Michael Lee Medical & Healing Fund

Friday April 20th 2018 started out as a typical Friday night hanging out, visiting & watching dad boil crawfish. My dad, Michael Lee, lives for crawfish season, its his favorite time of the year! As we were gathered around eating, we were all full of excitement talking about the doctors appointment I had the day before. At my doctors appointment, I had been contracting, was told I was dilated 2 cm and that it was only a matter of time before my new baby, Carter, would be here. We immediately went into getting any final preparations done so that we would be ready when Carter decided it was time. After boiling the crawfish dad did something that night he had never done before. Dad also wanted to be ready in case Carter came during the night, so instead of leaving the water to cool overnight that he had boiled the crawfish in, he tried to dump the pot of boiling hot water. In the process of carrying the pot, he tripped over the water hose and fell, dumping the pot of boiling hot water on himself. Dad was immediately rushed to Christus Lake Area Hospital. Upon immediate inspection of his burns it was thought he had 1st & 2nd degree burns on 35% of his body. His face, shoulders, chest, back, arms and lower legs all had burns. Dads skin was already blistering as the medical staff cut his clothing off. I could not believe this was happening. This was something dad had done countless times before, just never while the water was hot...what a freak accident. Dad was in such extreme pain he was in tears. I had never seen my dad cry before & seeing him now in the ER crying out in pain was almost more than I could stand. Dad needed to be transferred to a burn unit immediately. Getting him transferred was no quick process. Dads heart rate kept shooting up, his oxygen sats kept dropping and unfortunately his diabetes played a big part in his treatment also. At 2:00 am, 8 hours after arriving in ER dad, my older sister and my grandmother were on their way by ambulance to Lourdes in Lafayette for dad to receive the treatment he needed. Due to another spike in dads heart rate during the ambulance ride, dad couldn’t go immediately to the burn unit upon arrival but had to first be monitored in the ER at Lourdes until stable enough to be moved to his room. Doctors and nurses assessed dad non stop, treating him the best they could. Unfortunately Saturday his glucose kept rising, his pain kept increasing so the mixture of medications caused dad to slip into coma for about 4 hours. Those were the worst, longest, scariest hours for all of us. We cried and prayed harder than we had prayed before. Thankfully dad came out of the coma Saturday around 5:30 pm. His glucose continued to drop overnight and eventually stabilize. Dad had to have his bandages changed and skin scraped twice a day. This process is grueling and painful but he was trying to keep it together for us. His spirits remained high and his faith strong during this difficult time. He had his first surgery Monday April 23rd. Pig skin was placed on his burns hoping to heal them & prevent skin grafting. The burns were worse than anyone initially thought. The doctor said this was the worst home burn he had ever seen. He had a feeding tube inserted to help build up his strength & nutrition because these are both crucial for his healing. Poor dad, but he continued to stay strong like a true soldier. Monday evening at 11:45 my water broke at home & as excited as I was for the arrival of my baby, I immediately began crying because I knew I was going into labor and my dad was going to miss it. He had been awaiting Carters arrival for months and now he was in a hospital bed in Lafayette. Carter was born Tuesday April 24th and dad met Carter over facetime. The pig skin was removed Thursday April 26 in the operating room and due to the degree of the burns he did have skin grafts done. He now had skin removed from his right thigh to implant on his right side, back,arm and chest. The doctors would remove these bandages on Saturday and then determine if any further surgery would be necessary. Dad continued intense therapy daily trying to stretch his skin. He had to have help for everything, even feedings because he couldn’t bend his arms enough yet to reach his mouth. The doctor made his rounds Saturday April 28 to remove dads bandages and check the grafts to see if they were successful. We were all hopeful good news was coming that dad was on the road to recovery and would soon be home with all of us. Unfortunately dad will be going for his 3rd surgery on Tuesday May 1 for more skin grafting on his right side. Most of his grafts are taking but he still needs more on that one side. To say we were all disappointed is an understatement but we are all strong in Faith and know God is leading us all on this journey for a reason. Dad’s healing process is going to be a long, slow one. He will need home health and physical therapy for months. At this time we are unsure when dad will be able to return to work. The prayers, comfort & support we have received has been a huge blessing to our family. Any donations to help dad have a less stressful recovery so he can fully focus on his healing and family would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your support. God bless.