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Bernie fell on October 20 and sustained several injuries. He was transported to Silver Cross Hospital where they discovered he had bleeding in his brain, broken ribs, broken collar bone, a few fractured vertebrae, hairline orbital and nose fracture. At Silver Cross, he was intubated, had CT scans, and received a chest tube in response to his lung collapsing. In order to receive more resources and specialized care, he was medevaced to Loyola Hospital in Maywood where he remained in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for 17 days. By the time he left, he had a tracheostomy and a feeding tube in place.
At Loyola, Bernie had time for his brain to begin the long healing process. He had a fantastic team of trauma doctors caring for him and they put together a plan for him to transfer to RML Specialty Hospital in Hinsdale on Tuesday, November 6th. The main objective at RML was to wean Bernie off the ventilator. He stayed at RML until November 28 when he was transferred to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab for intensive inpatient rehab.
In mid December, a CT scan and MRI revealed a pocket of fluid remaining on Bernie’s brain. This fluid was adding pressure to his brain and severely infringing on his rehabilitation progress on his left side. On December 21, Bernie had brain surgery to reduce the fluid. The surgery was very successful and Bernie returned to Shirley Ryan Ability Lab better than before!
