Keegan Burnett critically injured - now recovered

[rainbowgirl28]

13 May 14, 2007 at 10:02 AM PDT
Good Morning everyone,
Things are getting better. Keegan's numbers are all real good. He hasn't needed any Manitol since Friday so the brain pressure is staying down on its own. It's not completely down, but is within a safe range. The neurologist actually said "We are over the hump" when it comes to his survival. What his rehabilitation needs will be is unknown at this time. But the doctor said with his years of experience (he has been at this hospital for 14 yrs.) he is thinking positively and so are we.
Keegan had a CT scan this morning and a chest Xray. We haven't been able to talk with the neurologist about that but the nurse said that the radiologist's report was good. The chest Xray showed some fluid in one portion of one lung so they are going to do a "levage"? today. That is a procedure where they put saline solution down the breathing tube to try to thin down the secretions and then they suction them all out. If that doesn't work there is some type of mist they can use to break up the secretions but that causes a great deal of coughing and coughing raises brain pressure. So they will try to avoid that if possible.
The best news I have to report is that Keegan opened his eyes while we were in his room this morning and I think he looked at me. I tried moving to see if his eyes would track and I think they did. He also squeezed our hands when we asked him to and he nodded his head when Rick asked him to squeeze. He is far from being fully awake. They have discontinued 2 out of the 3 sedatives he was getting, so it is still going to be a few days before he has the chance to be fully alert.
Well, I guess that is all for now.

Have a good day,

Alice & Rick

[rainbowgirl28]

14 May 14, 2007 at 06:43 PM PDT
Hi,
Just a quick note to let you know that Keegan has continued to improve today. And the neurologist took the pressure monitor out around noon today. All of his blood work came back really good and the doctor is very encouraged by his continued progress. He is breathing 90% on his own.
Keegan opened his eyes several times and there was a distinct difference in how they looked from when we first got here this morning to when we last saw him awake about 4:00pm. This morning I wasn't sure if he was really looking at me or not. This afternoon he definitely was. The nurse asked him if he needed more pain medication and he ever so slighty shook his head no. He has moved both arms and both legs, but he moves the right side far more than the left. He moved his right hand alot today trying to reach for the catheter. His hands are restrained so he can't reach it or any of the tubes or IV's, but he was trying. Then he started moving his right leg alot and Rick and I both swear he was trying to use it to pull that tube out.
So today has been good. But we have to keep in mind what they have repeatedly told us about recovery being an up and down process. We will just pray for more ups than downs.
That's all for now.

Alice & Rick

[MaxVault]

I have been following Keegans progress, and praying for good results. All of us in the pole vault community are doing the same, I suspect. Keegan is obviously a super kid and well liked. I'll continue to pray for him and for his family.

Pat Manson

[rainbowgirl28]

15 May 15, 2007 at 10:51 AM PDT
Hello everyone,
Keegan is doing good this morning. He still has some crud in one lung so they are changing some medications and leaving the breathing tube in for another day or two. Most of the IV's are out of his arms. He has a main line, called a 'pic'? line that is still in but the rest of his arms and hands are free of those now. Last night a couple of the male nurses were in there and one of them asked him if he could flip the other one off.....and he did! The nurses are all really good with him. They talk to him and explain what they are doing to him whether he is awake or not.
We want to extend our congratulations to John Altendorf, one of Keegan's vaulting buddies. He set a new world record in the 60 - 64 yr. old age group with a vault of 4.0 meters (13'1-1/2") on Sunday at Hayward Field in Eugene. John is the one who supplied us with that great photo of Keegan vaulting that is on the Care Pages. Keegan will be so thrilled for you when he sees that video. Way to go John!
Well, that's all for now. Talk to you all later.

Alice & Rick


John finally got his Official 4.00m jump to set the 60 -64 year old world record at the Hayward Classic this past Sunday May 13.

John had cleared 4.00m - 13'`1 1/2" last summer at an All Comers meet at Hayward field, but there were not the requisite 3 certified Officials to have the jump qualify as a world record. It was great to watch John get his record ( it appeared that this meet had the correct officials for this to be an official world record).

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2007/0 ... _vault.txt

Injured vaulter sees improvement

By Alex Paul
Albany Democrat-Herald

OGDEN, Utah â€â€

[rainbowgirl28]

