Joey was at his friend Travis' house on Friday Feb. 7th, hanging out in the driveway when a truck parked in the driveway began slow rolling backward. During the scramble to stop the truck from rolling and prevent it from damaging a neighbor's car, Joey was pinned between the large truck and another vehicle. Joey side stepped himself out from between the vehicles and fell to the ground. His friend rushed to him, laid his head in his lap, and responded quickly when Joey said, "I'm not okay. You need to call 911."

Joey was rushed to Harrison Hospital and quickly sedated - he was also immediately rushed into surgery. There they were able to treat what the surgeon described to me (Tiffany) as the most emergent, life threatening conditions: a kidney had torn from an artery so they removed the kidney, and they repaired a perforation in an intestine. Not long after it became apparent that there was more extensive, complicated damage, so they called for an airlift to Harborview Medical Center. 

Upon arrival he was moved into the ER, but it took fewer than 5 minutes for them to redirect him to the ICU OR and begin operating. Here, the surgeons closed off an artery that'd been missed when his kidney was removed, removed a 2 cm portion of his colon that had become necrotic, and made repairs to a portion of his small intestine called the duodenum, which is very near the stomach. The two ends of the colon were left unattached so they could monitor for any additional dead tissue. His abdomen was also left open but dressed so the head surgeon, who also happens to be very experienced in repairing trauma to the duodenum, could attempt further repairs in 2 days (Monday). 

Joey was heavily sedated, so they inserted a breathing tube to prevent his lungs from relaxing too much. He was hooked up to quite a few IV's and restrained (fun side note: they have a cute little name for them here: "wrist reminders"), so he wouldn't startle and try to pull it from his face. He was also put in a neck brace - treating the internal injuries was a priority so a full body scan wouldn't be done immediately. 


Visitors: Susie, Tiffany, Travis, Brian, Lea