Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday August 29 afternoon

More improvement. One of the 3 chest tubes was removed, only 2 more to go. The kidney doctor said he can sign off on Terry, that he is "working" fine. The orthopedics say that he is healing well, and they will consider final skin grafts on his leg for next week, if the skin is healing well enough for closure. Meanwhile, Terry is awake and anxious for activity. He says he is bored just sitting here. He is really miffed that he is stuck here when the R/C race is going on at his track, and the holiday weekend is "passing by". Hmm...he must be healing well. He is even using his morphine push less each day, and may soon be able to be on oral pain killers. Naturally he wants us to see if we can break him out for a weekend pass. But alas, he is still hooked up to too many lines and computers. But if anyone is in the area, Terry is ready for visitors. He is in Room 2812 Cardiac ICU, 2nd floor, East tower. The healing will in this man continues to amaze me! Thank you everyone for all the wishes and prayers. I am sharing all of these with Terry as I see them.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO

Get-r-done TERRY!!!!!

We'll be missing you this weekend, but it's all to benefit you and your family so you know you'll be on everyone's mind! Not the same without you and can't wait to have you back home!!!!!

Keep up the GREAT WORK!!!

HeeHee

Kooz!

:)

On my way to your place right now come to think of it. Gotta get her prepped for the weekend!

August 29, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Anonymous said...

Good to hear things are coming along good. Someone needs to get Terry a mini RC to run around in the room LOL.

Brian

August 29, 2008 at 6:12 PM
ken said...

good to here your doing well terry .... :-]

August 29, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Anonymous said...

terry you will be with us this weekend all your rc freinds will be thinking of you.....

August 29, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Anonymous said...

Wonderful!!
The Cherioli's

August 30, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Anonymous said...

Terry,

Great to hear things are going so well. Keep up the good work. We are moving this weekend so hopefully we will be able to get to the hospital this coming week.

Our thoughts and prayers are still with you.

Shannon, Mike and the boys

August 30, 2008 at 10:26 AM

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What Happened?

On Saturday, August 2, at approximately 11:30 a.m. Terry McDowell was involved in a head-on collision on Ormond Road in White Lake Township, MI.

An unknown young-adult fell asleep at the wheel, crossed over into the opposite lane, and struck Terry's van head-on. Police are still investigating.

Paramedics rushed Terry via helicopter to Beaumont Medical Center's Trauma Unit. He is in stable, but critical, condition and is currently in the Intensive Care Unit.

From what we know, there is no damage to the spinal cord or brain. He will undergo more X-rays and scans today to determine if there are further injuries. His injuries, as of Sunday, Aug 3 at 10:00 a.m. include:
> Broken right femur
> A compound fracture in his left femur
> A broken tibia
> A shattered ankle
> Slight cut to his liver
> Dissected aorta
> Fractured pelvis
> Unknown back injury
> Three broken ribs

Terry underwent 11 hours of surgery on Saturday evening. The first surgery was cardiac surgery to repair the damage to his torn, or dissected, aorta. They performed non-invasive heart surgery and used a stent to repair the aorta. The surgery was completed without complications.

The second surgery was orthopedic surgery to repair his broken bones. He came out of surgery strong, but remains in critical condition due to the complications that could arise from heart surgery and a compound fracture of the Femur.

He is expected to remain in the ICU for at least 48 hours.