Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 08:10:56 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Am stuck in a wheel chair (not a funny post and its not
friday...)
In-Reply-To: <vanagon%2003092323435642@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
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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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