Update: 10/9

Austin is a rockstar! He is the strongest person I’ve ever met! He is now on day 16 in the hospital. Today they removed the drain because it had stopped working about 3 days ago and was causing Austin so much pain on top of the pain he was already having. There is still no sign of ischemia which is a huge blessing. They have started weaning him off of the pain meds and have removed the ketamine drip. His nerve catheters all failed because of his vascular disease and never ending muscle spasms. Those two things combined caused the catheters to move away from the nerve they were placed on, making them ineffective, resulting in no pain relief. Despite all of the setbacks, we are hopeful Austin will go home by the end of this week. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Much love to you all!

Heather

Update: 10/2

Austin is out of surgery and awake. No appetite and in a lot of pain but the pain is different then before surgery. Austin’s surgeon said everything went well, it was just more complicated than he anticipated which also means a longer recovery because he had to go further up his leg. He said the neuroma was bigger than he’s ever seen! Normally they’re about a millimeter in size but Austin’s was the size of a golf ball. I have a picture but will spare everyone.

After the neuroma tumor was removed, they were able to plant the nerve endings up by his knee towards his thigh, next to other nerves. The hope is those nerves will attach.

He said it appears the AVM’s follow the nervous system. Which is difficult to treat because the nervous system is mysterious. However, they need to figure out a way to treat them because he has so many AVM’s. Austin has a drain in because he also has more fluid than expected and they need to keep that fluid away from the nerve relocation site. He has a splint on to keep the area stable. First dressing change will be Thursday. They put a nerve catheter in and that will stay until Thursday most likely as well. Over the course of the next 4 weeks we have to watch for any skin changes to make sure blood is still flowing. Total healing time is 8-10 weeks. He will not be able to wear his prosthetic for a minimum of 4 weeks! Hopefully he will go home Friday.

Austin has an amazing medical team and Dr. Gamble (in this picture) was also part of his amputation team almost five years ago. Austin has a difficult road of recovery ahead, but I’m confident he will overcome it all!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has sent prayers, well wishes, texts and phone calls and those who have donated as well. Much love to all of you!!

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As many people know, Austin lost his left leg almost five years ago due to a very rare vascular overgrowth disease called Parkes-Weber Syndrome. Now he is facing another surgery on Monday 10/2 to remove a neuroma on the tip of what’s left of his tibia. A neuroma is a tumor made up of nerve tissue. Normally this surgery is fairly simple, but because Austin has a very large AVM on top of the neuroma this makes the surgery high risk for Austin with the possibility of ischemia which is the loss of blood supply leading to tissue decay. Meaning worst case scenario he could end up losing his knee and becoming an above knee amputee. The healing process is 6-8 weeks which means Austin won’t be able to work or pay his bills. Austin is too proud to ask for help on his own behalf but I will ask for him. Anything at all would help and he would be so grateful.