May 21, 2008 01:16 pm Man, sorry to hear that. I will say a prayer.
Need Some Prayers Fellas
Posted on May 21, 2008 01:14 pm
dbmasters
Administrator Since: Apr 03, 2002
I just got back from a local hospital, a good friend of mine is currently in a medically induced coma. Nobody is sure what happened, but they found John lying next to his bicicle in a pool of blood, with a broken chain on the bike, but the bike didn't look struck by a car or anything...
He has fractures on both sides of his skull, knees and knuckels are all skun to hell...it was painful to see. They did successfully remove a clot in his brain this morning and the doctor said many folks would have died by now from his injuries, but John is sleeping, he is moving, and seemingly responding to some stimulus even when asleep...though they are keeping stimulus to a minimum for the next week to let his brain swell and go back down...
They have his heart rate slowed to decrease pressure...he's got a big ol' bandage around his head, a breathing tube down his throat and all that.
I have been in and out of bands with this guy, decent drummer, good person, good father...air traffic controller, flight instructor and pilot. We had lost touch a bit the last couple years due to schedules but always managed to get together for beers when we could.
Noize got to meet him on one of his less impressive days (he drank alot that day). They say there was alcohol in his system but didn't say how much...foul play isn't suspected...his chain could have broke throwing his balance off (chain was broken), he was by woods, at dusk, so an animal could have surprised him...could be anything.
He's in grave condition, but doctors say he is responding well.
[ Back to Top ]
May 21, 2008 01:16 pm Man, sorry to hear that. I will say a prayer.
May 21, 2008 01:33 pm my prayers are with him...
May 21, 2008 01:59 pm jeeze dB. Very sad read. I hope he continues to respond well.
Strange circumstances. Certainly leaves more questions than answers.
May 21, 2008 02:01 pm yes, it certainly does leave a lot of questions, that will likely never be answered.
May 21, 2008 02:13 pm Sorry about that. Hope he'll be OK.
I had my legendary drunk bicycle wreck in summer of '88, but I managed to fare somewhat better than your friend.
He's a drummer. We're hard to keep down.
May 21, 2008 02:15 pm [old joke]
How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?
20, 1 to hold the bulb, 19 to drink until the room spins
[/old joke]
::sigh::
May 21, 2008 02:56 pm I'm not one for actual prayer, but I'll certainly send good thoughts his way. Waht a terrible thing.
I hope he recovers soon.
Hang in there, dB-Wan.
May 21, 2008 02:57 pm dB, so sorry to hear that happened to your friend. My heart and my prayers are with you and your friend.
As you know. I just went through this with my father in law.
I don't know if this is the best time to mention that he passed away on April 15.
I pray that the same fate does not reach your friend.
May 21, 2008 04:22 pm wow man, that's terrible.....i'm guessing he wasn't wearing a helmet? i've never been one for helmets on bicycles but i'm looking at gettin' one here soon (see gas price thread) man i'm prolly gonna get one now.
my positive karma is heading west right now.
seems like a good guy, heck air traffic controller, geez that's like one of the most stressful jobs out thiere.
May 21, 2008 05:57 pm hope he gets better, man. some encouraging signs you mentioned there.
breaking chains can be bad news. i've stood up on my bike and put max pressure on my chain/pedals, only to have the chain then pop. which can send you sprawling suddenly.
May 21, 2008 06:05 pm 'Hope for all the best for him, dB . The world is a better place with good drummers... not to mention friends .
Hang in there John !
May 21, 2008 07:13 pm Man, best wishes for your friend DB.
May 21, 2008 07:17 pm prayers sent...
I've been hit a couple times and the only real damage is a bent pedal and leather scraped off the side of the seat. Higher end bike frames are practically indestructible...
local mountain bike park recently built an expert section and quite often perfectly good bikes are found at the bottom of some of the stunts with no signs of riders.
I've never had a chain break wile riding (only my rear gear shifter),,, so I don't know how bad that would throw you off balance...
but I'm assuming this was a road bike too... so a guy going really fast could get really messed up.
