Brian's Hurricane Dorian update

[bevans6]

Some of you might remember that a week ago Hurricane Dorian was coming to my town for a little visit, and I promised an update after the party.  Apologies if you're already seen this on FB. You can be amoung the first to  know that Dorian came, Dorian blew, Dorian  kicked my butt big time.  I had spent Friday putting the property in order, including tucking the bus in her winter home inside one of my sheds. I have amnesia for most of the period of the  storm, but it came in Saturday afternoon, we were fine running the  generator all day, went to bed around 10 pm so shut down for the night.    The eye of the storm and highest winds were scheduled for around  midnight Saturday, I apparently felt the need to get out of bed and check on  things.  We think that when I was coming back upstairs I fell back down  the stairs.  I fell, got hurt, went back upstairs, went back to bed, and  woke up Catherine, who got the flashlight, and promptly called 911, who  arrived in less than 15 minutes (lady luck was dancing for me, big  time).  All said and done, I broke my neck at C7 and C6, fractured 6  ribs (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 on my right side), dislocated middle two fingers  on right hand, left hand feels and looks like I punched a wall for a  while, massive contusions and technicolour bruising mostly right arm,  shoulder, chest.  Big head impact (but oddly no concussion), brain  bleed.  Hospital in Truro did triage, CT scans, stabilized, I kind of  remember that a bit.  Transported to Halifax (4:00 in the morning, in  the middle of the worst of the hurricane, there I am in the back of an  ambulance while essentially 100% of the power grid of the province is  off-line, cell service is failing, trees down everywhere.  On Wednesday  the chief of Neurosurgery went in (through the front of my throat, just  under my chin), stabilized, removed the discs in C6 and C7, did bone  grafts to fuse the vertebrae bones and tied it all together with a screwed in  plate.  That went really well, and essentially the broken neck is fully  resolved (pending the actual healing and fusing) and I am fully mobile,  no brace, followup in six weeks kind of deal.  The issue now is 6  fractured ribs, headaches, dealing with contusions and bruises.  Figuring out how to sleep in a chair when you can't use your core to move is surprisingly hard.  So far I  have nerve damage making my left hand feel frozen and tingly, should  resolve once swelling goes down.  Surgery was noon Wednesday, I was  released noon Friday and on the way home.  In true Canadian fashion the  bill was "don't let the door hit you on the way out, we have another  customer for the bed, we had fun, see you later" but the hospitals, nurses, doctors  were spectacular.  It works out some times, but I am really starting to  internalize how close I came to not coming out of this whole, walking,  or at all.  Apologise for the really long message, but I am using this  as an aide-memoire to help me settle the events in my mind.  I have some  short term memory issues from this as well.

[Jim Blackwood]

Wow. Glad you got that sorted, now if you could just remember what he looked like.

Jim

[Fred Mc]

First of all my condolences on your "accident". As a fellow Canadian on the opposite coast I can relate to your hospital experience having spent some time in the hospital earlier this year. Discharge consisted of "do you need a wheelchair to get down to your car". All the medication, ambulance ride etc was convered. Hope your property and bus are unscathed by the storm.
Regards
Fred

[dtcerrato]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Right after I read your post while walking around through the Watson Lake sign post forest here in Yukon - I stumbled on a sign & wanted to ask per chance Did you post it? Get well soon. 

[Van]

Sorry to hear this Brian, get well soon!

[bevans6]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Right after I read your post while walking around through the Watson Lake sign post forest here in Yukon - I stumbled on a sign & wanted to ask per chance Did you post it? Get well soon. 

Dan, I didn't post that, but it's definitely my town!  Very cool, thank  you for posting that!

[buswarrior]

WoW!!!

Just when you think there's enough excitement...

Glad you're still on the grassy side and functional!

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[Dave5Cs]

Brian, We thought about you when we watched the weather channel and they said it turned and was now heading for NS. Maybe the low pressure radiant threw you off while climbing the stairs. Hope you heal soon.

[lvmci]

Brian, best wishes for a quick and complete recovery, Tom, lvmci...

[richard5933]

Sorry to hear about your struggles. Glad you landed right side up, so to speak, and are back on your feet. I know what you mean about getting out of a chair. That was really difficult for me after my lumbar surgery a few years ago.

[chessie4905]

Hoping for a complete recovery. Sorry for your mishap.

[DoubleEagle]

Brian, that certainly was a close call, you would have been missed if the worst had happened. You are a very valuable person on this forum, please take care of yourself. Pretty impressive though, you get banged up, but go back to bed anyway. You must be a tough nut to crack. 

[sledhead]

Again   WOW !

get well soon and take it easy . It will take a lot of time to recover from that .

so how did the house and coach fair ?



   dave

[Scott & Heather]

Sending thoughts and prayers from us as we travel to Phoenix. That's an insane and crazy story to tell...by let's not do it again ok? Get better quick...

[chessie4905]

Maybe you already have it, but
I added a second handrail on other side of stairs for more stability going up and down. I'm left handed, wife is not. Fell back from some other medical condition not looked into yet???