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One question that I have been asked a lot is “Now that you have metal in your body, do you have to have a special medical card to get though airport security?”  I have now had the opportunity to test my medical devices going through the security line.  I recently flew from Denver to Houston, and I have to admit that I was almost as excited to go through security as I was for the trip itself!  And the answer is…drum roll…I do not need to carry a doctor’s note saying, “This guy is not a terrorist, we just had to put some rebar under his face to rebuild the structural integrity.”  I kind of feel like Steve Austin in the Six Million Dollar Man, except I didn’t quite cost six million dollars to put back together, and  instead of having superhuman speed and strength like Lee Majors, my super powers are limited to predicting when a cold front is moving in.  Surprisingly enough, I was not “randomly” selected for extra screening.  Leaving DIA, I went through the pat-down line (because it was shorter and I figured that I have probably had enough x-rays for a while) and leaving IAH, I cruised through the full body scanner and was on my way.  Now, I realize that data from a sample size of two is not statistically significant enough to draw a solid conclusion, but for now that is what I am assuming other domestic air travel screening processes are like also.

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May 21, 2010 was a day that I could not remember for a long time; but it is a day I will never forget.

Saturday being the anniversary of my accident, much time has been spent reflecting on this last year.  I was able to spend the day with my family celebrating life.  This was an especially somber event in the light of another tragedy.  A man was killed on that day, in a similar accident on the east face of Torrey’s Peak.  My heart goes out to his family.  Information on that story can be found in the link below.

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/05/22/colorado-avalanche-kills-snowboarder-on-torreys-peak/

I have been asked if I felt this past year has gone by quickly or slowly.  From my perspective, it feels like forever ago that I fell.  I imagine this is due to the fact that so much has happened between then and now.  Although the seemingly endless return visits to the doctors finally ceased and the major milestones marking my progress through recovery slowed down, all the little steps since then (and since Ronett’s last posting) have added up to significant overall progress.

Following routine eye and dental exams, I am thankful that everything checked out with no adverse affects.  Everything is on par with pre-accident baseline.  Other than some stiffness in the joints in my right hand (yes, weather does seem to affect it), I feel it is back to normal.

The most lingering injury that I am continuing to work through has been my right knee.  I have been doing regular exercise and riding a bike to stretch out the tendons and strengthen the muscles.  It has been a long process, but my knee showns steady improvement.  I even participated in a 5K walk!  Needless to say, I did not set any course records but did manage to jog the home stretch with my mom.  Being an engineer, I wanted a quantitative answer for my knee rehab.  After constructing a crude leg angle-measurement device, I compared my legs and determined I have about 80% of the range of motion back.

I will always remain grateful for each and every one who cared, shared, comforted, and prayed for me and my family throughout my hospitalization and recovery.  I don’t think we could have made it through this without that support.  I feel so blessed to have recovered from my fall as it could have had such a different outcome.

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There are a host of new things we have deemed to be part of Navan’s therapy these days:  shuffling cards for rousing games of gin, cooking dinner, making pies from the fresh fruit in our neighbors’ gardens, etc.  He has also been doing his doctor-prescribed rehab exercises and it’s paying off, ever so slowly.  He is regaining more use in his hand and he’s definitely getting stronger.  He rides an exercise bike for a little bit each day and he sees some improvement in his knee.  He has persistent pains that never seem to really go away and new ones that pop up the more he works, but that’s to be expected.

Navan has been taking walks and even went fishing with my Dad at a nearby reservoir.  They both caught their limit and then, of course, filleting the fish became a part of his therapy.

Mom has decided to incorporate music therapy into the daily routine and Nav’s piano lessons are fun.  He’s thinking about performing a recital, providing anyone wants to hear Mary Had A Little Lamb over and over and over again.  The trade-off is that Navan is giving her Excel lessons so she can be a spreadsheet super-genius too.

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Navan had a checkup appointment with his neurologist yesterday and everything looks good.  He is able to begin weaning off one of his medications that makes him drowsy; it will be great to worry about one less pill and hopefully have more energy.  He’ll have another follow-up appointment in a few months and maybe an MRI further down the road.

Rehab is going well…it’s slow, but he’s definitely making progress and that’s all that matters.  He’s able to go up and down the stairs at home now (slowly and holding on to the handrail, of course!) and he’s been getting out of the house a little bit here and there with my parents.

Mom must have been feeling nostalgic about all the gravy-soaked meals from the hospital because tonight’s menu featured it prominently.

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Navan’s recovery is going so well!  He got his knee brace off and is able to take tentative steps without his walker.  He has crutches, but they are more annoying than helpful to him and he mostly just carries them as he shuffles along which is terribly confusing to onlookers.  We took a very slow walk part-way around the block last night to ward off the cabin fever that comes from a summer spent indoors, mostly in bed.

The hand splint came off too but he still has to be pretty careful with that area to avoid further injury.  He is going to rehab a couple of times a week to work on his hand and he has new exercises to do at home since his knee brace came off.  He is still fighting the constant dull pain in his pelvis and his shoulder, but with time that should continue to improve and eventually go away.  It has already evolved from sharp, stabbing pain so that’s encouraging.

His cognitive recovery is the biggest miracle of all!  We are so grateful that we have him back in that regard.  Of all of the possible outcomes from his fall, we feel so blessed that his memory (minus that fateful day, mercifully) is intact and he is every bit as smart and funny as he was before.

Mom is trying in earnest to fatten Navan up which means there are always treats around the house; but being the awesome mother that she is, there are usually nutritious twists.  Today we had chocolate cake with zucchini from a neighbor’s garden.  (It’s so good if you have never tried it!)