It's been a whiles since I've ridden much but...as far as safety equipment... I always ride with helmet, gloves, and camelpack... the camelpack is probably more important than the helmet as far as protection goes...plus it happens to carry water. :) ... but but I'd do 6-15 miles off road... I won't ride on the roads locally... too dangerous... and I do night mountain biking (Alum Creek)... I've had a group of bikers make fun of me for being so slow, but when they asked what the lights on the bike were for and I told them they thought I was insane :)
May 21, 2008 08:30 pm Very sorry to hear the news dB, my thoughts are with you and your friend, I hope He continues to respond well and make a full recovery.
Dan
May 21, 2008 10:30 pm And you already know they'll be coming from here as well.
May 21, 2008 10:47 pm Damn...never a shortage of prayin' that needs to be done.
Thanks for coming to us with the request...we're all over it.
May 22, 2008 04:25 am I hope he recoveres, mate. Thats really ****.
May 22, 2008 06:32 am ditto all the above from me too.
sounds like he may have snapped or lost the pin in the chain and under pressure, causing him to go crashing head first into the crossbar of the handle bars.
done a similar thing myself years back while bmx-ing, i didnt replace the chain pin properly. very rarely does the pin ever just come out of the chain link by itself though...not good.
i wish him well.
May 22, 2008 08:45 am Well, thanks for all the well wishes gang, I knew I could count on my fellow HRCers...
No new news, he'll likely be kept in a coma for up to two weeks to let his brain swell and go back down...they have performed one surgery for the aforementioned clot.
Ironically, my daughter had the poor timing as to whine about us making her wear a helmet last night...to which I responded "come here, I wanna tell you a story...guess where I was today...do you remember my friend John...", during which I kinda teared up and she saw it, put on her helmet...
I've had a chain break before, that could easily have thrown him off balance, especially since he was biking home from a local pub to meet some friends...and had a little buzz on (presumably).
We'll likely never know, but we can guess.
May 22, 2008 10:14 am Rob, I didn't know he had passed away, I am sorry for your loss.
Zek, me and my daughter do a lot of street riding, she's not ready for the off roading yet, but I'm working on it...the street is scary sometimes...I remember last year I was on one side of the intersection waving the kid across when some ******* on a cellphone comes through, the car my kid was biking in front of blew it horn, scaring the crap out of her, even though he was trying to get the cell phone talker to pay attention...she got to the other side and cried, she thought he honked at her, she saw a car coming, new to street riding she kinda freaked out.
Man, that was a tense couple minutes until I got her to calm down and explain what the honker was doing and why the other guy was an idiot. If I could have caught him I'd have beat him senseless...which he was pretty close to anyway, apparently.
May 22, 2008 12:51 pm Most recent update...Johnny got a fever, so they are cooling him down with ice and air...the friend I called said his head is really scarred up, hard to say how/where hair will ever grow back...
Word is the first guy on the scene (whom John's brother talked to last night) said when he got there the back tire of the bike was still spinning and there was a skid mark on the sidewalk...and John was still somewhat attached to the bike as far as a hand on the bar or whatever...
So between me and my friend that I was talking to we are kinda figuring he might have broke his chain, as a knee jerk reaction he hit the brakes, maybe the front instead of the back and did the head over the handlebars trick...judging by his bruise and scar patterns and locations it would indicate his head andknuckles may have hit the sidewalk followed by his knees when he crumpled up...but of course, that's just us thinking out loud...nobody will ever know.
He said the doctors still sounded very positive about his vitals, the fever isn't abnormal by any means...
So my prayers haven't decreased in quantity or volume, and they won't be walking him up for at least a week.
May 22, 2008 06:55 pm Wow, if what you guys are figuring is what happened, its scary how something so seemingly simple could do so much damage. Your friend is in my prayers too dB.
May 22, 2008 07:16 pm Quote:
Need Some Prayers Fellas
You got it bro
May 28, 2008 11:19 am Latest news is they had to put him in a deeper coma, partial vegetative state, to stop him from fidgeting. They are probably going to be removing part of his skull to help lessen pressure from swelling...
Not the news I was hoping for after a week, but there ya have it...
Very sad.
May 28, 2008 04:23 pm man.....a bike wreak....ya see all this x-game stuff, and forget how fragile life, as you know it, really is.
i'm sorry man
Jun 17, 2008 08:30 am Last Friday I had to take a drug test for a new job, it was at the same hospital John is in so I went to visit him too. He was awake...I walked in, he lifted his hand to shake, which was cool.
