What A Week

What a week is all I can say. A week ago my brother had an accident in his pool. He has an above ground pool with hard sides. He stood up on the ladder and went to lean forward to do a belly flop and the ladder slipped out from beneath him and fell to the side head first. His head hit the side and then the bottom. As you may know my brother is pretty tall. He is 6' 10" and at least 250lbs. When he came up from the water he knew something was wrong, he felt tingly so he stayed and floated in the pool for a few minutes waiting for it to pass. When it didn't he got out of the pool and said he needed to go to the hospital, no ambulance just drive him. When he arrived in his small town hospital they determined that his neck was broken and had to be transported by ambulance to Mercy in Des Moines. Later at Mercy it was discovered that his neck was broken in three spots, C 5, 6 and 7 plus he broke the bones in his ear and blew out his eardrum. He was admitted ( 8hrs after arriving at Mercy) and was going to get a halo placed early Sunday morning. This is when I decided that I needed to be back in Iowa. My older sister Lisa kindly payed for our tickets. The halo placement was thought to be a success until he tried to move around and he still felt movement in his neck and had numbness in his arms. Next step and only step was the fusion surgery. So that was scheduled for Tuesday morning. Mind you this is one of the most painful experiences he has ever been through and Noah has done a lot of crap in the past. The surgery started around nine and finished around three. It was a total success!! Since his vertebrae were crushed forward ( which usually paralyzes and sometimes kills people) the doctor had to go in from the back of his neck. The surgery is typically done from the neck but with his injuries it was best from the back. His incision is from the base of his head almost to his shoulder blades. The doctor said that this route has a more painful recovery since they have to cut through so much muscle. The fusion of the vertebrae will cause a little immobility. He will still be able to turn from left to right but not up and down. What a blessing to walk away from such a horrible accident and just have a little immobility. Praise God!! After the surgery he was in a whole lot of pain. It was very hard to see my big brother in so much pain. The last two days have been up and down. His pain management has been an issue. The nursing staff were treating him as an average sized man but he isn't. He wasn't getting the amount of pain relief that was needed. After about 15 hrs of excruciating pain it was under control. He has been able to get out of bed and walk the hall way. Oh, he doesn't need the halo anymore, just a neck brace. The doctor is planning on releasing him on Tuesday. He has a long road of recovery but we are so blessed that he will still have a functional life. Things could be very very different and we are truly blessed and thankful. Thank you all for remembering my family in your thoughts and prayers.