Progress!

Sorry for the late update! Sunday Keith started to breath a lot on his own, so they have been weaning him off the ventilator day by day. He does pretty well, except he just gets tired so it gets slower. But it's big progress! He is also much more alert than he ever has been. He tried to talk all the time, and mouth stuff to us. He still has a tube in his trachea, so words don't come out, but yesterday he mouthed 'Good Morning' to my mom! So he is also acknowledging who we are now. He recognizes voices as well, and he can smile. There is some brain swelling, which is why he has been so slow to come out of it, and it seems like he is sedated, but he will completely come out of it and be able to talk and everything once the brain swelling goes down. This isn't anything serious, it is expected with such trauma. But once there is no more swelling, they will operate on his head. They have also allowed him to be sat up, so he is no longer stuck laying down, and he looks SO much more comfortable. This has already been quite the process, so we just have to be patient and remind ourselves, BABY STEPS! Things seem to be falling apart all over, but we remain strong as a family and look to God for strength, and we can't express our gratitude for the blessings we have received. Although much that happens seems to be totally unnecessary, we know there is much learning and growing for us to do out of every situation we have been confronted with. And we know your prayers are the reason we are so optimistic and they are the reason for our strength through these hard times. Again, you can't know how grateful we are for each and every one of you and your prayers. Thank you all, and much love!

P.S. They are starting physical therapy today! Yay!

Setback

Keith had a setback today. They had to insert another breathing tube through his trachea because he stopped breathing on his own, and they feared the breathing tube was too irritating and they want him to relax. He also stopped responding like he was responding before, which they aren't too worried about, but it is unexpected and something they have to look into. We'll post as soon as there's a change!

Good News!

They removed Keith's breathing tube this morning! They decided he was breathing steadily enough, that he could handle it. He still struggles a little, which I'm sure is because of the pain, and he has been coughing a lot as well, which we assume is just irritation from the breathing tube, and not being able to clear his throat. But so far he's holding his own! Which is great news (: Thank you so much for your prayers! WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Pray, pray, pray!

We have just found out that he stopped breathing the way the respiratory therapists wanted him to be breathing, so they won't be removing the tube. His white blood cell count is also way up, which is common after surgery, but they think that because of the breathing, it might be an infection in his lungs, such as pneumonia, then they will have to keep the tube in for a while longer. We will know what the plan will be within the next 24 hours. This is quite a set back that we were not anticipating, but we know things will work out for the best. Much love to all!

Rib Plating - Check!

Keith went into surgery this morning to get each of his broken ribs plated, and came out only a few hours later, and all went well! The 2 most important surgeries are over and things are really moving! The respiratory therapist has been monitoring his breathing, and he is breathing all on his own and how they want him to be breathing! So they are expecting to take the breathing tube out tomorrow, and see how that goes! Once they take the breathing tube out, and with his ribs fixed, he will be in a lot less pain and he should be able to fully wake up, and start talking! A nurse that befriended my mom at the hospital went out of town today for 8 days, and said she probably won't be seeing my mom again, because they should be moved to the progressive treatment floor! This wasn't expected to happen for at least a couple weeks. He has been doing extremely well for his condition, everyone is shocked. Everyone but the people that know him, that is (; Everyone that knows Keith knows he's a fighter! And he is the healthiest, strongest 58 year old man I know! I have no doubt he will only continue to surprise everyone will his exceptional progress! I had the chance to communicate with Keith's Aunt, and favorite cousin, and all they have to say about that is 'That's the Longmore spirit! He comes from some hearty stock. that one'. And I have no doubt he can just picture his Grandpa Longmore in his head telling him to man up! There's still work to be done! So my dad, being the obedient grandson he is, listens to him (: There is really no surprise in how well he's doing with how big of a trooper he is. Sometimes that man can be a stubborn son of a gun, but it comes in handy with situations like these (; When he moves to the other floor in the hospital, he will be able to accept visitors, and that should be soon! So we'll keep all of you posted as to when you can come see him (: We are so excited for him to be fully responsive and awake! The hardest part of this whole thing is not being able to communicate, so this will be such a stress reliever for all parties involved (; As soon as he is fully awake, we will start reading him all of your get well wishes to him! So feel free to leave as many as you want! Again, we thank you for your prayers and support! We just can't thank you enough! Your love and support has helped us through this hard trial more than any of you, and even more than we, ourselves, will ever know! Please, continue to pray, because we know that's where my dad's, and all of our strength are coming from. We will update when he wakes up, or when they move onto another surgery. We love all of you! Don't you forget it! (:

Coming up...

