AUGUSTO AND KARLA THANK ALL OF YOU

Thanks

I can't begin to tell you how much your prayers, karma, positive vibes and support have meant to us. Your kindness and concern really made a difference to Karla and our two kids, as they were the ones who had to deal with the emotional roller coaster as my condition varied.  This has been a remarkable experience and your love and support served to recharge Karla and the kids, as I was...lets say...on a mental vacation (more about this later)!  

That was then...This is now 

The kids are fine. They weathered this experience with courage and you had a lot to do with that.  Karla has recovered almost completely and is back to work full time. I should be fully recovered by this summer.  Karla and I have returned to our workout routine of 3 times a week and so we are back to a somewhat normal schedule. I still have about 2-3 months remaining of therapy on my left elbow and I expect (hope) to regain a good portion of my previous range of motion on the elbow. 

Lessons learned

I've been told that my heart stopped three (3) times in the ambulance, which I interpret to be that I died as many. Therefore, I could be considered in some quarters to be an expert on death, at least more qualified than those who have died and returned to life only once or twice. With that as background material, I thought that I would give you report of my experiences and observations in having glimpsed the Far Side of the World!

Observation #1 - I saw no light. I recognize that some of my fellow brethren have reported seeing a light and having a calming sensation, but I neither saw nor felt anything. Now... I am still trying to interpret what that means, because I shudder to think that where I eventually go...will be dark.

Observation #2 - If by chance you have the option to 1) Go quickly or 2) Go Slowly, my recommendation is to Go Quickly. I have no memory of that tragic morning and only have a fleeting "Audio" memory (no visual memory attached) of my brother and father telling me that "I was in an accident, Karla and the kids were fine, stay strong and you are doing fine" several days after the accident. My reaction to their sobering message was as a detached observer.

Observation #3 - If on the other hand you are relegated to Go Slowly, then my recommendation is to demand "Top Shelf Drugs" because that’s what I had and I can tell you they worked!

Observation #4 - My final observation is most relevant to our daily lives and has to do with the "Don't sweat the small stuff" mentality typically associated with a higher level of being. While in the hospital, I had a lot of time to think how my life would change, and I can tell you that I experienced a higher level of being but it only lasted about 3 weeks. Kids have a knack for bringing one back to reality.

Thanks again and may we all have a healthy and prosperous 2012!

Augusto            

Augusto & Karla's Thank You party at the ICU

Well, Jose R. flew from Washington DC to help Karla and Augusto organize the "Thank You" party they threw at the ICU of the Brackenridge Trauma Center of the University of Texas in Austin. They fed a Spanish Paella to about forty people, staff and doctors of the ICU who saved Augusto's life along with the prayers of many of you. The local TV station was there and reported the event.

I also want to "paste" here the Facebook Post that my granddaughter Elena wrote this morning on Facebook. I am so proud of her, notice her humorous literary spark when she says... "Apparently few people than their doctors."  Good job Elena!

Click down on the link to get to the TV video of the lunch event.
Augusto & Karla's Thank you party

Elena's Post:

Well today instead of going to school, I went to Brackenridge Hospital along with my family to thank the doctors who saved my fathers life. Some news crew documented this rare event(apparently people don't thank their doctors often) and shared a heartwarming survival story to the people (mostly retirees) who watch the news at 6 to get the scoop(WATCH THE VIDEO). I THANK ALL OF YOU who supported my family and I through this hard time... there are so many challenges that my family had to overcome as well as recognizing the blessing of family (I know it sounds cheesy). Even a signed card or asking if I was ok or doing something for my family has meant so much and I thank God that I have good friends and family that I have. So go and hug your family because you might never get to say goodbye....

Augusto & Karla's Last update

Hello all stations. This is a Happy report

Karla is almost totally recovered and is back to work.  Augusto came home and has been recovering so well that he, Karla, and Jose Ramon (Augusto's brother) came up with the idea of making a huge Paella dish and taking it to the ICU of the Brackenridge Trauma center where the doctors and staff there performed so well during his time there.
They scheduled the event for today and, as you read, you can see the paella being cooked by Augusto & Karla (Augusto has lost quite a bit of weight!) and the local TV cameraman, who will be covering the event. In a while, they will take the Paella to the hospital and have lunch with doctors, nurses, technicians etc. as a wonderful THANK YOU.

Post-Thanksgiving News from Karla

Augusto's Post Thanksgiving Update- by Karla

Augusto had some important developments in physical therapy - walking 100 feet on Friday with the modified walker, and demonstrating his skills to the kids on Sunday. It was so great to see him up!

We are all anxious for Augusto to come home and are practicing patience waiting for him to be ready. He'll need to be mostly independent (physically moving and transferring himself in and out of bed and wheelchair) in order to come home. He is making great progress towards that!

Thanks for your love and kindness, KARLA

November 25, 2011-- Thanksgiving report by Karla

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Just spent a great day with Augusto (and extended Taylor family) at St. Davids rehab. We shared our homemade Thanksgiving dinner with him and it was so wonderful to be eating together! 

