Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 13:44:26 -0700
Reply-To: Jeffrey Schwaia <jeff@TSSGI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeffrey Schwaia <jeff@TSSGI.COM>
Subject: Re: Am stuck in a wheel chair (not a funny post and its not
friday...)
In-Reply-To: <3F71A5EF.7020207@fyi.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
It all depends... I have a very good friend in Germany who crashed into a
field of freshly cut trees. His spine was cleanly severed about halfway up
his back but his helmet saved his life. Before the accident he was a
marathon runner and extremely active. After the accident he became a
marathon wheelchairest (excuse my liberties with the English language) and a
European champion at handicapped table tennis. He lives a very active life
and is gratefull for every day. Life is what you make of it...
Cheers,
Jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Eric Zeno
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 7:11 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Am stuck in a wheel chair (not a funny post and its not
friday...)
Clearly this guy has struggle to make a full recovery. My
friend was not so lucky, and will never walk again. This was
after a 2 year hospital stay.... Helmets save ther lives ...
was it worth it?
Gotta run....
Eric
John Rodgers wrote:
> Ben huot wrote:
>
>> Before you read my long post I invite you to look at one picture:
>> http://www.desert2002.com/crash_moto/moto_crash3.jpg
>>
> Ben, I'm indeed sorry to hear about this. It's good to know you are
> still here with us. And I wish you a speedy recovery. Sounds like you
> will get there OK in time.
>
> You are indeed lucky. The type of incident/accident you experieced
> could have been a lot worse, or even taken your life. It is terrifying
> to know that you have done all you can to be safe, and yet the situation
> be out of your control.
>
> Here is a true story, one that I was closely associated with, and very
> close to your experience, ie, type of accident.
>
> Regards,
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
> My business partner's son, Ken, was cruising - admittedly going fast -
> on his Yamaha down a four lane street with an island in the middle, in
> Anchorage, Alaska. A car suddenly pulled out from the right side after
> running a stop sign at a side street. The car was headed across the road
> to the other side of the fourlane. It happened so fast that Ken had no
> time, and T-boned the car in the left front fender. He struck the car
> with his right knee, and the impact drove his femur straight back,
> shearing the ball off the bone and simultaniously tearing the whole
> thing from the socket in his hip. The now sharp bone end was forced
> backward, severing the sciatic nerve in his right hip, through the
> muscle of his right buttock and then severed the anal sphincter from the
> rectum, and the bone end continued traveling until it punctured out
> through the skin. The blow also broke his right hand.
>
> Ken was thrown over the hood of the car completely across the highway.
> As he sailed through the air, with his right leg now disconnected at the
> hip, ie, no bone and ligament to hold it in position, the leg just
> flailed around, flopping every which way. The flopping action while
> sailing through the air caused the sheared femur to retract from the
> buttock, and now it acted like a spike being punctured through the
> inside of his body, piercing the liver in several places, and puncturing
> the spleen and the intestine. At the point of impact with the ground
> there was a fireplug, and he hit the fireplug head first and fell to the
> ground. He had on a helmet and the helmet split wide open right down the
> middle. Somehow, at that point he also broke some bones in his left arm
> and hand.
>
> A police car was sufficiently close behind so as to witness what was
> about to happen and he reported that he had already picked up his
> microphone to call the emergency vehicle by the time the impact took
> place. Fortunately, the emergency service was one block down the street
> and they were there in moments. Additionally, the hospital was only a
> couple of blocks away, and these two facts save Ken's life. Had there
> been any delay he would have died.
>
> Ken's heart stopped six times on the way to the emergency room. And did
> so several times in the emergency room. They couldn't understand why
> there was so much blood loss until hey got him into the right position
> and discovered all the liver and spleen damage. If I recall correctly,
> he got something like 22 units of blood before they were able to
> stabilize him.
>
> He was in the hospital for 3 months, most of it on a Morphine cocktail,
> fed through tubes in his neck and his nose, all the while laying on a
> bed that had little air bladders that inflated and deflated every few
> seconds, to keep his skin stimulated and prevent bed sores. Those beds
> alone cost $20-25,000 each.
>
> The broken ball on the end of the femur, was put back together - it was
> in three pieces - but it died, and had to be removed. Due to the damage
> of the gut, and rectum, a raging infection set into the hip and there
> was more tissue death. They were giving him the most powerful
> antibiotics known, but were losing ground. About every day they had to
> go in and remove dead tissue and repack the surgical openings.
>
> Finally Ken's mother asked the prognosis, and was told if things didn't
> change dramatically in short order they would have to remove the leg at
> the hip. She asked if this would save his life. The answer was, they
> didn't know, given the infection and the lack of progress in fighting
> the infection.
>
> At this point, to the consternation of the infection control doctor on
> the case, she had him treated by a physician who beleived in "ozone
> infusion" for infection control. Some of the professional medical staff
> pitched a bitch, and one even quit the case. This was not mainstream
> medical treatment, but it worked. In two days pinkness returned to the
> area and then the infection began to clear.
>
> It was months before Ken was able to get out of the hospital. In the
> meantime, he had many surgeries. A colostomy was done as a result of the
> severing of the anal sphincter muscle, and they went back in and
> reconnected that and removed the colostomy. Now all seemed OK in the end
> of things. There was much physical theraphy. He was not a candidate for
> hip replacement due to all the infection that racked the area. The docs
> were afraid to disturb the area for fear of creating new problems.
> Unexpectedly the femur fused to the pelvis, enabling Ken to walk without
> crutches, albeit with a severe limp, as his right leg is shorter than
> his left by two inches, but the fusion gave him some rigidity at the
> hip. He wears a lift on his shoe, and goes pretty good.
>
> Ken's recovery to any kind of reasonable function took well over a year,
> and the event altered his personality. Before the accident he was one
> laid back dude, but afterward he was short tempered, and delighted in a
> little meanness. This was the result of oxygen deprivation when his
> heart stopped, plus all the shock to his body and the drugs. The glad
> side of that however is that he was alive, and even though it took some
> time, about 5 years, he was his old self again in terms of personality.
>
> Things turned out OK for him. He met the right girl, is now happily
> married and has kids. Runs his own business...
>
> Still has his motorcycle ........but he never got back on one again. He
> kept the mangled machine and it sits as an ornament in his garage/shop.
> Actually, he cannnot ride, due to the rigid hip. But I don't think he
> ever had any desire to get on one again.
>
>
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