There's Something Wrong With This Picture
Like so many people these days my last day at work for a California company was July 15, 2005. The CEO of the company had eliminated my position to make room for one of his friends. I requested permission to leave Oakland, CA on the afternoon of July 14th so I could get a jump start on my trip back to Nashville. I had a couple of job interviews lined up and wanted to find employment as quickly as I could. My first night I stay in Sacramento, CA. The second night I stayed in Elko, NV. I had my third night planned for Grand Junction, CO so I could visit my son at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs the next day.
As I drove into the Grand Junction Valley on Saturday the 16th, I was captivated by the lush green valley surrounded by large mesas. I saw on the map there was a large airport at Grand Junction. If I could get a flight instructor (CFI) lined up that evening I thought it would be great to get some photos of the area. I had recently past my biannual flight review and was eager to do some flying just for the fun of it. I contacted a local flight school and CFI. We met at the airport, completed the preflight requirements and took off. After a wonderful flight around the Grand Junction Valley, and taking several photos, we headed back to the airport.
The tower cleared us to land. As we approached the airport we started picking up turbulence. The tower never indicated there was any unusual flight conditions so we continued our approach. The CFI felt something wasn’t right and initiated a go-around. The tower approved the go-around. As the CFI worked through the go-around procedures we hit wind shear and last flight control at 200 feet above ground (agl). As we fell from the sky, and the black asphalt came rushing up toward us the thought that came to mind was ‘there’s something wrong with this picture.’
We ended up crashing on the runway. I was pinned in the wreckage. My knees were jammed into the instrument panel. I had a burning sensation in my lower right abdomen, which I thought might have been caused by me lunging against the seatbelt when we crashed. I released the seatbelt but the burning continued. I was not in any great pain but felt overwhelmingly miserable. I did not know at the time my back was broke, a T-12 burst. The CFI told me to cut the mags, which I did. Moments later I saw a fire truck roll up to a stop and one of the firemen jumped off the truck to grab the CFI who had gotten out of the plane. I next heard a fireman say there is a fuel leak and they needed to get me out quickly. At that moment I thought ‘well, I guess I’ll be toast shortly.’
The first fireman that got to my door started pulling on it trying to get it open. After several attempts he managed to free the door and I nearly fell out since I had undone my seatbelt. The fireman asked me if I could slide my seat back so they could get me out. After several attempts I said I couldn’t get the seat to move. The fireman said they would cut the back legs of the seat and bend the seat backwards. Since I am a large person they could not get a backboard into the cockpit with me. They set the board on the seat against my left hip and pulled me out onto the board. Being large my first concern was the firemen would drop me on the way to the rescue squad. The firemen however carried me with ease to the truck.
Once the rescue squad started to roll the medics started cutting my clothes off – and I had a good pair of jeans on! Another medic asked me several time ‘can you feel that’ which I replied ‘no.’ After several of these exchanges the medic called out to the driver that they needed to get me to St. Mary’s.
Sometime between arriving at St. Mary’s that night and going into surgery on Monday, July 18th, the surgeon who was to operate on me stopped by to give me an update on my condition. He said I had a T-12 burst and was paralyzed. I asked/stated I guess they would transport me to Denver or Salt Lake City. The surgeon said I was ‘none ambulatory’ and they would operate on me there. I asked him how many such surgeries he had done. He said he averaged 4 or 5 a month. I later learned he did on average that many a week. Grand Junction is close to the snow skiing areas of Colorado as well as a large wilderness area were people from all over the world come to riding ATVs.
The surgery went well. After the surgery I asked the surgeon what the chances were of me walking again. His reply ‘at your age slim and none.’ With so much to deal with medically I didn’t think about his comments very often. I was completed paralyzed from the waist down.
Shortly after surgery I developed an obstruction in my bowels. One of the doctors overseeing my care said this was common in spine cord injuries. I was put on medication that basically gave me diarrhea. This would later make OT/PT rehab a real challenge. As my condition improved I was moved from ICU to ICU step down and finally the rehab hospital at St. Mary’s. By this time I was regaining some feeling in my legs and could move my thighs some. As I regained feelings in areas of my legs neuro-pathic pain became an issue. I was prescribed neurontin which brought the pain under control.
