On the sixth day in the hospital, I had surgery to repair my broken neck. Two days later on Thanksgiving afternoon, I was released to recuperate at home. Despite my prescription drug haze, I thought I was important to communicate with family and friends as soon a possible so I wrote the following email with the assistance of my daughter Sara.
*******************************************************
Thanksgiving, November 26, 2013
Dear family and friends,
It is Thanksgiving evening and I just got home from a week
in the hospital. I have 100 plus unchecked emails that I will not be
able to respond to in in a timely manner. The last week has been a blur
to me and I expect it will take me months to come to terms to with what
happened.
Not to be overdramatic, but I am a very lucky man and I am
fortunate to be alive. I have a lot of challenges ahead to deal with and
communicate about. This is my small attempt to start the process and give
you a little information on what happened to me before I am old news.
After completing a Cape Fear Cyclist ride Thursday the 21st
I started home. Somehow, I hit the back of a mail truck. I am not
sure how, it seemed to happen in a split second. I was rushed to the
hospital and the whirlwind began.
I asked my very smart daughter Sara who has a science degree
and is a gifted writer to put something into words so I could better understand
what happened and pass it to those who might want to know. Here is what
she wrote:
Dad’s Surgical Procedure and
Rehabilitation plan:
The human skull rests on the top
cervical vertebra or C1 (this vertebra is also known as the “atlas” because it
holds up the globe of the head). This gives the head much of its ability
to tilt and turn. When Dad slammed his head into the mail truck, he not
only concussed his brain, he also crushed this C1 vertebra. When the
surgeons were talking to us they explained that, “he nearly knocked his head
right off his spine” but they also said to each other that he had a “skull/C1
dislocation”. This meant that with a wrong turn of his head or a fall,
Dad would certainly die. Dad was absolutely confined to his hospital bed
with a tight collar on until they could operate. Because his C1 was
ruined and it’s impossible to replace it, the surgeons, after much thought and
discussion (and a considerable amount of regret), decided that the only safe
option for Dad was to put a plate in his neck (about an inch wide and a couple
inches long) that would screw into the base of his skull and then down into his
C2 and C3 vertebrae. He’s out of immediate danger now so they let him out
of bed and even let him come home from the hospital.
Over the course of the next 30 days
Dad will have to keep his tight collar on all the time in order to keep his
head stable. This will start the process of bone growing over the plate
and all around that crushed C1. It will also give his occipital nerve and
traumatized muscles a chance to heal and hopefully get all his headaches resolved.
The full process of fusion will take 6-18 months and by that time that whole
complex of his occiput (base of his skull), C1, C2, and C3 and plate will grow
into a super-stable big chunk of life-saving bone. Dad’s surgeons said
that people almost never survive this kind of injury. Dad had the right
combination of hitting that truck just right so that his C1 didn’t immediately
sever his brain stem and also having some smart people there at the accident
that got paramedics to him who put him on a back board and in an ambulance to
go to the emergency room. He was lucky in that very odd way humans speak
of luck. But because this is almost never a survivable injury, they are
just not sure what Dad’s eventual range of motion will be. They know that
he’s going to have to look to the right and left mostly by moving his
shoulders, but they have taken a “Let’s wait and see” attitude about what kind
of physical activities he’ll be able to safely do. I will say that
right off the bat they thought golf would be perfect because you’re supposed to
keep your head in line with your shoulders anyway. Dad’s robust and
resourceful. I think no matter what kind of restrictions life throws at
him, he will find a way to have a full and wonderful life.”
So, I am not completely out of the woods but am hopeful for
a full recovery. Wilmington Chorale Society Bass Kort died suddenly a
few months ago and never got a chance to say goodbye or anything. I am thinking fondly of him as get the chance to write this.
I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. It
is kind of like a new birthday for me. Thank you Sara, Cathy, Chris,
Peter, Ashley and all my friends and family for being here for me. Doing
my best to stick around. Fred
No comments:
Post a Comment