Sun 28-Mar-10

Simon had a bike accident - actually, he was hit by a car while on his
bike - Sunday morning, and is in intensive care at the Medical Center of
the Rockies, Loveland, CO.  Like last time (1986!), he has a closed head
injury, but he also has a bunch of other fractures.  It is going to be
at least a few days before we know how serious the effects of his head
injury are, but for now at least things look fairly positive.  He has
responded to commands (squeeze hand, show 2 fingers, etc.), but he's
heavily sedated with midazolam and fentanyl so he's not in any position
to be doing much more than that.

All his other injuries sound reasonably okay:  lots of them, but none
too life-altering.  He has a bunch of facial fractures, a fractured
clavicle (collarbone), minor pelvic fracture, thoracic vertebral
fracture (neurosurgeon has already said the spine is okay and won't
require surgery), several broken ribs, and tons of bruises.    I think
the only things that will definitely need surgery are the facial
fractures, and maybe the clavicle.  He has moved all of his extremities,
although the right side is moving a lot more than the left, but he was
evidently hit on the left side, and that's the side the clavicle
fracture is on, so maybe he's just sore on that side - or he may have
injured the nerves to his left arm.  He also had a torn artery
associated with the pelvic fracture, which was bleeding and was
embolized after he got to the hospital to control the bleeding.  He's
had a couple of units of blood and his blood pressure, etc., seem pretty
stable now.


Ann