I gave him a little crap about his new hairdo (barely growing back at this point). He has a trach and can't speak which visibly annoys him. I told him we are all hoping and praying, he looked at me and mouthed "thanks Dan" which was awesome. They don't give ya long as he tired out quickly, but, he is performing well in therapy and coming along.
The fact that he knew what I was saying when I was there, and that he recognized me, plus the other news I am hearing is great. Though he is so skinny and bruised it's sad, but he is on the mend.
The next day I heard he strung together his first sentence..."When can I get this trach out?"
Friday on the way home I stopped and bought a bike helmet. I took one ride since his accident and was nervous every time a car went buy...
Thanks for all the good mojo, it seems to be working.
Jun 17, 2008 10:07 am Awesome Dan! Sounds like he is on the mend.
Jun 17, 2008 03:14 pm That's good to hear. Here's to continued improvement.
Jun 17, 2008 07:53 pm That's great to hear!
I'll still keep the finger crossed for you and him.
Jun 18, 2008 11:02 am Well, he got moved to a rehab hospital, his trach is capped so he can speak, his sister was reading him comments left on his caringbridge.com web site and after each post he was telling his sister about each person that posted...VERY good sign of things to come.
Jun 18, 2008 11:14 am Wha'd I tell ya? Maybe drummers can't swim (Dennis Wilson) or hold their substances (Moon, Bonham, et. al.) but they shrug off bicycle wrecks.
Tell him Herb Utsmelz says hey. That ought to get a laugh.
Jun 18, 2008 11:16 am I will tell him that, and knowing him he'll run with that nickname and make into something far more disgusting.
Actually, that'll be a good test to see if his personality is still in tact.
Jun 18, 2008 05:59 pm is he doing any better???
Jun 18, 2008 06:15 pm much much much better, hoping to go see him over the weekend.
Jun 24, 2008 07:16 am Not that I have heard, theory remains a simple mechanical malfunction with dire consequences.
On the upside, he has been walking with the help of a walker and nurse, he is talking, remembers people and places and is eating and drinking a semi-normal diet...and is trying to con the doctors into taking out the trach.
While I can't say for certain (couldn't get up to see him last weekend) it sounds like most therapy will be physical, it seems like mentally he is pretty much intact.
Jun 24, 2008 12:21 pm Wow, great news dB-Wan. From "coma" to "trying to con the doctors into taking out the trach" is a huge leap. Shows the resilience of the human body/spirit.
Jun 24, 2008 02:12 pm yeah that's awesome. but i guess the guy doesn't remember what happened, eh?
Jun 25, 2008 12:03 pm You know I'd give up the memory of an accident/trauma in a heartbeat if it meant that I'd get my friends and those memories back.
Jun 25, 2008 12:06 pm I have not heard anyone asking him about what happened, so I dunno if he knows or not, but I would doubt it. I am going to see him this weekend...I'm gonna ask.
He did walk 220 feet with a walker a couple days ago, he did get his trach out, but still has a feeding tube "just in case" as he is eating and drinking a pretty normal diet now too. He seems to remember everybody close to him and such cognitive skills are good, most of rehab now is getting strength back.
So things are definitely on the upswing!
I gotta remember to give him well wishes from Herb Utsmelz just to catch the reaction on his face...maybe have my phone cam at the ready :-)
Jun 25, 2008 12:14 pm It is very refreshing to hear good news like this for a change. Lately it seems that all news is bad.
I'm very happy for your friend dB!
Jun 26, 2008 09:49 pm Sorry I missed this earlier. Will keep him in my prayers for a speedy recovery.
Sep 02, 2008 10:54 pm FYI, The man is doing a 1 hour and 15 minute set on Friday at a local bar.
w00t! I'm going to see it! Noize, you in!
Sep 02, 2008 11:50 pm wow....good to hear!
ya know, i thought of this guy as i now ride a bike 45 mins to work (get a ride home at night) but i put a helmet for a bicycle for the first time in my life...but yeah it's not so bad.
Sep 03, 2008 12:42 am That's great to hear dB, thanks for the update!
Dan
Sep 03, 2008 01:11 am The accident happened before I was a member, still I'm glad to hear he's doing so well. Next Friday will be a special day for everyone involved, so enjoy!
Sep 03, 2008 06:50 pm I just might be. I'll let you know on Thursday.
|
Related Forum Topics: |
If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.