Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement.
On Thursday, July 25, 2019, Bill was driving home from work on his way to have dinner with his sister, Becky. He decided to get off 270 and take a back route home (I can only assume that it was because he was looking for alternate routes home when traffic was bad and we had just talked about 355 not being the best solution with his motorcycle). He got off at the exit for 85 and headed down Fingerboard Road...a beautiful country route. This must have been his first time navigating this road on his bike. As he approached one of the sharp curves in the road, he misjudged the execution of getting through it and ended up running his bike off the road and into the strong cable that anchors a telephone pole to the ground. He was ejected from his bike over the handlebars and landed on his back in the nearby front yard of a Fingerboard Road resident. By the grace of God, several “good” things happened at this point...we would find out later that he “only” broke both of his legs (we’ll get to that in a moment) and he was surrounded quite quickly by at least 3 amazing women who sprung into action to make sure he stayed alive! (I will address their part of the story in another post to ensure that they are given the proper respect and gratitude that they so richly deserve!) He was taken by helicopter to the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. His CT scan miraculously showed only 4 breaks...all in his legs. His right leg had an open fracture that included the spiral fracture of his tibia and the oblique fracture of his fibula. His left leg endured *two* clean breaks to the femur (something they apparently rarely see according to the surgical fellow we spoke to). He arrived at the STC at about 7:19pm and he was taken back for surgery at 7:30am on Friday, July 26, 2019. Given the extent of his injuries (none of which were life-threatening) and the availability of the appropriate staff to tend to those injuries, this was great.
So...surgery! He was taken back at 7:30am. Surgery started at 8:47am. And, we were told, he was removed from anesthesia at about 1:20pm. In short, his tibia (right leg) received a rod and some screws (his fibula will heal in tandem with no rod needed) and his femur (left leg) received a rod and some screws, as well. He will start PT immediately to determine next steps but he will not be able to bear weight on his right leg for some time. All things considered, this is a pretty amazing outcome!
The road ahead will be rocky...not only in his recovery but also in that our family will be weaving this into an already arduous schedule of preparing our house to sell. Naturally, Bill’s recovery comes first but, for him, that most certainly will include knowing that we are somehow able to continue toward achieving our goal of selling our house so that we can purchase the house that has been in his family since he was 6 months old.
Again, your words of support, hope and encouragement will do wonders in helping that recovery along! Thank you for visiting.
With all our love and appreciation, Kerri, Dayton & Ritchie ...and Sabrina, Bada Bing, Baby, Bear and Rocco
It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be the 3 month anniversary of Bill’s accident! Time had flown and dragged all at the same time...it’s kind of crazy. But I’m here to give a little update on his progress since he had another follow-up visit with his surgeon on Tuesday. 😊
We talked about things like being able to run (don’t get excited...like if he gets caught in the rain or something like that)...being able to drive (which he actually already started to do on non-PT days)...and that he could, in fact, be feeling a screw head in his ankle 🤢 but that he’ll want to wait a while before deciding if any or all of them needs to be surgically removed (which they don’t recommend while the bones are still healing unless they are causing unbearable pain). So, he is off the hook visiting Shock Trauma and his surgeon again for another 3 months...woohoo!
But before we got out of there, we made a point of getting some pics...and this time, they’re progress pics! Beware...the femur “before” picture could make you a little woozie 🙈
And finally, a quick thank you to everyone who has taken even just a few minutes to help us in some way these last few months...we really have an amazing group of friends and family...so blessed! ♥️
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