A few days after transferring to rehab the therapist noticed the bandage on my back was leaking fluids. I had MRSA. This scared me as the only time I read anything in the news it was always about some one dying from MRSA. The infectious disease doctor put me on vancomycin, the most powerful antibiotic available. The vancomycin triggered a horrible yeast infection that nearly drove me crazy from itching. The vancomycin did it’s job and killed the MRSA. A few weeks later I developed another MRSA infection. This time it was in my left elbow from an open wound also caused by the crash. After another round of vancomycin, along with the predictable itching, the MRSA was killed again.
Another side effect of taking vancomycin was C-diff. While the vancomycin was battling away at the MRSA it killed enough of the good bacteria in my bowels that the ‘bad’ bacteria exploded. I only thought I knew what diarrhea was like. C-diff is diarrhea on steroids! C-diff also has the nasty habit of living for several hours outside your body so everything I came into contact with was quarantined to keep from spreading the bacteria.
My last major medical issue was blood clots in my left knee. After therapy one day I didn’t recover like I normal did after 45 minutes to an hour of rest. My doctor came in to check on me before heading home that afternoon and must have seen something she didn’t like. She ordered some scans, what type I don’t know, but the films showed I had a number of clots behind my left knee. Since my paternal grandfather and father-in-law died from clots breaking lose this nearly sunk me emotionally. The fear of the clots knocked me down for a couple of days. My therapists were all supportive and I declined therapy for a couple of days. I eventually got my head back in the game and resumed therapy.
To complete my acute care rehab I transferred to Vanderbilt-Stallworth. After being discharged from Stallworth I continued outpatient at Stallworth. Later I was accepted into TRC’s program at Smyrna. I spent 4 months there that were very productive.
At TRC my doctor changed medications to stop the ongoing diarrhea. This was a huge improvement in the quality of life for me. I was 6 months away from the plane crash when I entered TRC. I think enough time had past that I was up to the challenge the 6 hours per day, 5 days a week of therapy presented. I improved tremendously during my stay at TRC. I also took my first steps in a walker while at TRC.
My spine doctor at Vanderbilt was concerned there was compression at my injury site due to the surgical procedure at St. Mary’s. A myelogram confirmed the doctor’s suspicions. On July 3, 2006 the hardware installed at St. Mary’s was removed at Vanderbilt. On September 5, 2006 my spine doctor performed a corpectomy. This procedure involved removing a rib on my left side, moving my left kidney, taking loose my diaphragm and grinding most of T-12 away. The doctor then installed a titanium pipe to support my spinal column, which also provide room for my spinal cord. This surgery generated more pain than the original surgery at St. Mary’s but fortunately didn’t last as long. I resumed outpatient therapy at TRC about 6 weeks after the corpectomy.
On the first anniversary of the plane crash I went up in a Cessna 172 with designated pilot examiner who originally signed off on my pilot’s licenses. It really felt good to be back up in the sky! My long term goals are to resume flying. You would be surprised to learn how many para’s are flying airplanes!
In March 2007 I hired on as a contract engineer for a nonwoven company in Nashville. Getting back to work also improved my quality of life. I remain employed there today.
My youngest daughter was taking an AP anatomy class at White House High School when I came home from Stallworth. My medical condition became a part of their daily class discussions. This led to me giving a presentation to her class. I took all of the hardware I had used in rehab (braces, screws removed from my back, cath kits, etc.) to provide a hands on show and tell. All of the students got to examine the hardware while I talked about how it was used. This presentation went so well that I put together a formal Power Point presentation. I have given this presentation along with the hands on hardware at White House, Wilson Central, Mt. Juliet and Hendersonville high schools.
I am now a volunteer mentor at Stallworth for patients with spinal cord injuries. I am looking forward to volunteering for the Trauma Survivor’s Network as well. There is so much you don’t know when first faced with a spinal cord injury. While I had excellent medical support as I processed through St. Mary’s, Vanderbilt-Stallworth, TRC and Vanderbilt there are so many ‘non medical’ issues you and your family must work through. The Trauma Survivor’s Network will be a great tool in helping patients and families deal with what to expect while in the hospital as well has things at home.
And to learn that you can enjoy life after a spinal cord injury!
