Monday, February 18, 2008

Initial Post - Nearly Two Years After the Accident

It's been nearly two years since the dreadful evening of March 26, 2006, when Becky and two of our children were involved in a terrible car accident. They were on their way home from Ft. Worth, where they had attended a Family Weekend with our church in the Metroplex. Becky was driving a Honda Civic and was struck T-bone style by a minivan traveling at 70 mph. The impact was directly on the driver's and rear doors. The passenger compartment was compressed to half its normal size. Thankfully, the children suffered only minor injuries - cuts, bruises, and scrapes. Becky was not as fortunate. She suffered massive life-threatening injuries. Her injuries included:

27 broken bones:
Fractured left occipital lobe (skull)
Fractured C-2 and C-7 spinal fractures (both in the neck)
Left and Right Transverse Process fractures at L-4 (Spine)
Right Transverse Process fracture at L-5 (Spine)
Fractured Sacrum
12 fractured left ribs
7 Pelvic fractures
Fractured right hip

Collapsed Left Lung
Torn Urinary Bladder
Torn Spleen
Severed artery
Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
Bleeding and Swelling of the brain

It's difficult to imagine all these injuries. It's amazing that Becky survived the accident at all. Numerous doctors have marveled that she did, saying that it is clearly an act of Divine Intervention.

Becky remained hospitalized for 3 1/2 months after the accident. She was in a state of Post Traumatic Amnesia for about 2 1/2 months of that time. She still has no recollection of the accident or those 2 1/2 months.

In early June, 2006, the neuropsychologist working with Becky at TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) told me that Becky would never regain her cognitive abilities. He indicated that she would possibly be able to make herself a sandwich and take care of her most basic hygiene needs, but no more. How thrilling it is that in early December, 2006, that same doctor, after testing Becky for several hours, said that he could not identify any cognitive deficits! God has truly worked many miracles for Becky and for us, her family.

Becky has suffered one lingering and crippling problem as a result of the accident. Due to the brain injury she suffered, Becky's body has produced large quantities of bone in her hips and pelvis. We've recently learned that a softball-sized bone mass was also produced about half way down her left thigh. This problem, called heterotopic ossification, has caused Becky to be confined to bed and a wheelchair since she came home from the hospital in early July 2006.

Becky has, to this point, had a total of 6 surgeries to counter the heterotopic ossification. The first four surgeries have been to remove accumulated bone by cutting it out. These have been dangerous major operations. The fifth surgery was required to clean out an incision in November 2007 when Becky developed a serious staph infection called MRSA following the fourth surgery to remove bone. That infection caused Becky to have to stay in the hospital for an additional 4 weeks, through December 31, 2007.

The sixth surgery is one that Becky has just undergone on Wednesday, February 13, 2008. Due to the lack of mobility caused by the heterotopic ossification in her hips and pelvis, Becky lost all cartilage in her hips and, with bone on bone in those joints, developed arthritis in her hips. She has also developed arthritis in her left knee and possibly her right knee as well. It became necessary to perform total hip replacements on both hips. The operation Becky went through on February 13 was to replace her left hip and to remove that mass of bone the size of a softball from her left femur. If all goes well, she will have her right hip replaced in 2 - 3 months. What happens after that depends on how well her body responds to the hip replacements.

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