*SECOND UPDATE*

Sorry for the delay, 6.5 hours of driving yesterday wore me out and we didn’t get home till 8pm. Today I had to work and 2 appts so I’m finally able to type this out!

We drove to Madison yesterday for her first post-op visit. The plastic resident removed all 6 of the bands that were holding Aves jaw shut. They no longer use wires even thought it’s still called “wired” shut. They’re like thick firm bands like for braces. She had 2 in the way back, 2 on the sides right behind her canines and 2 in the front where they placed the screws into her gums. It’s was very painful for her to remove each of them but Avery was a rockstar and just squeezed my hand. She told her that it’s gonna feel weird but they wanted to give her a 10 min break with no tension. Dr Garlan came back in after that and did her exam. She wanted Ave to open her mouth but she could only do maybe a couple of millimeters open. Dr asked her to try more but it was really hard to do. She can’t get her jaw open any further without bad pain. She said she’s healing really well. She can kind of smile, but can’t fully smile yet. Dr said that’ll come back over time. She placed a band on each side and that’s the tension level she’ll have for the next 2 weeks. Dr told her to try and use her jaw, to practice opening and closing to lubricate that joint and get the muscles moving. She’s been upgraded to soft foods like applesauce, pancakes, oatmeal, eggs. But Ave is nervous to chew right now bc of the pain. She’s done some applesauce yesterday and today. Her external scars are healing nicely and she has the steri-strips removed yesterday as well.

Next up is a second surgery on 8/13 to remove the screws from her gums. These are not holding any bones in place, they’re just to have the bands on. Since we’re just doing bands on the sides she won’t need them any longer. The pic below is the placement of where those screws are in her mouth. This is outpatient and we’ll go home the same day, though I don’t know she’ll be up for her first day of senior year the next day. We’ll see. After that she has another post op on 9/4.

Her pain is manageable now and she’s just on the children’s Advil/tylenol. We quit the oxy due to nightmares and insomnia. Her Dr cleared her to go to Lollapalooza and told her to have a great time. I think Dr Garland was as excited that she could go as Aves was, lol. She told Ave if it doesn’t hurt to dance, feel free to dance. I am FAR more protective and worried she’ll hurt herself, but her sisters and my son in law will take good care of her there and protect her.

*UPDATE* Hey everyone, Nicole (Avery’s mom) here. First thank you so much for loving our girl and our family so much! Your support means the world to us! I wanted to keep everyone updated on Avery Joys progress as she is in recovery. She’s sleeping about 5-7 hours/night now and the Dr still wants us administering pain meds every 3 hours around the clock. She isn’t ready to be alone at all so I sleep in her room with her so I’m right there when she wakes up in pain or from a bad dream from the narcotics. We’ve been able to keep her pain at a 5/6 level since being home which is much better than the 9 it was the night of surgery. One of her big struggles is that she also broke a tooth in the accident and she has an exposed nerve. Every time she drinks anything cold it sends a shooting pain in her mouth. Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do for this until her jaw is no longer wired shut. I talked with the plastics teams today about that. She is already tired of drinking her meals. Her fav right now is Dock Rotz cream of chicken soup so we keep that in the fridge and I blend it then run it through a sieve for each meal. She’s having a really hard time getting the amount of calories, fat and protein in her that she needs bc she gets exhausted trying to drink the soups. We’re doing things like adding Nutella to shakes, butter and avocado oil to her soups and heavy cream, adding extra protein powder into her fairlife shakes, etc. She also loves fresh pressed juice so I broke out the juicer today and will be making her carrot/apple juice whenever she wants it.

Prayer requests for now would be travel mercies when we go back to Madison on Wed. It’s 6 hours of driving round trip plus the time at the Dr’s office. Going over any bumps is not pleasant for her at all and it’s a long drive.

-Pray that her face goes back to its pre injured shape. This is something she’s concerned about.

-She also starts school here in a few weeks and she’s a bit stressed about starting her senior year with her jaw wired shut and not being able to talk to people at school or her teachers. The nurse has been awesome and gave me some guidelines on what notes to get from her Dr.

-The constant nausea. The dr said to give her zofran every 6 hours for 2 days to see if we can get that under control. One, it would be dangerous if she were to get sick which is why one of us is always with her. We’d have to cut the bands so she doesn’t choke or aspirate. Also when she’s nauseous she won’t drink any of the meals.

-And of course pain relief, really her biggest need. Between her tooth and her jaw pain it can get bad at a moments notice. If she’s in a lot of pain she won’t drink her meal. She has a lot off full body pain and a lot of bruising pain on her neck and chest from all the different ways they had to position her head in surgery to be able get the bones back together. We’re so glad the dr was able to make it work since she kept telling us what a complicated fracture she had and what a small space they had to work with.

Praise reports:

-there appears to be no nerve damage! She’s smiling and able to use her lips now. She can kind of talk through her teeth. Close your teeth together real tight and then try and talk, that’s what she’s doing to communicate, lol. My poor girl.

-After surgery the Dr said that recovery may be shorter than anticipated. They were thinking she’d be wired shut for 6 weeks at least and since her jaw popped right back into place and they were able to put plates and screws at the breaks in her joints, her jaw is more stable and will heal quicker.

-thank God for braces!!! Since her other break was a split down the middle of her chin, her braces held that together. There was some separation of the 2 front bottom teeth but it could have been a lot worse if the wire wasn’t there to hold the teeth together more!

-she has a great attitude and she’s surrounded with so much love. Her friends have been on top of making sure she’s cared for, prayed for and visited.

-Gods hand of protection on her when this accident happened. I saw the video of the hit and had her head hit in another angle she would have had a broken neck, not a broken jaw. While this injury isn’t something we’d wish on anyone, we’re so thankful it’s not worse.

-That Eric and many of my best friends were there when it happened. Eric and Michelle were able to get Avery to the hospital quickly and assess the situation.

-the amazing care at UW- Madison. The whole team we’ve worked with there are beyond talented and caring. The nurses we had were wonderful and they made this all so much more manageable.

Thanks for reading the update and again, for your support. We love each of you!

STORY

Hello everybody,

My name is Maddy Garcia and I am a youth leader over some incredible high school students alongside my husband, Chris, at Mission Bible Church.

The sweet girl on the left of the picture is named Avery Joy, she is a upcoming senior that consistently brings light and kindness to any room she enters into. She means the world to a lot of people.

On Sunday, July 21st, Avery was on an obstacle course during a high school retreat and took a hard fall which resulted in a broken and dislocated jaw in 3 separate places. She is currently in the middle of an intense facial surgery as I’m writing this to. She is in a lot of physical pain, as there are a lot of nerves in this area. She is in fantastic medical care alongside both of her parents at the hospital.

With her intense medical care and this injury taking place in Wisconsin at camp, the expenses for this are heavy, even after insurance kicks in especially with the amount of follow up care that she will need. The funds raised will help with medical bills and gas/hotel money for weekly out of state visits for the next several weeks and as a cushion for the Bittermann family to rest upon during this season. In the words of Nicole, her mom, “honestly, anything at all will help”.

Please consider donating today for this family as they navigate Avery’s care and continue to join us in covering this girl in prayer.