Just a super quick update! The leakage has completely healed now, so Keith will be able to get his ribs plated tomorrow morning. They have decided the rib surgery is now first priority because the ribs that had a clean break, have been moving, and they don't want it to get any worse. He is still semi responsive, but mostly to pain. They have taken him off the sedatives, but he is on the full dose of Fetanol now. He is a big guy though, so the pain reliever just doesn't quite seem to cut it (; He has continued to open his eyes and look around, but everything is still like a dream to him right now. The nurses have been taking very good care of my dad, along with my mom! My dear, sweet mother still hasn't left his side. She just can't bear the thought until he is totally stable, with no risks anymore. We love all of you and are so appreciative of your support and wanting to help, and we will let you know as soon as he has moved out of the ICU and can take visitors. At that point, we would love to see all of you visiting! Thank you all for your prayers, and I will keep you all updated after the surgery tomorrow!

Update for the Weekend!

Keith was supposed to go into surgery for his rib plating on Saturday (his birthday), but showed signs of leaking from his head. Due to his skull being crushed in the front, there was a hole where cerebral spinal fluid started draining through his sinus's and leaking out of his nose. This is not life threatening, but it did add complications, so they had to postpone the surgery until a later date, which is undecided at this point. They will be doing a lumbar drain (putting a needle in his spine where the spinal fluid is) to continuously drain the fluid so his head will heal faster, so that they can continue with the rib plating. Only 2 of his ribs aren't broken, so they will be plating each rib individually, but they can't risk the surgery with a head injury like that. On a different note, there has been surprising progress for this stage of the game! My sweet mother hasn't left his side since the night of, and Saturday, the nurses finally made her go home and sleep a full night's sleep, so I had the pleasure of spending another night at the hospital. As she was leaving with my brother and sister-in-law, she said he seemed to be trying to open his eyes while they were there, and it looked like he smiled at them. Just after they had left, I was talking to him and said 'It's Jayne, the nurses finally sent mom home to sleep, so you're stuck with me tonight' and he opened his eyes and looked straight at me and put his hand out to me. This is very unexpected this early, they weren't expecting him to open his eyes for at least another few days, let alone be so responsive to voices. From Saturday night on, he has been opening his eyes whenever we talk to him. He does feel the breathing tube now, which aggravates him, but he is starting to breath a lot on his own as well. Being awake and not being able to talk probably aggravates him more than the tubes though, I'm sure, cause all he wants to do is crack some jokes! But hopefully, that will come soon enough (: This is such a good sign that he is opening his eyes so soon, and even showing emotion! It is such a blessing that he kept himself so healthy, so the recovery process will move right along! We have been so very blessed throughout this whole ordeal, words can't describe our gratitude to God, and to all of you, being so supportive and willing to help and just being there for us! You will never know our love and appreciation to all of you! There is no doubt that he is alive, and making such great progress, because of each and every one of your prayers. We would also like to request you guys keep that young girl that was driving the car, in your prayers as well. We can't imagine what she is going through right now, and we just pray that she will be comforted in this time of trial. He still will not be receiving visitors, probably for at least another week or two, but we will keep you updated of that situation as well. Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and concern. Much love to all! 