Elena, our daughter, made some terrific chocolate flan that we shared with all the nursing staff, making Augusto the most popular guy on the floor, as if he weren't already!

We brought in a 2 and a half foot Christmas tree donated by a terrific friend and decorated with ornaments that have our family photos on it. Also brought a photo album of family outings from the last year. 

Augusto and I are just so especially THANKFUL this year for our lives, and our families and friends that have helped us through this tough time. 

OK, now the really good stuff: Augusto's left elbow is progressing well enough that he can use his left arm "as tolerated," which means as long as it doesn't hurt too much. This is a great development as it means he can use both his right and left arms to move his body, instead of just his right arm. 

So, now in physical therapy yesterday, the therapist provided a modified walker, that has an arm rest for the left arm, so that Augusto could stand up and walk 5 steps!!! He is able to put some pressure on his right leg and most of the pressure on his arms at this time. 

The doctors said he has to be non-weight bearing for 3 months in order for his pelvic bone and fractures to heal. He's already put in 5 plus weeks so he is making progress. The therapists respect his doctors orders and also help push the patients to self-sufficiency. So, he's not ready to walk at length, but it is truly a big boost for Augusto to take some real steps to his ultimate recovery!!

In signing off tonight, I can't begin to tell everyone how important each of you have been to our rejuvenation and restoration. We are so lucky in so many ways. Many thanks and love to all!

Karla

MONDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Augusto continue to improve in his recovery. He is at the St. David's Hospital in Austin in the rehab wing.  When he was transferred, he was still been fed through a tube since he was having trouble with swallowing (normal for his 3 weeks with breathing tube).  Today he "passed the swallowing test" Big Hurray for him. However the tube is still needed because he has to start swallowing liquids, Jello, etc. but not solids yet.  He is doing a lot of physical therapy, occupational, and others and gets tired so we call and talk to him for a very short time.  Karla is a tower of strength and has a great support group which has been invaluable. She is walking without the walker and the face is healing well.
She asks me to pass on to all of you the - how important this support has been.
We continue our way south aboard ALFIN sailing away from the cold weather and this is why I have been remiss lately in updating this page.  Thanks for your patience

November 7, 2011 Reported by Karla and summarized by Anita

This is Augusto's update, Karla just called.

-  NO canula oxygen,  now he is totally breathing by himself

-  Pneumonia, a little better.

-  Food: He is still being fed by a tube, Karla is going to ask the doctor to try a swallowing test later.

-  Respiratory system: Breathing is stable

- Awareness: Today was fine, though insisting to get a wheelchair to go home.  Last night at midnight

  the nurses noticed him confused in a awareness test, they say it could be because the length of time in ICU.

- He is in ICU, but in practical terms he is in Intermediate Care for the type of care he requires.  The room

  in the floor Augusto needs is still busy.

I'll keep you informed.

November 4, 2011-- Karla's report

posted: Friday, November 04th 2011 - 10:48 PM Augusto is still making steady progress! His lungs are looking " a little better" and all other indicators are stable at this time. The doctors have ordered him to intermediate care(!) but he has to wait until they have a bed open there. Probably tomorrow. He was really funny today at a mid day visit. More sleepy tonight. In intermediate he will have more rehab, but also opportunity for more sleep! I don't want to say he's tough but, he has not complained one bit, doesn't ask for pain medication, and has repeated said he is LUCKY to be alive and is thankful to all his doctors and nursing staff for helping him. However, the nursing staff do occasionally give him some pain medication to help him ease his effort of breathing, and now, thankfully some night time meds to sleep. Thanks to all our friends and family! Your continued support is sustaining us more than you know. Love Karla

November 2, 2011 At 2215 hr. (10:15 pm,)

Augusto is recovering well. However the doctors have warn us that the recovery is still a hard road.

Yesterday they noticed Augusto was tired, sleeping all day and not very responsive. In checking all of this some analysis revealed a loss of the hemoglobin numbers, they had to give him some blood and investigate the source of the problem. His feces showed blood in them and an endoscopy was ordered, which revealed nothing to blame the bleeding for.  Today at noon they did a colonoscopy, which was also negative. However, the hemoglobin is going up and no more internal bleeding was noticed.

The pancreas continues to leak but from 200 cc a day it has dropped to 100 cc and the doctors believe it is in route to heal itself as expected. He keeps responding to the pneumonia treatment and was more alert and responsive today. We are all waiting, as the doctors said, when we have a full day with everything OK, we’ll transfer him to the intermediate care unit.

We keep saying… ! Go Augusto Go !


