4/20

2:19pm

Okay, I'm going to try to summarize here. Gary was in

a car accident on Friday and suffered a severe injury

to the spine, broken ribs, bruised lungs, broken

pelvis, and broken rt. index finger. He was flown by

helicopter to UAB Hospital in BIRMIngham, where he was

first in Emergency, then the Neurosurgery ICU. The

first surgery he had, Friday, was a spinal

decompression, during which they took care of a

hematoma next to the spinal cord (I may not have

everything technically correct, but this should be

close). Unfortunately they discovered the injury to

the spine was worse than they initially hoped -- in

one doctor's words, the spinal cord was completely

destroyed at the T4 level, about nipple height. Below

that level, he has permanently (they say, but never

say never) lost all feeling, in particular he has lost

the use of his legs. However, he's still got his

"Gary-ness" -- no damage to brain/mind. He also has

the use of his arms. They put him on a breathing tube

(mouth) and feeding tube (nose). Both of which he

detested and mimed a strong desire to yank them out.

He is flat on his back and cannot speak or use his

right hand, so we communicate by him writing

left-handed on a piece of paper I hold up in the air

for him. In case you want to know, he can write pretty

damn good with his left hand -- I've been able to make

out everything. He was concerned about his classes,

and also wanted to make sure everyone knew he was fine

from waist up (actually, not that far, only nipple

level up, but he hasn't quite taken everything in). He

has definitely maintained his desire to do as much as

he can by himself -- if I try to guess what he is

writing, even if I guess correctly to save him the

effort of writing, he still insists on writing it out.

Even if I guess a synonymn of what he is trying to

write, he'll continue to write his own word, thank you

very much.



He had a second spinal surgery yesterday to stabilize

the spine -- the ligaments holding the vertebrae

together had been stretched and torn. So screws were

put into the spine to give it strength. He also had

bone grafting done at the same time, so that the bones

will fuse and take over from the screws and other

metal supports when those inevitably fail. (Again, I'm

not sure I have all this quite correctly stated, but

it should be close). In a second procedure done right

after the spine surgery, they took out the mouth and

nose tubes (yea! says Gary) and put in a trache (sp?)

tube for breathing and a peg-tube for feeding (there's

a metaphor in there somewhere). This afternoon he

should be having his last surgery, where they put pins

in his right index finger so hopefully he'll have the

full use of his right hand again.



His lungs are weakened from nerve damage and

contusions, so it will be at least a few days, up to 2

weeks, until they can wean him off the breathing

apparatus. Eventually, the hole in the trachea will

heal so he can talk again. Once he's off the

ventilator, they'll begin easy therapy, then hopefully

more intensive therapy in about 2 weeks.



All for now, as I'm about to dash over for the next

visiting half-hour.





I've conveyed all your words of concern and wishes for

a speedy recovery to him.



Peg