Happy Endings

Here we are, a week and a half back at school and still I haven't updated. I have been putting this off for days, partly because I truly will miss updating this for Trent and partly because I'm just not sure of what to say. There are no words for what you have done for us in the last six weeks. The power of your prayers is remarkable and is the reason for Trent's speedy recovery. When we arrived at KU Medical Center and they fully assessed Trent's burns, we were told to expect a 6-week hospital stay. On day 12, he came home...now here we are six weeks and three days after the accident and we are posting Trent's final update. Trent's doctors have no explanation for his incredible recovery but to us, its very simple. Your love, support, and most of all, your prayers are the strongest healing force in the world, and for that we are forever grateful to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Enjoy these photos, and see what incredible gift you have given us.

This photo is from the day after our last update. Trent rode the XC bus to their meet and the team gave him quite a warm welcome......


...complete with custom made "Running For Trent" t-shirts. Have I said how amazing these kids are?

Trent went on to run that day for the JV team and placed 14th.

The first picture is from August 16, the day after Trents accident. The second one is from the cross country meet yesterday, right after Trent's run. Trent finished 13th with a time of 22:37, earning him a spot on the VARSITY team! This is what you all have done, and it is nothing short of a miracle!

Thank you again for following this blog and uplifting Trent and our family in your prayers. Truly Trent's healing is a miracle and six weeks ago we never thought we would be here so quickly...I was prepared to be keeping this blog for months! As always....love and thanks to you all, and may God bless you as much as you have blessed us.

Back to School

Trent had an appointment at KU Med yesterday and has been cleared to go back to school! He starts on Monday and is actually EXCITED to go to school. He has also gotten the OK to ride the bus with the cross country team to Platte City today and is itching to go. Literally. As happy as we are that Trent has healed enough to return to normal life, it means that this blog is about to come to an end. The support from everyone has been astounding and we thank you all so very much for following our journey. Love and thanks to you all....One more update to go!

Running

Literally running! Trent upped his nightly walk to a jog/run and his DAD joined him! We are constantly surprised by the blessings and miracles that have come from this and Roger going for a jog with Trent is definitely one of them! Wonderful memories made and definitely some great father/son time. Trent is ever charging on with his recovery, his current battle is his therapy and relearning all of the fine motor skills that fell to unuse during his hospital stay...simple things we take for granted like pinching a pair of tweezers or opening and closing a safety pin. He will hopefully be starting school on the 20th, if all goes as planned. As always, love and thanks to you all, your prayers continue to work miracles.

Hiccups

Trent has had an awesome week 2 at home with one small hiccup in his recovery. He has been diagnosed with Horner's Syndrome, which is not a disease in itself, rather a showing of nerve damage. It displays itself as uneven pupil dilation. Nerve damage was probably caused during intubation or by any of the tubes that were running through Trent. His doctors are not overly concerned, they say the nerve will most likely heal itself, its just one more wait and see. Trent says he will heal and with his determination, God's will, and your prayers, it will happen! Trent is doing wonderfully, he's been spending time with his friends out of the house and is getting back to some semblance of his old routine. Again, your prayers work wonders. Love and thanks to you all, will update again soon.

No News Is Good News!

Leaps and bounds since the last update! Trent went for a checkup today and all is well, he got some of his bandages removed for good and is hoping to return to school in about 2 weeks. Yesterday was the first day of his homeschooling, which he will continue until he can start school again. Trent's range of motion and energy level is incredible, he's been walking a mile every night and is ready to start running as soon as his ankles allow him to wear tennis shoes! So many blessings have come from this accident and we cannot begin to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and kind words. You pulled us through and for that we are forever grateful. More healing to come soon so stay tuned!

HOME

Trent is home! We're sitting in the living room with family and friends and Trent is so happy to be home.

Thank you to Trent's youth group for the adorable pictures, the band for the awesome autographed photo, and everyone else for making Trent's homecoming so perfect. The prayers, comments and love from all of you have been astounding, and now we start on a new journey to rehabilitation. Trent is in fabulous spirits and little pain tonight, so we are counting our blessings! As always, love and thanks to you all!

Mini update....Trent is doing much better today and coming home tomorrow! Your prayers work wonders!

Hurdles

Sorry for no update yesterday, Trent had a rough night Monday and a hard day Tuesday. All the pain medication he is on and the huge amount of food he's eaten the last couple days since removing the feeding tube have caught up with him. Monday night was sleepless until about 6 am on Tuesday and that entire day was harder yet. Trent is having trouble keeping any food down, he's very nauseous from his medication. Thisis something that the nurses were watching for, the burn team says that 9 out of 10 times that they see someone have this type of reaction to medication its an athlete. Trent's body is used to so much physical activity and now that he hasn't had any of that for a week and a half, his body is not sure how to react. This is only a small setback, he most likely will not be coming home until tomorrow or Friday but he is still recovering incredibly! He can now hold a bottle of water in both his hands and put it to his lips, and as of yesterday he is texting again! He continues to improve everyday, and this hiccup in his recovery won't hold him back for long. Love to you all and thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Miracle