16 May 16, 2007 at 09:04 AM PDT
Hi everyone,
Well, today is Keegan's 14th day in ICU. Hopefully he will only be there for one or two more days, then he will be moved to the Intermediate Care ward. It's a step down from ICU but has more monitoring than a regular room.
He is trying to communicate with us. The breathing tube prevents him from talking and we are not too good at sign language, so that has been a struggle. We gave him some paper and pen this morning and he tried writing what he wanted. Any of you that have tried to read Keegan's writing in the past may remember that it was a struggle then. Today he did pretty good, considering, but the only word I could really make out was "breakfast". I guess he's hungry. Who wouldn't be when you have had no food in your stomach for 14 days. The feeding tube goes through the stomach down into the intestine, so I imagine he's got the growlies pretty good.
He still has a bunch of junk in the left lung. Today they are going to do a procedure called a bronchoscopy. They put a scope down through the breathing tube so they can see what's down there and then suck it out. If that goes well, he may get the breathing tube out tomorrow.
His temperature is good, it goes up a degree or so occasionally. All of his other numbers are good. All the blood tests and cultures are good. His body isn't growing anything it shouldn't. They are adding vitamins and minerals and salt to the feeding tube twice a day to keep everything in his body balanced. Too bad all that stuff doesn't make him feel full.
I guess that's all for today. The weather is wonderful here right now. We sat out on the patio for a long time yesterday and enjoyed the weather and beautiful surroundings. If you can turn your mind off while you are out there, you almost feel like you are at a resort. It's that pretty.
Take care everyone. Talk to you later.

Alice & Rick

[theczar]

it's great to hear that he's doing better. our prayers are still with him.

[rainbowgirl28]

17 May 17, 2007 at 09:06 AM PDT
Good Morning,
Keegan had another CT scan this morning, and from the results of that the neurosurgeon has decided to re-attach the piece of skull tomorrow morning. That is GREAT news! The only down side is that they will not remove the breathing tube today because they would just have to reinsert it tomorrow. So he has to get through today with the tube and hopefully by tomorrow night or Saturday morning it will be gone for good. They have given him a sedative to help him relax today. The coughing and subsequent suctioning is pretty uncomfortable and combine that with not being able to communicate what you need, it leads to a pretty frustrated boy. So the sedation will help the day go by.
The physical therapist was in yesterday and checked out his arms and legs and he did great with everything she asked of him. He watched TV most of the day yesterday and was able to manage the remote control just fine.
Rick is going nuts trying to figure out what Keegan is trying to communicate to us. There was something he wanted yesterday and Rick finally figured out that part of it was he wanted his socks on his feet. But he never could figure out the rest of what he wanted.
That's all for right now. Talk to you later.

Alice & Rick

[rainbowgirl28]

18 May 18, 2007 at 02:00 PM PDT
Hi Everyone,
Today is a GOOD NEWS! day! Keegan had surgery today to reattach the bone in his skull and that went very well. And, they just removed his breathing tube. That is such a relief to have that thing gone. He can't talk or hardly swallow because it hurts so bad, but that will improve in a couple of days. The Anesthesiologist said there is a possibility that his vocal cords could have been damaged because the tube was in there for so long. We'll have to wait and see about that. We are looking forward to the rest of the tubes going bye-bye too. Hopefully the feeding tube will be gone in a day or so and he can have that breakfast he asked for the other day. I think they will probably move him out of ICU tomorrow.
That's it for today. Hopefully I'll have more good news tomorrow.

Alice & Rick




19 May 19, 2007 at 09:40 AM PDT
Hi Everyone,
Keegan had another CT scan this morning and the Dr. said it was OK. They have taken the oxygen off of him, so that is another tube down.

He was extremely restless yesterday. His legs were going miles an hour continuely. The nurses said that is normal for a brain injury. Has something to do with the brain waking up and trying to get all of its connections made. Whatever, he wore us out just watching him. He kept slipping down in the bed and finally they used a sheet, rolled up like a rope, and tied it to both sides of the bed under his armpits to try to keep him in place. But as soon as they got him all settled, he would start wiggling again and slipping down until he was kind of hanging by his armpits. Today they had to sedate him to get him to lay still for the CT scan and that hasn't wore off yet. The doctor told them to sedate him tonight so he can get some sleep.

He tried to talk yesterday and occasionally a whisper would come out. Usually he just mouthed the words. We were able to make out a few words, but not much. Finally last night he was trying to say something and I got my ear down real close to his mouth and he said "Your deaf! You can't hear anything!"

He will stay in ICU today, unless they have a rush and need the room. Then he will go to the Intermediate Care ward. We are hoping they will come and evaluate his swallowing today. If that goes well he can start eating again.

That's all for now folks.

Alice & Rick

[VTechVaulter]

hadn't seen an update for a while and i know myself and other have been worried so i signed up and checked it out. Seems like hes making good progress!!



May 21, 2007 at 08:54 AM PDT

Good Morning

Well, after 18 days in ICU, Keegan finally got sprung! At least from ICU. He is now in the Intermediate Care ward. He's doing really well, and they think he is ready to go to rehab, except rehab is full right now. The therapists will come up to his room and work with him here until they can move him.

Last night he finally got to eat. I thought after 18 days with no food he might not be quite as picky, but I was wrong. He didn't like anything they brought him but did eat a few bites. This morning when we came in the Nurses Aid was feeding him his breakfast and he ate almost all of it. And it was alot. It was all soft stuff like oatmeal. All of his liquids have to be thickened until they are positive he won't choke, so she was feeding him those with a spoon too. They weigh his food when it goes into his room and again when it comes out so they know exactly how much he is eating. When they think he is consuming enough calories they will take the feeding tube out.

