October 3
I can't thank you and your class enough for your faithful prayers. It is truly appreciated. The Fite family is doing very well. We recently got together with Brad's dad, Bob, to catch up on his status.
Brad is still in Maryland recovering from his injuries and participating in a rigorous rehabilitation program. Praise the Lord he has almost recovered completely from the infection! Once the infection was under control, the team wanted to try and get Brad on his feet and begin training him to walk again. Upon doing this last week they discovered that both of his ACLs had been torn in the blast, but were overlooked because of all his other injuries. They did immediate repair surgery and were successful. He is still bedridden and his mobility rehab has been delayed, but praise the Lord he has hope of lower mobility! His bruising and cuts are still healing. Bob said his legs are finally reaching nice shades of purple instead of black :)
Val (his mom) and Bob are able to visit 1xa week and will continue to do so until he comes home. They are still unsure of a discharge date because of the extent of his injuries but they are estimating another 2 months time. He is still not out of complete danger and still has a long recovery. Please continue to pray for him emotionally, physically and spiritually. He is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He doesn't react often, but when he does it's really hard for his parents. I gues they went to a ball game a couple weeks ago and afterward they shot off fireworks, he started diving between bleachers and tackling people. I guess he thought he was back in the war zone.
Well, thank you again for your prayers!
Heidi
August 13
Update on Bradley Fite (from Valerie on Friday PM):
Brad has had surgery 3 times in the last 3 days--trying to beat an infection. He's getting pockets of infection in his back that we are trying desperately to keep away from getting in the hardware in his spine. Today's was unsuccessful--they couldn't get it out with needles. Now he goes into a CT Scan and surgery combined to try to get this last abscess in his lower back. Brad is unbelievably frustrated and extremely medicated! They are working on getting him in the operating room tonight yet. Tonight's surgery will be number 7. I thought I would be flying home this weekend and we would get him to Richmond. Now I don't know what's happening. Pray that Bob and I would get some peace about what we should do about getting back for our jobs, yet leaving Brad cared for. They are difficult decisions.
Tracy Carl Fressel
Assistant Pastor, Inter-City Baptist Church
4700 Allen Road Allen Park, Michigan 48101
receptionist: 313.928.5222
office: 313.294.6262
fax: 313.928.6939
August 7
From: Patricia Ann Rees
To: Rees, Patricia Ann
Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2010 7:45 AM
Subject: Update from Valerie about Bradley Fite
Saturday, August 7, 2010 – Update on Bradley Fite
We are on day 18 of Brad’s hospital stay and have made much progress since the last update! All stitches and staples have been removed. His lungs are stable. The shrapnel wounds are healing n...icely. The terrible black bruising is turning to a lovely purple and yellow. They are weaning him off the strong pain medicine a bit at a time. He has been fitted for a brace and is taking steps with a walker. He had a PICC line inserted this week so no one will be digging for his veins from here on out. His legs and feet are extremely swollen—circulation issues. Brad’s still dealing with MRSA and a higher white count. He’s also dealing with the cysts on his head. He’s been introduced to some special gadgets to use to get his own socks on and to pick things up with since bending is not an option at this point.
Right now it appears Brad will be here at the National Naval Hospital for about 2 more weeks, and then on to a hospital in Richmond, VA, which specializes in rehabilitation of spinal fracture patients. Brad still has some distance to travel emotionally, but has come quite a ways since waking up in Germany. He’s meeting quite a few new people, and is already being introduced to new opportunities for the future.
Bob, Bryce, and I will stay the week here in Bethesda, MD. Brad has a few special visitors coming in (Rosa--Julio’s wife, and also his pastor from San Diego) so we will give them some time and visit some historical sites here in the DC area.
We appreciate your continued support in prayers as we know that God is good and that God is faithful. Thank you for the encouraging cards and notes.
From: Val Fite [mailto:vfite@jacksondawson.com]
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 7:15 AM
Subject: Friday, July 30 - Bradley Fite
Friday, July 30, 2010
Bradley C. Fite
National Naval Medical Center
8901 Wisconsin Avenue
Building 10, Ward 5 East, Room 5E-19
Bethesda, MD 20889
I’m trying to get off to the airport this morning, but here’s a quick list of the struggles as of midnight last night. (Just in case you don’t have anything else to pray about!) Brad has the MRSA virus. This is especially a problem due to all of the open wounds Brad has due to the explosion. This could be fatal for him—they are guarding him very carefully at this point. They discovered a blood clot in his right arm yesterday. He tipped the scales at 200 yesterday—but he normally only weighs 170. That’s a lot of swelling to handle. He has three Sebaceous Cysts that have developed on the back of his head. We are told they may keep growing to a much larger size, and may take several months to dissolve. These are open wounds and very uncomfortable for Brad. Brad’s lungs collapsed yesterday. That news hit us hard—but then we found out that he arrived at the hospital in Germany with collapsed lungs and we had not been given that information. These are things the hospital staff expects to happen to the explosion victims and they are ready to handle them.
