Please say a prayer ..

[ezdrummer]

in our thoughts and prayers cindy...sorry to hear

[CleanNeon98]

How's he doing?

[justinlansdale]

oh my god, i just saw this now for the first time. i am so sorry cindy, and like everyone else has said...i will will pray that he returns with a full recovery. i can only imagine how horrible this must be for you guys. i wish the best of luck to B for a full recovery :-(

[Rush]

Sorry that I'm a little behind on posting updates .. I've been running around like a lunatic, between trying to be with him and be at class and getting a couple hours sleep now and then.

He was moved out of the ICU today and into a rehab center! The lung and digestive problems he was having resolved themselves enough so that he could make the transfer.

He's still in a hell of a lot of pain though .. which is only going to get worse over the next few days. They're starting him with the rehab so he can begin to get some basic abilities back -- sitting up, getting himself out of bed, etc -- and y'know how that goes at first. It's gonna be rough, but I think that once he gets himself started .. the improvements will come quickly. As of this moment, the doctors are guessing he'll be here in rehab for two or three weeks. Fingers crossed!

[Scapegoat]

stellar!

[DPancoast]

got my fingers crossed!

[Roto]

Sorry to hear about the accident and I really hope he recovers quickly. After all said and done you'll be joking about going through airport security and setting off metal detectors. He's very lucky to have you...most girls I know would have left a guy the moment such a thing happened. Be strong and it will get better.

[05suby]

sorry to hear cindy. hope everything works out and he gets full movement back.

[Rush]

Thanks again, guys. I've been reading the posts to B and he seems pretty taken aback (in a pleased/embarrassed sort of way) that total strangers are wishing him well.

Had our first day of rehab today! They worked with him for about three hours. Lots of bending/flexing of his hip and knee and ankle, they used balls and canisters. Did some minor work with his back by supporting himself with railings. Also got him up so he could shower, and he dressed himself afterward -- athletic shorts and t-shirt. He was absolutely exhausted by the time he was done .. but it really seemed to lift his spirits, to be up and moving and DOING something.

He's still in a lot of pain, but he seems to be managing it better now. His lungs are still not quite right .. and he might need another blood transfusion because his hemoglobin level is less than half of what it should be. But the doctors lightened up his blood thinners in the hope that it'll allow the hemoglobin situation to fix itself. But then that increases the risk of blood clots, with the lessened blood thinners. It's a trade-off. So we'll see.

[Scapegoat]

sounds like things are headed his way Cindy. thats awesome news. he'll be back to jumping out of planes in no time ;)

[abrok99]

thats great to hear he's doing well!!

[Kir Diesel]

I just read this.. sorry to hear what happened and will be reading for further updates.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by Scapegoat

sounds like things are headed his way Cindy. thats awesome news. he'll be back to jumping out of planes in no time ;)

Funny you should say that .. since he and I had a brief discussion on it just this afternoon.

For the first couple days after his accident, he was telling everyone that he was done with skydiving and that he'd never do it again. But then that 'never' started to change to 'probably never'. He said it again today when someone asked him .. and since I already have enough stress and worry on my mind to deal with one more thing lurking around, I asked him about it. I apologized for bringing it up at such a time, and that I didn't mean to be cruel for doing so .. but I basically told him that his life is his own to do with as he pleases, however if he ever decides to go back to skydiving again, I won't be around to see it. Because I simply can't deal with the stress and the fear and possibly having to go through something like this again -- or even worse, if he kills himself next time. I'd go insane, pure and simple.

But he told me that he has no intention of jumping ever again. He was just saying 'probably' in the hopes that it would stop people from asking him more questions. He said he's finally learned -- the hard way -- that no matter how great the technology is for the sport, that it doesn't take away human error. That if he ever slipped up again, he might not get as lucky as he did this time.

So that was a big relief, to put it mildly.

[20th1519]

Best of luck with his recovery. At which dropzone did this happen?

[97TurboDSM]

holy **** cindy, thats terrible and im glad he is "okay" since he could be far worse off than he is now. if you need anything let me know since i'm local to you. btw, i waved to you today and you looked at me like i had two heads. i was in my brothers black grand am gt. good luck to you and brandon.

[Rush]

Originally Posted by 20th1519

Best of luck with his recovery. At which dropzone did this happen?

He was at Maytown.

Originally Posted by 97TurboDSM

holy **** cindy, thats terrible and im glad he is "okay" since he could be far worse off than he is now. if you need anything let me know since i'm local to you. btw, i waved to you today and you looked at me like i had two heads. i was in my brothers black grand am gt. good luck to you and brandon.

I don't even remember seeing a black Grand Am at any point today .. I've been zoned out pretty badly whenever I'm in my car since it's really the only 'alone time' I have to think.

[97TurboDSM]

understood, obviously. i just like busting your balls. anyhow, its great to hear how well he's doing, i just read the last page of updates and im stunned at how quickly he's moving along. i'll say it again, if you need anything dont hesitate to ask, i can only imagine the amount of stress you're under right now.

[Christina_at_QMC]

wow sorry to hear, i'll keep you both in my thoughts and prayers.

[omgjacki]

I'm so sorry, Cindy. I was crying reading all of this. I don't pray much but I wish the best for him and everyone around. He'll pull through.

[Rush]

Well, took some steps backwards the past couple days ..

His hemoglobin count was still horribly low by the time Sunday rolled around, after they'd lessened his blood thinners in the hope that doing so would help the hemoglobin levels rise. So the doctors decided to send him back to the hospital for another blood transfusion -- not one, but two units of blood.

He was supposed to be picked up from the rehab center and transported to the hospital at 1pm. They finally came for him at 2pm, and in the meantime, his parents and I went to order furniture that we'd been on the verge of buying just before all this happened. We got to the hospital around 4pm and they STILL had not started the transfusion. Finally, when 5pm rolled around, they started B on the first unit.

When 6pm came, B reminded the nurses that he'd last received pain medicine at 3pm and was due every four hours. So when 7pm arrived, he started asking for it. When 8:30pm finally arrived and the nurses STILL had not brought anything, and B was in enough pain that he'd stopped whimpering and squirming and just laid there in eerie silence, I started screaming at the nurses that they'd better do something before I broke all their kneecaps. That got 'em moving at last. I left the hospital at 9:30pm, once B had finally calmed down enough to pass out.

Found out the next day that B didn't get back to the rehab center till 2:30am. The nurses at the hospital never got him 'up and moving' like they do in the rehab center, and they never gave him a second round of pain medicine before transporting him back to rehab -- so he was a complete mess. When I came to see him yesterday after class, he looked horrible. He was in such bad shape that they didn't do any sessions of physical therapy cause he just couldn't take it.

So now I'm plotting the unfortunate deaths of those 4th floor nurses at the hospital.

Hopefully he's in better shape and spirits today when I see him again after class. And hopefully his hemoglobin levels have come back up, too.