His talking is a little better. He can get a faint whisper out if he really tries. We are expecting that to improve day by day.

They weighed him when he got to this room yesterday and he weighs 146. He weighed 181 when he came in. 35 pounds down in 18 days. And he was only about 6% body fat to begin with, so if he is weak I think we can understand why.


23 May 23, 2007 at 09:48 AM PDT

Good Morning Everyone,

Keegan is doing very well. His voice is getting better and we can hear him when he talks. The rehab unit of this hospital is great and everyone in it is very nice and seems to know exactly what they are doing.

Now that Keegan can talk we are starting to get an idea of what is going on inside his head. The therapists have described what kinds of damage can occur inside the brain when it gets a jolt like Keegan got. The Speech Therapist has been working on not only his speech but also testing him to see what cognitive problems he has and determining what kind of therapy he needs to get those wires in his head reconnected. He is going to need some long term therapy, but they are very positive that he will make an excellent recovery.

His day is very structured now. They give him a daily schedule and it is full of speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. He has morning and afternoon sessions of speech and physical therapy and it has totally amazed us at the progress he has made. His balance has improved to the point where he can pretty much walk on his own, with the therapist shadowing behind him to occasionally steer him back on course. Meanwhile, we are learning more than we ever wanted to know about traumatic brain injury (TBI).

This inpatient rehab is normally two weeks long. That is followed with outpatient therapy, which he will do at home. We are going to try to get him set up with a program in Eugene for that.

We are so glad that we decided to keep him here for his rehab. I think it would have really slowed down his progress if we had moved him back to Oregon at that point.

Well, I gotta go. It's time for another therapy session and they want us involved in all of them. Talk to you later.

[ashcraftpv]

24 May 25, 2007 at 09:05 AM PDT

Hi Everyone,

Keegan is continuing to improve. Today his physical therapist took him outside to walk on the walking trail that goes around the perimenter of the hospital property. They probably went a mile or more and he said Keegan did great. He can walk by himself with just a little stagger every now and then. Turning corners or bending over can cause him to get off balance.

The speech therapist is continuing to work on his thinking skills. People who have suffered a head injury can develop depression, anxiety, hostility, impulsiveness, etc. etc. There is no way of knowing which if any of these will affect Keegan. He does have a short attention span and they are working on that. That is a big reason why so many people with head injuries are not successful when they go back to their life. They can't concentrate or hold a thought very long. The speech therapist is also going to make sure that before Keegan leaves here he realizes what his deficits are and that he needs continued rehab at home to get better.

Rick is flying home today for a few days. Time to remind Shaina and McKenna that they really do still have parents. We are so proud of them and how they have kept all the animals alive (we think!) and taken care of everything at home. Hopefully before too long we will all be there together.

Talk to you all later.

Alice, Rick & Keegan

[VTechVaulter]

May 28, 2007 at 10:09 AM PDT

Good Morning Everyone,

Well here we are in Utah for Memorial Day Weekend. Kind of thought if we ever spent this holiday in Utah it would be for a fun thing. I guess we never know.

Keegan is continuing to improve. His stubborness is about back to normal, maybe a little beyond normal (which can be a side effect of a head injury). The doctor and all the therapists will meet tomorrow to discuss him and his case, and then they will make a recommendation about his release date and further out patient treatment. All the therapists and doctors have been telling us all the way through this that when Keegan is released he will need to come home with us and have 24x7 supervision for several weeks and he will need outpatient therapy. He is fine with going to outpatient therapy, but not with the rest of it.

I talked to the doctor last night about how we are going to get him home. The doctor thinks we should fly him home. That would be short and sweet and get him there in a hurry, which is a big advantage (althought sometimes head injury patients freak out on airplanes). But Keegan wants to go back to Pocatello. And we can understand why he does. Four weeks ago he hopped in a van for an afternoon trip to Ogden and hasn't been back since. So we can understand how he would want to go back and tie up loose ends. We are willing to drive him home via Pocatello, spend a couple of days there, let him see people, we can load up his stuff and then take off. That sounds good to him except for the leaving part. He wants to stay there and live there for another couple of months. Keegan and I had a long discussion this morning about doing what the doctors and therapists are saying so that he can get well soon and then be off living his own life again. I told him that we don't want him moving home permanently. (Heaven help us!) That is not what this is about. But the quickest way for him to get his independence back is to do what the specialists say. They are the experts, not him. (he's not convinced of that either.)

So, wish us luck. If you have time to call, or text or email, let him know that he needs to follow orders - this time! Maybe if he is bombarded with advice, he'll finally relent and agree to be agreeable.

Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. And hope we will be seeing you all soon.

Love to you all,

Keegan, Rick and Alice