when we are gone due to prior bad experiences.  But I let them out when I got home. The geese really enjoyed being able to take a bath again.

This has been a rollercoaster of a week.  We had a great weekend and then the second worst week of my life (the worst being when Tom was in the same unit).  I asked for prayers after this happened and still could use more for his complete recovery.  This has been so hard but much worse for his parents.