SandBox_Kid

Here's the update.....

I just got up after returning from an all day adventure at the hospital. We were there from 8am Sunday to 3am Monday for another operation. The plastic surgeon just completed 7+ hours of surgery on the tissues in my Jon's hand/wrist. He had to call his own anasteisiologist (sp?...you know the guy with the good stuff :mb:) because Jon kept getting bumped due to trauma after trauma coming into the hospital. The surgeon took a full arterial "flap" from his good arm and grafted it onto his bad one. He also grafted new skin onto the other gray areas around his hand and to the area removed from his good arm. He re-repaired one of the main nerves also. If this one doesn't take...amputation is a real possibility because he needs blood flow to the hand. The doctor was happy with the "flap" and artery after re-attachment....plenty of blood flow, and nice and pink, however, both muscles in his hand are dead which means it will not function properly again. We are hoping things stay pink with plenty of blood flow for the next 48 hours. As each day passes beyond 48 hours and the flow is good the chances of keeping the hand increase also. We are grateful he still has it and is with us, as many of the doctors have told us he is lucky to still have his hand because the damage was significant. The trauma was incredible, and I still don't wanna see the pictures....unless it is the worse case scenario...then I would want to know why. It has been a long and twisted weekend and even 5 hours sleep seems like it does no good, but we perservere and fight for Jon.

At this time he will be in the CICU for the next 5 days and has both arms splinted and bandaged. His visiting times are extremely limited at this time and I know he's going to have to learn some patience from this experience.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I got a call from Jon today. He said he was bored and was killing some time so he thought he'd call a bunch of peeps. It was good to hear from him. He said he's doing well, but still in some pain. He was in good spirits like normal though.

Yesterday was the first day he was back to himself, and that made us happy. More pics in the gallery from today's wound cleaning. His doctor wants him out of the hospital so he can see a plastic surgeon that only works out of UMC. Hopefully his release will be soon.

I heard this morning on the new that they are both going to make a full recovery and are in in the burn unit with 2 and 3 degree burn over their bodies. Poor guys that has got to be the worse pain ever.

Burns are definately not fun.

Doesn't look like we will have any time this weekend to come visit him, Gerald. I have a million things to get done.

Anyways, tell Jon to hang in there and to focus on healing up so we can chill on kickoff weekend. I hope he is in good enough shape to come out that weekend and be the camp kicker. Tell him it will still be a blast. I did it with two broken arms! remember?

Kickoff weekend is not looking like a go at this point, but there'll be plenty of sand, campfires and friends to come.

Cell phone pics of the injury are in the injuries album. The attempt to graph the skin back in place didn't appear to work.....and if you're squeamish...don't look.

and :black:

My thoughts exactly.

Very sad....one of the top drummers out there. IMO

I'm such a jackass though. I still can't believe that I didn't realize it was you and your car on the shirt. :black: Friggin duh!

Goat-tee and all.

That's cool....but did I see a dancing :poop: poo?

F that! I can make some pretty awesome noises without musical instruments too

I certainly hope that has nothing to do with cake. j/k

STOMP was a great show....so was Blue Man Group if you like the percussion instrument type of shows.

...and on to the update. Jon is getting a little better as the days go by. He was told by the physical therapist to start straightening the fingers out a little at a time. He needs to have them fully extended by Tue. otherwise the scar tissue on the tendons in his forearm will grow and freeze things in place. By moving them I guess he is keeping that from happening. We can't wait to bring him home, so we can baby our "not-so" little boy.

We found out yesterday that our new "rude" neighbors have a stripper pole in the living room. Maybe we'll take over their house for the midget stripper!! Good times with good people. Jon and I still laugh when we talk about that!!!

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers. Correction to the room...he is in E547. Sorry Dave and Jackie for the room mixup. Here's to hoping the economy picks up for all of you....and Ken I will be in contact. I could use some tint replaced on the wife's truck fairly soon.

G

He's now in Rm E547 and visiting is wide open. ...and yes like Pete said physical therapy will come, but not right now.

And don't forget the improvements they are making on that hill climb going in too!! Gonna make it easier for most folks to maneuver the climb/curve and avoid getting stuck......talk about a traffic jam when that happens!! Looking forward to that change BIG time

People actually get stuck on that hill?

yep, their idea is to completley phase out staff on site AS WELL AS no fee machines at Dumont.