P.S. For those who want to share their love, or memories of Keith, I have created a facebook page called 'For the love of Keith Longmore', so please, join the group, and post! I made this page mainly for him when he is having a hard time during the recovery process, so he can look at all the people who love him and are cheering him on, and it will lift his spirits. This page has also been such a comfort to the rest of my family as well, when we get discouraged. Words can't describe the comfort we feel after reading all of the memories from people he has met from all walks of life, and the lives he has changed since he was in high school! So please, please join the group and post as much as you want (:

First Surgery Down

Dad had surgery today on his cracked pelvis, and after 8 hours of surgery, everything went well! He does have a few fractures that they can't safely reach, so they will have to heal naturally, but they fixed the worst part of it. He also responded to all of the nerve tests as well, so that is a great sign. His pelvis was his most serious injury, and what they were most worried about, so the worst is over now! 

They will be doing surgery on his ribs tomorrow, plating each of the broken ribs. He is still sedated, and probably will be for the next few days. He has absolutely top notch surgeons, so we are very blessed that he was able to be moved to the Murray hospital so quickly. 

 Thanks again for all of your support! We really will never be able to thank you enough for all of the love we have felt in these past 48 hours. Even though we haven't been able to respond to many attempts to contact, due to how hectic and stressful this whole ordeal has been, please know that we have received them and appreciate each and every one of you and the love you have for Dad and our family. 

P.S. Any birthday wishes will be read to him tomorrow during our mini birthday party in the hospital room

What we know so far...

Hey guys!  We wanted to start a blog to keep everyone updated on the happenings with Keith's recovery. We feel so overwhelmingly grateful for all of your support and love. We have never met anyone that hasn't loved Keith, so this time is hard for us as well as everyone who knows him.

We have had a lot of questions from people wondering how he is doing and what happened. We wanted to explain what happened, as far as we know, and how he is doing now. We will be regularly updating so that everyone can keep tabs.

Keith was riding my motorcycle home from bishop interviews on Wednesday night going north on University Avenue. A 19 year old girl pulled out in front of him going left and the motorcycle struck the vehicle. He laid down the bike and ended up under the car. Her delayed reaction time caused him to be dragged under the car for a bit which is the reason he has sustained most of his injuries.

He came into the ER coherent which was a big surprise to the ER team and the cops. They said this was great news for him to still be himself. He has fractures in his skull and his head was broken open, he has many fractured ribs and will need plates in his ribs for them to heal, he also has a fractured pelvis in many places and will need screws and plates to put that back together. He covered head to toe in lacerations and bruising and will require plastic surgery on his head and face.

He was brought to Utah Valley Hospital and was there until this afternoon. The only surgeon qualified to do the surgery on his pelvis is going out of town in a few days so he was not able to do the surgery. With that being said, they had to transfer him by ambulance to the IHC hospital(great and spacious building) in Murray. He made it alright and they worked to stabilize him again.

He has been under sedation and pain medication to avoid the pain. They took him out of sedation briefly to test his motor skills and did another CT scan which showed no change from the lats CT scan which is good. He is being intubated and cannot breathe on his own at the moment.

My mother has not left my dad's side since the accident, so he has always had someone there, keeping him company. They are working on getting him more stable and getting him off of the breathing tube as well as strengthening his heart so that he can be off of some meds and breathe on his own.

We were told that they will try to stabilize him enough in the next few days to perform the surgeries. From there he will be in the hospital for weeks and then intensive rehab for months. He will not be able to stand for quite some time and will have to learn how to walk all over again. They said a full recovery should take about a year.

We are hoping that he can continue to stabilize and get better so that they can take care of the surgeries and continue his improvement. We appreciate all of your love and support and help that we have been given already. We will be opening up a Facebook page for anyone to post kind messages and memories for him to read when he is able to. Right now we please ask that no one visit unannounced. Please contact one of us on Facebook or call before coming over to the house or coming to the hospital. My dad will not be ready for visitors at the hospital for some time.

Keith is a fighter. He is strong. He has done nothing but help people and inspire people his whole life. We have been so extremely blessed this far, having him still with us today, and not sustaining more injuries than he already has. We pray that he will get through this and be himself again. We just can't wait for him to wake up and crack some silly joke.

Newspaper article.

Here is the updated newspaper article from The Daily Herald Read full story here