After Surgery

Hello to all of our dear friends and loved ones.

 

Many thanks to those of you who have responded to our very sad news about Gary's accident. I am so grateful to you for your support. Thanks to all of you for keeping Gary in your prayers.

Right now my main objective in life is to "be there" for Gary so it is increasingly difficult for me to touch base with all of you.  I am spending quite a bit of time in the ICU so I am going to hand over communications to my wonderful daughter, Hali. She will be trying to keep updates coming the best she/we can.

 

It is now Sunday morning, Oct 9.  Without the medical jargon (those of you who know me know I will totally butcher it - I am so sorry to you medical friends). I will try to explain what has happened thus far. Gary and I are both so grateful to all the wonderful folks who are in this battle with us. It is clear that there are angels among us.

 

Surgery was on Thurs, Oct 6. It took over 6 hours as 2 teams of surgeons tried to repair 2 crushed vertebraes - T6 and T7. They took a rib and some other types of material and rebuilt a "cage" and fused the spine together from T5-T8.  All reports currently indicate that the surgery itself was successful and will serve to to stabilize his spine. The hope is that eventually he will be able to sit in a wheelchair. The reports from everyone are that the spinal cord was crushed and at this stage it appears the paralysis is permanent. Of course there is always hope, but Gary and I both feel we need to accept this as a new reality and begin to move forward without unrealistic expectations.

 

He is now in the NeuroSurgical Intensive Care Unit at Shands - Gainesville. He will be there for at least a few days while he recovers from the procedure and they get him strong enough to move to a "regular" neuro floor. Then he will probably be there for awhile before moving to an inpatient rehab center. We don't know where this will be, but right now Gary wants to stay in Gainesville. There are currently no guesses as to the timeline.

 

Although I realize many folks will be concerned about whether or not he will walk, this is the least of our worries at this point. In other words it isn't just his legs that are affected, it is everything from the nipples down. Just recovering from the complex surgery is a challenging task. He cannot feel anything from his nipples down and he is in quite a bit of pain and discomfort from there up.

 

His spirits are OK, given the circumstances. His nurses feel he is doing much better than most people in his situation. He is grateful and polite to to all of them and theythink he is so sweet. He is strong and trying to remain positive. Although he did tell me "I don't want alot of your fake bubbly attitude." Classic Gary/Judi interaction.

 

I am so grateful he is still alive. While I realize so many of you want to do something to help, right now there isn't much I can think of except prayers. I am certain that down the road Gary and I will need alot of help, what exactly that means is as yet unclear. I will try not to be too proud to ask.

 

I will ask one thing of you now. Gary REALLY doesn't want visitors or phone calls. He is in pain and discomfort and he is exhausted. Please honor this request for now. Those of you who know him well know how shy and stubborn he can be so I expect this need for privacy will last awhile. Please do not take it personally. I will let you know if this changes.  

 

I feel blessed to have so many caring folks in my life. Thank you all,

 

Disco Judi