Sometimes people use the word "miracle" lightly. "I had a hectic morning, its a miracle I got to work on time." or "I didn't study at all, its a miracle I passed that test." Tonight at about 7 pm, the Putnam family learned what kind of miracles prayers bring. Until tonight, we have been expecting Trent to be in the hospital for about 2 more weeks. Almost two hours ago, his doctor pulled Trent's mom into the hall and told her that given Trent's excellent health and strength due to the physical condition he was in for cross country, the rate at which he has been healing, and most importantly,. the love and support coming from all of his family and friends.....they may release him as early as Wednesday night. This is no doubt the result of your prayers and support this past week. Early Wednesday morning,. Trent will go in for another cleaning and more hydrotherapy and at that point his doctor will reevaluate his burns and if all goes as it is supposed to, they will monitor him for the rest of the day and send him home that evening. This also means that a second round of grafts will not be needed, which is a miracle in itself. Trent will finish the remainder of his "hospital stay" at home, and will still have to make trips back down to KU Med two or three times a week, but he will be HOME. It will be a difficult two weeks, and we will still be updating so keep checking the blog! After those two weeks, there will be physical therapy and getting his body back to normal before he can return to school, but this is an enormous leap in his recovery, and it would not have happened without every single one of your prayers. Words cannot express the gratitude that Trent and his family feel to all of you for your outpouring of love and support in this difficult time. We are so, so blessed to have friends and family like you. Prayers truly are answered, and ours were tonight. Thank you again so much for everything you have done, we love you all so much.

Photos and a Full Belly

I thought it was about time we got some pictures on here! These are from the visit fromTrent's cross country team yesterday, he was exhausted by the time they left, but what a blessing they were. Get ready to cheer, because Trent won his battle with the feeding tube!! He ate a whopping 3,500 calories, which included lots of Ensure shakes, vanilla ice cream, spaghetti and an omelet...and drank lots and lots of homemade apple cider. Today Trent gets somewhat of a break, as he won't have to have any procedures done--no removing skin, no hydrotherapy, so he can take the day to work on exercising his hand and facial muscles, which is an extremely important part of his recovery. Pray for motivation for Trent to keep pushing through the pain just like he's been doing for the past week as we steadily inch ever closer to bringing him home!

Visitors

As I type this update, we are sitting in the visitors room with Trent and his cross country team. More milestones today, Trent walked the entire lap of the burn ward this morning, and into the visting room this afternoon. It never ceases to amaze me the light that goes into his face when he sees his friends. To his team and coach, thank you so much for coming to see Trent today, you have no idea what a difference your presense makes in his attitude, his deamenor, and his energy level. He continues to improve, he is currently trying to eat enough for his feeding tube to be removed. He has to take in 3,000-3,500 calories in order to be taken off the tube. This is a huge amount of food, and its difficult to do but he is trying. He has been cleared to eat dairy and soft solids, so things like Jello, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc. Say prayers today that he fills his belly and racks up the calories! Trent has just decided to take another couple laps around the burn ward, and his teammates will be lapping with him! Thank you thank you thank you to these amazing kids and to all of you loving and praying from home.

Milestones

Trent showed his strength of mind and body in huge ways yesterday. Immediately following a painful skin treatment and cleaning, he had a visit from his physical therapist. After being on his back for almost an entire week, he got out of bed and walked. A simple thing, but what a huge, huge milestone for Trent! This is a leap forward on his road to recovery and its obvious that all your prayers are working. Trent's spirits are improving and he enjoyed lots of visitors yesterday. He is still recovering from surgery and still needs prayers, but it seems that the worst is behind us. The burns on his face are healing beautifully, every time he comes back from having his dressings changed, he looks better and better. His mom read your comments to him yesterday, and the smile that all of you put on his face is something that I can't thank you enough for. Stay tuned for more healing and milestones!

Day One Post-Surgery

Thank you everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers. The response from this site and all of Trent's family and friends has been astounding, and the love and support that his family has received has truly been a blessing. Trent had a long night after his surgery, as expected. He has a spot of pneumonia on one lung, which was caught & treated immediately. His doctors tell us this is a normal occurrence after an intubation, and nothing to be worried about. Trent had a huge positive today in two very special visitors...his pastor and cross country coach. What a HUGE difference their presence made! Trent immediately lit up & his entire demeanor changed, proving that love and laughter truly is the best medicine. More updates to come as Trent continues on his road to recovery, love and thanks to you all.

Surgery Update

Trent went into surgery last night a little after 6. Surgery went well, he responded wonderfully it and got out about 10:15 last night. The grafts were applied from his neck to his stomach, including both arms and hands, and his legs. The final burn count was 33%. The grafts they did last night are only temporary, Trent's body will eventually reject them, but the hope is that it will take a few days, giving his body time to heal and regenerate his own skin faster. If all goes as planned, this will reduce the burn area to 10% and at that time they will harvest Trent's own skin for permanent skin grafts. It's important that this first surgery reduces the amount of grafts that have to be done in the future because harvesting skin will create more wounds that Trent has to heal. On the positive side, Trent is doing well post-surgery and has even been moved out of his intensive care bed and into a "step-down care" bed within the Burn Center. Today will be a rough day for him as he recovers from surgery but will get better and better from here out as his body begins to heal itself. Thank you again to everyone for reading, caring, and praying. This blog is being shown to Trent and he is loving all the comments you are leaving so keep them up! Your thoughts and love are the best medicine for him and it is greatly apprieciated!

Update!

Trent is heading into surgery as I type this! Pray hard!

The story

On the evening of August 15, just after getting back from a training run for cross country, Trent was burning a brushpile at his house. When Trent lit the brushpile, it exploded, leaving him with flash burns on about 30% of his body. The areas affected were his legs from his ankles to his knees, his chest, arms, neck, and face. Trent was taken to the Chillicothe hospital where he was intubated and life flighted to KU Medical Center. Luckily, there was no damage to his airways or eyesight, and the breathing tube was removed on the 17th. Trent is a strong young man and is doing better everyday. He has a surgery for skin grafts scheduled for this afternoon and most likely will have to have another. All of your thoughts and prayers are extremely apprieciated as he continues on his road to recovery. Any updates on Trent will be posted here, any comment you leave will be shared with him. Thank you again for all your love and support, and keep checking back for updates!