Category Archives: Lewis Site

All about Lewis our farm mascot

A Visit and a Walk

Posted on by January 22, 2013
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Lewis goes for a walk and munches on the grass

We visited Lewis Friday afternoon, and were able to image walk him out on the lawn outside the facility for some sunshine and grass. The winter has been long in the Midwest this year and the grass is just starting to green up and the air get comfortable. It is hard to believe Lewis has been at OSU for two whole months! He underwent some depression during the past few weeks that was relieved by daily walks outside. He seemed pretty bright and although a little quiet, considering what he has been through, it is obvious that the special care he is receiving is keeping him in the fight back to health.

Dr. Silveira feels the radiographs show enough recovery of bone callous to make him able to tolerate the next surgery and debridement of last infected tissue. If he removes the bone plate, he will install an external fixator to stabilize the leg. Dr. Silveira will be making these judgment calls once he begins surgery and can see the current status of the bone. For the long term, the bone plate should come out, but whether this is the time to do that will be determined during surgery.

Surgery is slated for next Tuesday. Our prayers are with Lewis and with Dr. Silveira to guide him. Lewis will still have a long recovery ahead but perhaps this will be the last surgery, and he can begin a more speedy recovery after this!

Another visit from home

Posted on by December 24, 2007

We visited Lewis and went over the latest radiographs with Dr. Silveira. The doctor is encouraged that there is at least some noticeable bone growth and his infection seems to be under control. However a piece of dead bone will need to be surgically removed. As he had discussed with us earlier, this will have to wait several weeks until more growth makes the bone strong enough to operate on with some degree of safety. He also would like to remove the plate at some point, as another screw has broken. Once the bone has recovered fully, the plate will no longer be needed and will become a liability. For now, it is still what is holding the leg together.Lewis continues to eat well, and will walk on the leg when he needs to. He had an opportunity to come home while we await the next evaluation. However, we felt that since the wound still needed daily flushing, and his condition was still guarded, that he was best left at the hospital under close care of trained professionals and staff. We reluctantly left Lewis, knowing he would have enjoyed a respite from the stall confinement, but feared the danger in moving him several hours in our van and caring for him at home were potentially more risky than leaving him in his safe environment. As long as he continues to cope with his situation, we feel he is better off there. We miss him and hope that he can continue to improve to the point where perhaps in a few more weeks, we can bring him home for good!

Not much progress but still trying

Posted on by December 24, 2007

The latest progress report is that Lewis is running a bit of fever, and is on more antibiotics. The discharge from the wound is clearing, and he is using the leg. However, radiographs from earlier in the week did not show any appreciable bone re-growth. Some dead bone and another broken screw will need to be removed, but due to the possibility that the leg could still break, surgery for this will have to wait.We are now praying that Lewis can keep fighting, and begin to see some bone re-growth. Once enough bone replacement has occurred, further debridement of the dead tissue will be required to completely clear the infection. We hope he can keep holding on during this painfully slow recovery.