Our Trip To Seattle...

Yesterday we headed to Seattle (well actually myself, my mom, Brandon's parents, Grandma Mulder and cousin Alison met us in Seattle) for Brandon's what we thought was his post-op appointment with Dr. Vedder the surgeon that did Brandon's surgery, however Dr. Vedder was in the office Monday and was in surgery yesterday. At that point we were all a little annoyed that we drove 2 hours for someone to just remove his stitches. Needless to say the Nurse Practioner and Nurse there kicked into action to get us some answers.

First Brandon's stitches were remove and everything looked GREAT they said. Swelling is starting to go down really well and they put another shrink wrap up his forearm to try to get all the swelling out before they can make the official prosthesis.

Also since we didn't see the surgeon we are going to Seattle on August 1st to meet with his before we can officially start this process as well. On the prostetic side things will move a lot quicker then we thought. We found someone that works in the Seattle area and also in Bellingham and is very knowledgable with upper extremity prostetics. Brandon will start using a temporary prosthesis in just a couple week and then move on to the more advance ones as his skills become better. It is going to take a lot of adjusting and work to get to the point of using the prosthesis really well but I know Brandon is up for the challenge. The doctors yesterday also said that is the the absolute perfect candidate for a prostetic hand which makes us feel a lot better. Brandon was also really concerned about having to have surgery again and at this point that is not even a factor it sounds like.

Please continue to lift our family up in prayer as this next chapter is also going to be a hard one. Adapting to daily life changes, keeping his phantom pain under control and realizing that it is what it is and we have to move on and figure out what God has in store for our family. At this point we are very exhausted and tired from appointments, waking up every few hours to take medicine and just from thinking about what the future holds. We know God is in control but it is sometimes hard to still see the big picture. We are thankful we have Brandon and it wasn't worse and we are beyond blessed to have Westyn in our lives which is medicine enough :). We will try to keep you updated as we know more!!!