This season should be pretty smooth sailing. If not the BLM will make it work- they always do.

They do a good job and I appreciate the heads up, but thinking they can go without staff all together tells me somebody's a little off. j/k It seems with the new system the vendors on-site won't be selling passes....and if they are I still don't understand why they can't sell annual passes. I was hoping this year I could pick mine up from the on-site vendor and be good. Oh well....I'll do what I have to...to play in the sandbox. Thanks again for the great info.

I need new batteries for the hauler, an oil change on the rail, and Jon to be healed enough to at least be camp queen!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to your son and your family. I for one know first hand what it is like to have a child hurt in this great sport we love..actually multiply that x3

On another note, I read every post in this thread and I can honestly say that the people in this sport and especially on this board are some of the best around! It is a pleasure to know each and everyone of you

I have to agree whole heartedly. DDR steps up each and every time one of us is down. Thank you very much from my family to you and yours. I can't thank everyone enough for the kind thoughts and prayers. You all know I'm there if you need help....

Hey Gerald. Any update on the last surgery?

Any update on Jon?? Thought about calling, but figured you guys have enough going on. Update us when you can.

There was nothing positive to report until now. Today we received some great news. It's time for Jon to move from the ICU to a regular room where we can really visit in DDR style. :beerbong: Visiting will probably be good tomorrow and into the weekend unless we get to take our son home.

The doc said no more surgeries for now, but I'm sure there may be some down the road. I was under the impression they didn't set his bones cause the hand specialist said he didn't do any "pinning" due to the fact that the metal attracts bacteria and that would have been dangerous for him at the time, but they must have at least set it. He has been taken off of the nitroglycerin and will soon be on his feet. It's time for him to hold down some food and start the long battle of recovery. For the first time in the last 4 days this afternoon Jon was up, coherent, and even livened up when they could finally set some sort of timeframe for going home. They want to x-ray his back because he was complaining about pain....and that doesn't surprise me one bit.

Heard they were supposed to undress the wound today and see how gnarly it looks but that was about the extent of my knowledge sandbox_kid was busy runnin errands on jons behalf and i didnt have a chance to meet up with him today so ill meet him tomorrow and drop off my collection of sand sports, sand addictions, and dirt rider mags to keep him entertained..

Thank you again for the big stack of mags Nick. Jon smiled when I told him about it. He's gettin' about ready to be concious enough to read and enjoy the material.

oh my gosh. i hope he is okay =[. please let me know when he can have visitors. i got the slurpee for him thats our thingg

You got it. I'll let him know. He chippers up when I tell him about all the folks that are thinking of him!

...here is a picture of the truck...he was in the passenger seat. First off I am not happy about the lack of a roll cage....but they were on a graded unpaved road with no intention of hitting it hard, and this could have actually happened to anyone in their daily driver. However, I'm still not happy...he knows better.

Thank God he listened to some of our nagging and wore a helmet. He actually told us there was a cage in this truck.

Sunrise is the off maryland and DI right? Any particular hours? Ill give you a ring gerald before i head that direction tomorrow.. I'll bring some reading material to keep him occupied.. Sand Sports, Dirt Riders, Sand Addictions, even a jc whitney catalog if he wants that lol.

Yes it is and the material would be nice. Please give me a call first....so I know where and how he is. Currently he is in ICU and should be there tomorrow.

WOW sorry to hear about that hope he has a good recovery !

by the way what were they in rhino / truck :freakin_nuts:

Of all the bad-a$$ bowties he could have been in....it was a friggen biller ranger. (don't jump on me about the biller comment till you see my son's bill) Hopefully I'll have the pics soon....the ranger didn't look all that good.

It still reminds me of the rhino accidents before they started putting in leg restraints.

As I said Gerald, our thoughts are with you all. ANYTHING you guys need, just call. Tell Jon if he recovers fully I'll pay for the midget stripper!

I'll be sure to let him know. Thank you for the kind offer. Maybe a :beerbong: when I can drop my guard.

I hope your son gets better real fast. It sucks that something at slow speed can mess you just as bad as high speed.

There's another lesson there Joephat65...things can happen when you least expect it.

It's crazy how things happen out there. You just never know sometimes. Luckily he wasn't injured any worse than he was and his injuries aren't life-threatening.

Couple questions...

