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[smbc] Fred's update 5/2/06
Fred had undergone surgery on Friday. The doctors had operated on both his
neck and right arm. They have discovered that the neck was not damaged to
the extent as they had originally thought and decided it was not necessary
to fuse the C4/C5 vertebra. His right arm however, was severely damaged.
The humorous (bone between the shoulder and the elbow) was shattered, and
required installation of plates and screws. There was no cast required,
however he has to wear a brace/sling for some time. He has good finger
movement. I think it's a matter of time before he's back on the bike and
is able to play guitar again with practice. There were discussions among
other riders that it's a strong possibility the bike landed on him during
the tumble to cause the severity of the injuries.
Saturday morning his dad arrived from Illinois and will be staying for a
week. Gregory, Marco (fellow riders), and Tyler (fellow rider & Fred's
cat sitter) were also visiting when I was there. Many other riders from
the club have visited in the afternoon.
Fred had mentioned about having some loss of hearing in his right ear and
loss control of muscles in the right side of his face. Dan and Tom C.
have mentioned these symptoms reflect a condition called Bells Palsy which
is "a condition that causes the facial muscles to weaken or become
paralyzed. It's caused by trauma to the 7th cranial nerve, and is not
permanent." http://www.bellspalsy.ws/
There were no further instructions from the doctors about this. His
hearing was better yesterday. He remained very anxious to go home, and
mentioned that if all goes well, he would be released Sunday.
This morning I spoke to Fred on the phone. He was released from the
hospital Sunday and was very exhausted from the whole logistics of
checking out and navigating his dad who drove him home. He was
enjoying a cup of coffee when I called, and his dad had just came back
from a grocery run. After a week in bed being drugged up, and having
very little solid food, he remains tired and at times uncoordinated.
He is very happy to be out of the hospital. He has yet to go into the
garage to see the bike and the shreded suit, and will probably do so
this afternoon. I'm glad I won't be anywhere near his house when that
happens.
Hao