This summer has definitely not been what anyone would have asked for, but there have been so many positives to come out of his accident.  Having all of this downtime to spend together as a family has been great.  We play cards, talk and laugh, watch movies, etc…all of the things you never have time to do together as adults under normal circumstances.

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Navan has had a couple more follow-up appointments…  First he met with his neurosurgeon.  Having not been entirely ‘present’ for their previous interactions, Nav was really excited to meet him.  The CT scans looked great and his brain is just rerouting around the injured areas to remember things and process daily information.  There will be another follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks with the neurologist to discuss his cognitive recovery in further depth.

He also met with his plastic surgeon again this past week as part of monitoring the healing of his face and knee.  Since the surgeon didn’t use skin grafts, it took weeks and weeks for the remaining open area in his knee to finish closing, but it’s healing really well and with way fewer complications than if he had grafts.  We are awaiting the orthopedist’s review of the knee to determine how much longer he will have to keep the brace on.

Nav is doing his exercises and his hand rehab every day and getting stronger but the increased movement means he is in pain more too.  His broken hip and ribs make him pretty miserable at times.  There is still a fracture in his hand but that should finish healing in the coming weeks, at which point he will be able to remove the brace without risk of irreparable damage.

He is looking forward to maybe not having to take quite so many medications soon.  Some of them make him very drowsy and lethargic for a good chunk of the day.  Otherwise, he is using this mandatory downtime to read and play Wii and do puzzles and generally just try to make the best of it.

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Navan finally got his feed tube removed a few days ago.  For anyone not familiar with just how disgusting a month-old feed tube looks, I will spare you my description.  Suffice it to say, he is elated to not have that dangling from his torso anymore!  The hole will close up before long and will be incorporated into his daily Mederma-Cocoa Butter scar-minimizing regimen.  It’s amazing how quickly some of his scars are diminishing, especially on his face.

After an appointment with a local hand specialist last week, Navan is also doing some beginning rehab exercises at home to regain mobility and flexibility in his right hand.  It was damaged pretty severely so it will be awhile before he can grip anything, but he’s able to start moving it with the brace off when he’s not in danger of bumping it on anything.  He’s also rocking at the OT exercises; he gets stronger every day.

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Navan had a follow-up appointment with his plastic surgeon yesterday and he is healing so much quicker than anticipated!

He was really excited to finally get the posts removed from his mouth.  They looked fairly small in his mouth because you could see only the part the wires wrapped around, but once removed, you can see they were actually pretty big: 8 mm long on the bottom jaw and 12 mm long on the top of his mouth.  The holes in his jaw are already closing up…the body is amazing.

His scars should start fading some (we are using Mederma and cocoa butter on them to help) and he is massaging them to help loosen them up, especially the one down his abdomen as that one is very tight and makes it hard to stand upright.

Navan is starting to get feeling back in parts of his face.  He bruised a lot of his nerves but the fact that he is regaining feeling, albeit slowly, is a good sign that the damage won’t be permanent.

His doctor removed the restrictions from his diet but Nav has to take it easy still until it doesn’t hurt as much and he can actually feel all of his teeth…so no steak just yet, but we celebrated being able to put the blender away.

The remaining stitches were removed from his knee and it is finally closing up.  His hand is also looking good.  He has a prescription to begin some OT on that, despite the fact that there is still a fracture on the x-ray.  Apparently if he were to wait for that to fully heal, it would take a lot longer to regain movement and flexibility, so it’s a balancing act.  He does have to be very careful because if he were to injure the area at this point it would most likely shatter and they wouldn’t be able to fix it.  Nav is excited to get some exercises to do and slowly begin using his right hand again, even though he is getting pretty proficient with his left.

His spirits were lifted this week with the arrival of a Wii and even further when he realized that he could beat us all at Wii tennis, even in a walker, using his non-dominant hand.

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Navan has been involved with Hiking for Hearts for 3 years now and will unfortunately not be able to participate in this years’ fundraising hike to benefit Children’s Hospital.  The series of hikes are this weekend and the fact that he will miss out has been heavy on his mind this week.  One of Navan’s best friends and his wife, Chris and Steph Hunter, started this wonderful nonprofit after their youngest son, Noah, had open heart surgery two weeks after birth.  (To read more about their story, please visit the Hiking for Hearts website or read the article from last summer’s 5280 magazine issue.)  The Hunters are incredibly generous and sincere people and are like family to us.  If anyone is interested in donating to benefit Children’s Hospital or sponsoring a participating hiker this weekend, the instructions are on both websites (Children’s Hospital and Hiking for Hearts).  And if anyone wants to join us, we are all looking forward to participating in next year’s hike!

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Navan had a follow-up appointment with his orthopedist yesterday and it looks like his knee is healing mostly how they expected it to, especially given the extent to which it was damaged and the creativity with which they used to repair the area.  The knee brace has been adjusted to allow Nav to bend his knee to 90 degrees.  He has to take it easy for about three months and then he will be allowed to begin outpatient rehab.

The trip to Denver yesterday was very tough.  It’s impossible to get comfortable in the car and the holiday traffic made for a very long day.  He slept like a rock last night and then worked through his OT/PT exercises today.  We did the exercises alongside him and I think some of them are hard – even for a person without injuries!  We are so proud of him and really in awe of his strength and determination.

Thank you for continuing to keep Navan in your thoughts and prayers.  We hope everyone has a safe and fun Independence Day!

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