Josh

One of the major concerns at the moment is that Josh is losing blood, and the doctors are unsure what is causing the blood loss. Joshua's blood pressure is artificially high, they are now weening him off of the increased blood pressure medications.

I talked to one Josh's nurses yesterday and he said that he is waiting for some of the swelling to go down in his body before removing the ventilator tubes in his mouth. As far as the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the doctors are actually inducing it by giving him certain medications to increase the blood pressure. So, Josh may not have PTSD permanently.

The Latest on Joshua

Josh is still on the ventilator and it looks like it may be a while because his lungs are unable to breathe on their own. The doctors have increased his sedation. His fever is under control, the results of the cultures have not come back. It can take up to five days before the results are in. They have begun giving him antibiotics.

Josh now has a specialized air bed. This should help pressure points. He is experiencing post traumatic stress disorder. He is having bad dreams, the doctors are planning to give him counseling. The trauma doctors communicated that Josh is in stable condition.

Update on Joshua

Joshua had a temperature of 104 degrees last night. The good news is, the fever is starting to go down. He is also complaining about pain in his neck. We are not sure what the cause of the pain is but the doctors are investigating. Right now is not a good time for visitors for many reasons. I will inform you when the time comes, hopefully the time is soon.

Visitors and Phone Calls

Please do not call the ICU. The phone calls are becoming disruptive. As far as visiting Joshua, now is not a good time for visitors. I will let you know when he is available for visitors. Thank you for understanding of the situation.

Update on Josh

Please pray for Josh! He is having issues breathing on his own. They removed the tubes from his mouth. His lungs are not in great in condition. He needs to cough but he is having neck pains and that is affecting his ability to cough. The doctors are going to put the breathing tubes back in his mouth for another day.

Today's Surgeries

Good news! Both the anterior and posterior surgeries on his spine are now complete. The halo has been removed. He now has metal screws and rods from C5 to T7 in the spine. The surgies were succesful.

Update on Joshua

The doctors placed an external fixture on his wrist. They were unable to put the plates in his arm due to the risk of infection. He will have to have another surgery in a week to 10 days to take care of the fractures. The injury was a lot more severe than expected.

Tommorow, Josh will have surgery on his cervical spine. He is first on the schedule for the morning. The doctors will be performing anterior and posterior surgeries. He will also be having an IVC filter put in his to prevent blood clots from traveling into his lungs. Please Pray for succesful surgeries.

Correction on the previous blog: I said cervical "nerve" instead of spine. It should have been spine.

Orthapedic Surgery

Josh is currently undergoing orthatpedic surgery right now. The doctors are cleaning and removing bad tissue in his knee, and forearm. They are either going to try to put external stabilizers on his wrist or internal screws in his wrist, he has a several traumatic fractures in his wrist. No update on the cervatic nerve. The cervatic nerve is the biggest issue concerning Josh's health.

Please also pray for government that it would have wisdom in regards to the War. Our hearts go out to the other troops that are in Afghanistan.

Update on Josh

Josh has arrived in Bethesda, Md. The orthopedic doctor is going to perform surgery on his forearm later today. The neurosurgeon is going to assess his cervical spine damage. His surgery on his cervical spine is TBD. It could be as early as later today.

Joshua is in intestive care, but Do Not call the hospital. Check the blog for the latest updates. This is the prefered method of communication.