This is Karlas's update on Augusto:

All, sorry for the delayed update. Got home late from the hospital last night. Augusto was having a bit of fever so was not in best shape to see visitors. He's still in ICU as there have been some secondary issues (pancreas, pnuemonia,) etc. that are being addressed. He is breathing shorter more frequent breaths because his lungs don't fully expand right now because of the fluid around the pancreas and weak diaphram. Thus he is not talking up a storm as yet. This is short term as this will clear up as the pancreas heals itself. Doctors want him to have a all round great day in ICU - on all levels- before moving him to intermediate care. These secondary issues are part of the hold up, but he is in great hands at Brack and they are working every angle of his care. Saw him this morning and his fever was broken and he was in a lot better spirits. They are still putting him through PT and Respiratory therapy every day. Today they were working his thigh muscles. For those of you who want to see him, I will let you know when he is ready for visitors. Thanks for your patience with us. In the meantime, if you wish, you can send him an email to our casavillalon@austin.rr.com email address and I will read it to him in the hospital. I am sharing with him all your great wishes and love. It is working!!! I still am trying to rest in order to help Augusto as he gets better and can come home. Thanks for ALL your terrific support! Love, Karla

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Greetings. Augusto has shown tremendous improvement in his recovery. Not completely out of the forest--but much, much better. He is going through heavy therapy to strengthen his lungs and swallow food after two weeks with a respirator tube down his throat.  He has been given the status of "stable" and is supposed to be transferred to another floor, where he will receive intensive re-hab.  The family is deeply grateful to all who have been so supportive.  Anita, Jose's wife has spent a week there reporting daily on his condition. Karla is fine after her orbital bone surgery and goes every day to the hospital to see Augusto.
Keep him in your thoughts and prayers,  since he still has a road full of work to get jumping again.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011 AT 1300 HR. EST

This morning's report was composed by Karla's sister Kathy:

Great news:  The lung doctor and trauma team think he is doing so well, more responsive,more alert. They are going to try to take him off of his respirator today or tomorrow.  They will do a swallow test on him but it will probably  be two days before he is able to eat or drink, but hopefully he will be able to talk to us.  He is getting stronger everyday.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011

Greetings with good news: Augusto has been improving much as he wakes up from sedation. First let me start with Monday’s activities.  Augusto had a CT Scan of the abdomen area, where we know the Pancreas is leaking at a low output. As I mentioned before, when the output is low the doctors expect it to heal itself, so they are monitoring this drain. The scan did show that the Pancreas was somehow damaged in the accident.  The second issue the scan showed was not known to us before. This is that somehow one of the adrenal glands was also damaged. The doctors do not think this will have more consequences.

At the same time on Monday, they also made a scan of his head, because they wanted to make a neurological assessment. They found some fluid in the brain but nothing unexpected. They think that this fluid will be re-absorbed by the brain and do not think there will be other consequences.

The good news is that Augusto was “waked up” by stopping the sedatives, and he made several signs of being aware. He can’t talk due to the respirator pipe he has in his throat, but he did indicate he recognized Anita (Jose’s wife) and, by pointing at pictures shown to him, he communicated that he wanted to watch TV. Next he indicated that the channel that first came on was not to his liking, and Karla said that the Travel Channel was his favorite. When that came on, he recognized the host, etc.  This is the best news of his ability to communicate that we have heard so far.

Karla, is, as I write, undergoing surgery to repair her fractured left orbital bone. She will spend tonight (Wed.) at the hospital and will probably return home tomorrow. We all wish Karla the quickest recovery from this.

Stay tuned for more good news, Kiko

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2011 1000 HR

Augusto is responding very well as he wakes up slowly from sedation.  He responds when we ask him to give us thumbs up, or blink your eyes, move your foot etc.
Doctors are monitoring some pancreatic leakage at low output and will do a scan today to zoom into the causes.  They say that most of the times the issue corrects itself.
Today he was put into the SPONTANEOUS breathing mode for a while for the first time since his Saturday surgery. They will repeat this this afternoon and so on to get him trained for breathing without the respirator.
The plan is to make the scans and act according to its results. They are contemplating the final wake-up and removing the respirator. Once this his breathing is stable and on his own, they will probably move him to another floor to start re-hab.
We are happy with these improvements, recognizing that we still have a long-haul ahead, but encouraged.
I will be leaving Austin at noon to continue our trip to warmer waters and will be in touch to keep communicating with so many of the friends and family. Kiko

DESCRIPTION OF AUGUSTO’S SURGERY

TO REPAIR THE AORTA’S INJURY

PERFORMED IN 10-21-11

BY DR.  MARK FELGER AND DR. SCOTT SEIDEL

UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER-BRAKENRIDGE-SETON

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Introduction:  Endovascular repair is a relatively new procedure to repair aortic aneurisms or traumatic injury without the need to open the chest.  In this particular case, the surgical procedure required two separate procedures. Due to the location of the aortic tear, on the inner side of the aortic arch, the insertion of the Thoracic Endoprosthesis (the stent) will block the “outlet” of the subclavian artery, which provides blood to the left arm. Therefore, the first procedure is to make a by-pass between the “left common carotid” artery feeding the brain and the subclavian, which will be locked. This also was done without opening the chest cavity; it was performed through the area of the neck just above the clavicle bone.

Once this was completed, an incision was made in the inguinal area and the left inguinal artery, where the doctor introduced the “Gore-Tag” (commercial name of the stent used) and drove it up to where the two inguinal arteries form the abdominal aorta, and continued up to the thoracic aorta (an arch, see drawing below). The device is then deployed, expanding all around and giving support to the injured artery, which will in time repair itself with its own tissue. The following sketch depicts the procedure.