What hospital is he at? And can we pay him a visit sometime this week?

GET WELL SOON, JON! :freakin_nuts: Please let us know if you need anything at all.

I hear you on the life threatening issues....and that's what I focus on to get us through.

He is at Sunrise hospital....and tomorrow may be best. I had to cut off visiting today due to the amount of pain he is in.

Fuggin Nick!

Laughes are always that much better in times like these. I know Gerald got a good one from that pic.

If I ever did anything right by my son...that is definately one of them. Thanks for the laugh Nick.

For those of you who haven't heard my son was involved in an off-road rollover accident. Ironically they were just tooling along not hitting it hard when his buddy tapped the brakes to slow down for a wash and the rear end came around on them....the tires must have caught (or blew off the bead) and over they went. Jon suffered a serious injury to his right wrist that may leave him without the use of it, or worse.

He spent 4+ hours in surgery last night and they were able to close things up. I have been offered to see the pictures by the medical staff, but refuse to look. I don't need to see that when he is being cared for. Had I rolled up on the scene...I would have assisted in any way including dressing the wound. The extent of the damage is bad. He fractured the outer bone...chipped the inner bone badly....lost both minor arteries....cut all of his tendons except for his thumb...peeled a 4" piece of flesh from completely around his wrist...and obviously has no feeling in his fingers due to severed nerves. If he was a smaller dude....I'm positive his hand would have been torn off.

Currently there is no pulse in his hand...but there is capillary refill.....meaning there is circulation in his hand. We are hoping for another surgery to begin the repair process. He was up today and cracking a smile at my sarcastic jokes, but the pain must be intolerable (believe me I have seen it first hand). I have never seen my son in this much pain, and I hope to never have to see that again. They had a little trouble managing his pain today cause apparently morphine does nothing for him, but they now have it under control...we hope.

At this point it is just a waiting game for the next 18+ hours.

Please keep him in your prayers....send him some good chi......and positive vibes. That's all we ask. He will need his friends and family to keep his spirits high during what I am sure is going to be a long road to recovery....and if you don't have anything positive to add....please just don't add it here.

Lessons learned....and things you will not see me without at the dunes:

WRIST RESTRAINTS ARE A MUST IN OUR SPORT!!!

I already know some of you use them...and I am not going on a crusade to tell everyone to wear helmets (yes he actually had one on) or wrist restraints......just please be safe out there.

FYI - Thank God he is left-handed....cause I'm not wiping his :freakin_nuts: ....a firehose would have to do. j/k

I will post when I can....and thank you for all the kind words I have already recieved from our dune family.

Well, with 20 years of service, and 3 seperate conflicts, I couldn't see things more differently. I think we need to do whatever/whenever we can, because no other country in the world has the balls to step up and at least try to make the world a better place. I've seen 1st hand what we have done so far over there and if I can help at least one little girl/boy to see freedom and live in peace then send me to a hundred other places. Everyone deserves to live the same way... We as a people wont see what has been acomplished over there for many years to come. But we have done something you can believe that. I've lost many friends in combat over the years, it comes with what we do. I'll die one day, I can't think of another way I would want to then for this country or another if they can get what we have. Saddam was like a little kid, with the UN just saying no, he continued.... and just like a little kid that keeps up time and again, eventually you have to bust his a$$.....Semper Fi, Woody

You make me proud to be an American. Your self sacrafice has shown how selfish some of us really are. Thank you Woody!

Sorry bro...but I gotta be a straight shooter!

I'm in, and that's right around vet's weekend. I pledge to donate my winnings (if I win) back to the cause. It'll be a great weekend of duning regardless...and it'll be good for the dunes.

Thanks for the info YNOT. Dem damn fans are spensive!!!

I think I'll look for a desert Foxxy to sit on the floor of the Rhino and I'll buy her one of those asian hand fans and I'l buy the beer. It will be cheaper.

Pondering........Girl??????? Fan???????, Girl????? Fan???????

Think I'll go with the girl.

Chicks aren't cheap. Get the fan....it won't argue.

I hear ya..I'm feeling the excitement myself. All of the toys have been prepped. I just need batteries for the hauler...and check the generator. Although the new job kept me from doing the final upgrades to the rail I'm saying F' it....the dunes are calling and the rail ran good last year...the changes can wait till mid season or the next off season.