We allowed ourselves to think that Brad was “Out of the Woods” and on his way to recovery, maybe a long recovery, but still—a recovery. We are learning that the explosion damaged much more than the spinal column and this will take time for his body to adjust and heal. We are learning to hear the “daily” news, take a deep breath, walk around the closest building while praying, and then return and go forward. We do feel the Lord's presence in this situation. We’d like for you to pray that Brad can find that peace as well.
Valerie
Good Afternoon! Thank you for being a conduit for sending information about Bradley Fite along to your Adult Bible Study. I know the Fites appreciate all the prayer which is being offered to God on Bradley’s behalf. I think about Paul’s desire for believers to partner with him in prayer so that God might get much praise (2Cor 1:11) and know that God is being gloried as we intercede for Bradley. Please continue to urge the folks in your ABS to pray for Bradley (both for his physical condition and his spiritual growth) as he goes through this trial. As well, continue to pray for Bradley’s parents, Bob and Valerie, his siblings, Lindsey (married to David), BJ (married to Sarah), Bryce and all of Bradley’s extended family.
Tracy
Update: Saturday 11:30
They took Bradley off the breathing machine this morning. The first thing he asked was if the other members of his platoon were okay. They are not giving him information yet--too much to absorb. They told him they just wanted to concentrate on him for now
They are pleased with the progress but have still decided to keep him in Germany for the third surgery. They offered to fly Bob out for the surgery, and wondered if his passport was up to date. We don’t have passports—evidently in that small print of the deployment book they sent us we were instructed to do so for an instance just as this. .
Brad will have surgery in Germany at midnight tonight (our time). This surgery will add ligaments via titanium. Dr. Neal explained that before they work on adding ligaments, they need to reduce the angulations from the fracture. He said that Brad’s spine was bent forward at the break at a 30 degree angle. They reduced it to 15 degrees in the first surgery, and hope to reduce the next 15 degrees in this surgery but need to go in through the back to do so. Because of the location, this surgery brings more risks than the previous one. There is a chance of spinal fluid leak, a greater risk of bleeding, and risk that the nerves in the upper portion of his legs could be damaged. This is a more technical surgery and will determine how soon and how well Brad will walk in the future. The risks for numbness in his legs will be long-term.
Brad’s nurse called us this morning. She held the phone up and let us say hi to him. She said he is obviously very sore and swollen. He has stitches under his chin and is covered with bruises. He had abdominal surgery the first day—so an incision on the belly. He had the first spinal surgery which leaves the incision down his side, and now tonight he will have the next surgery which will open up his back.
If surgery goes as planned, Brad will fly out of Germany on Tuesday. It will take 12 – 15 hours to get from the Medical Center in Germany to Bethesda Hospital in Maryland. A Liaison will orchestrate a flight for Bob at the same time so he can be there when Brad’s plane arrives. Bryce and I will plan to fly out on Friday and spend the weekend there in DC with them. We’ll be at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD.
Please continue to pray, especially at that midnight hour.
Bob and Valerie
Update: 1: 30PM Friday
Dr. Neal called us @ 1:15. The surgery took 14 hours—longer than expected. He said they were tough fractures to deal with. They were able to de-compress the spine. He’s pleased with the results. Brad is moving both legs.
Brad will have a CAT Scan tonight so that they will have a baseline of where he is at with the new hardware in.
Based on how Brad responds in the next 24 hours, they may do the second surgery in Germany as opposed to state-side. They may not be able to transport him yet. Dr. Neal said Brad is asleep—but upset—he’s fighting the restraints, the breathing tube. He said his mind is still in Afghanistan—still trying to get out. He can’t figure out where he is—and can’t wake up. The movement is dangerous for him now. The third surgery is to give him substitute ligaments (the old ones are no longer present due to the explosion). His new ones will be titanium rods and screws. So think of the miracle that his back bone was broken/crushed from front to back and the ligaments were obliterated, yet the spinal cord stayed intact! How about that for something to be grateful for? Praise the Lord.
Dr. Neal will call us within 24 hours to let us know if they were able to settle Brad down enough for travel or if he will go ahead and operate on him again there in Germany. He will remain in ICU. Critical—but stable.
We’re seriously very grateful for your prayers.
Bob and Valerie
