Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Detour is scheduled to end

All cardiac tests so far have come back with excellent results and all blood enzyme tests so far show no negative impact to his heart. Evidently this was not a heart attack. Terry will remain on the heart monitor through tonight, and if all looks good in the morning, he is expected to go back to IPR (in-patient rehab) tomorrow. The unbreakable man once again prevails!! Hopefully he can still expect to be discharged in the '10 to 14' day timeframe previously estimated. The insurance company was out to his home today to install wheelchair ramps! And he is starting to gain weight too! He was really miffed when the PT doctor described his upper torso as "wasted", and he is eager to start his exercises again. (The term 'wasted' meant that his muscle tone was gone from his arms and hands.) As a former weight lifter, Terry was not too amused and the doctor assured him not to worry; that he will get the muscle tone back in due time. It took 7 weeks to lose all those great muscles, and I am betting that they will be back in less than that!
Posted by at

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Time to prep for the "GUN SHOW"

:)

Kooz!

September 24, 2008 at 7:25 AM
Anonymous said...

Excellent, sounds like they have never seen anyone attack rehab like Terry before.

Continued best wishes to Terry and all of the family.

Can't wait to see him out and about.

September 24, 2008 at 4:49 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

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.