TomAiello 26 #76 February 24, 2006 QuoteQuoteHaving never been catheterised and looking at the size of that tube running down his leg, it's no wonder he's been trying to pull it out! :-S Get well soon Matt... [shudder]can...we...not...talk...about...that...please?[/shudder] Having experienced that multiple times, as well as NG tube (rubber hose that runs down your nostril and into your stomach) and ET tube (breathing tube down your throat), all of which Hecker got to have, I will state my educated opinion that the NG tube is by far the worst of the lot.-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrThrill 0 #77 February 24, 2006 Yes Tom, I will completely agree with you! My BEST thoughts and wishes towards healing are with Matt and his family, and have been for the last couple weeks. FWIW, I spent some time at craig hospital a few years back, for what appears to be a similar frontal lobe traumatic brain injury (and a couple little orthopedic issues too). I am sending something to Matt and his family, regarding my experiences and how they relate and may be of some possible moderate help/benefit/inspiration to them. Anyhow, for now I just want to let them know that there is much more support, silent and loud, for all of them, than appears here in this forum. Hang in there Matt, from what I've heard and seen, You'll be back very soon. It IS a marathon now, and far from trivial, but you will be back, and this will seem like a short sprint to you eventually. Heal fast, heal well, and you'll hear more from me soon. Wayne Crill"If you are not a part of the Solution, you are a part of the Precipitate" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faber 0 #78 February 24, 2006 Im glad to see Matt is improving but im wondering why he is rambeling is that as of drugs or did his brain get any injuryes? i had a mate that went in hard on a skydive he were just like Matt but that was as of drugs. Stay safe Stefan Faber Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spidrmnky 0 #79 February 24, 2006 The rambeling is mostly from the trama his brain received. The doc came in and explained it a little better and said the areas affected were the frontal lobe, both temporal lobes, and the right hemisphere occipital lobe. I attached a file that explains where and what each lobe is responsible for, more or less. Until then, -Nic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faber 0 #80 February 24, 2006 sorry man too tecnical english to me,more important will he recover from thouse injuryes then? Stay safe Stefan Faber Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amanduh 0 #81 February 24, 2006 QuoteThe doc came in and explained it a little better and said the areas affected were the frontal lobe, both temporal lobes, and the right hemisphere occipital lobe. Frontal Lobe - associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving. Temporal Lobe - associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech. Occipital Lobe- associated with visual processing. Matt, his friends, and family are all still in my thoughts and prayers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrThrill 0 #82 February 24, 2006 " . . . more important will he recover from those injuries then?" THAT Faber, is the question everyone wants to know the answer to, but NO ONE will be able to answer. Because its just not known. As much as "we" know about neurobiology, and we know a lot, when you try to expand these small bits of solid, reductionist biology into an attempted understanding of higher level brain function, we just incorporate too many unknown variables to really "know" anything. We are left with only describing what we observe, and what we observe is HUGE VARIATION IN RESULTS. Maybe something like attempting to extrapolate from 2 dimensions of understanding to "real world infinitesimal dimensions". The bottom line is that we can look at two people, as similar as possible, with, to the best of our ability to understand and describe, the exact same brain injury, and their symptoms and recovery from said symptoms may be totally different ("results may vary"). so we just don't know. All of this is ESPECIALLY true in the frontal lobes. What I do know though, is that the doctors will do anything they can to avoid giving patients and family a potentially "false sense of hope", so they are by definition VERY CONSERVATIVE in their prognosis of recovery. Although I am a scientist, and certainly a reductionist, higher level brain function, damage, and recovery is clearly a case where the whole is much greater than the simple sum of the parts. A wonderful mystery we cannot yet come close to understanding let alone "solving". My point is, DO NOT EVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL, THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING TO HEAL THYSELF. Attitude and effort are EVERYTHING for recovering from this type of injury, you can definitely do MUCH BETTER than the best doctor's prognosis, and NEVER give up. Although I don't know Matt well, I know enough to know that he is the type of individual to pull through this as best as can be expected, to exceed expectations, and that is exactly what I am hoping for and expect from him. Matt's recovery, his hard work, and effort will far surpass all of the doctors hopes and expectations. I do know that his doctors, psychiatrists, and therapists, DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DEALING WITH. Not to discount their expertise, or be disrespectful, but Matt is not normal, and he will blow everyone away with his recovery. Hang in there Matt, our thoughts are you, even though you don't know it yet! all my best, Wayne"If you are not a part of the Solution, you are a part of the Precipitate" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RhondaLea 4 #83 February 24, 2006 Here's something less technical: http://www.neuroskills.com/whattoexpect-contents.shtml And this is the main page from whence it came: http://www.neuroskills.com/index.shtmlIf you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pbla4024 0 #84 February 25, 2006 There is nice story about frontal lobe and famous Phineas Cage case in Damasio's "Descartes' error". Not related to jumping, but interesting anyway. Fido Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spidrmnky 0 #85 February 27, 2006 Hey guys, I saw Hecker yesterday and will hoepfully go down again today. He was doing alright, not talking a whole lot, but kinda with it. Adam Foster came to visit and he knew him right away and was excited to see him. I'm not sure what the current satus is on the visitor thing, but they didn't seem to have a problem with Adam, they just told him to make it quick. I'll check on the visitor thing, but hey, Adam got in. I left Hecker's phone by him last night by accident and ended up getting 2 phone calls and a text message from him at like 1 in the morning, so sorry if any of you got some random calls, unless you enjoyed hearing from him... I thought it was funny. I was told that the surgery for his other leg is to be on the 6th or 7th, so after that, it's all recovery. Yay!... here's a letter from Jim... Matt is doing pretty good considering he had surgery on his left heal on Wed. The recovery is very painful for him. The anesthesia and the pain have set him back a bit in the brain recovery world. He is agitated and in pain. They are trying to manage the pain for optimal therapeutic recovery. His sentences do not always make much sense. He seems to know everyone that comes in. Sometimes he needs a little help with that but not much. Brain injuries are very interesting. The prognosis is still good. Just a long game. I must admit that sometimes what he says doesn't make any sense at all yet it just makes you start to giggle and laugh uncontrollably. It is more funny if he is laughing too, which has not been the case the past few days. It will get better this week then in 8 days he'll need surgery on his right leg and there will be a normal regression because of that. At least we can expect some of those hills and valleys. He is watching some movies and TV shows on DVD. And he asked me for a notebook yesterday and wanted to know the elevations of the Craig and Denver Gen hospitals. He wrote them down,,, I don't get it but he had to know and wrote it down. We see progress everyday. I like seeing progress. I am very thankful for all you guys, and all the good and hopeful thoughts and prayers you have sent Matt's way. 'til then, Jim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spidrmnky 0 #86 March 3, 2006 Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted an update in a while... I've been super distracted. But Hecker is doing really good. He's definitely come out of his post traumatic amnesia and is able to remember things a ton better than he was doing. For example, the nurse came in and he was able to tell her where he was and even the date. He almost seems like the old Hecker, whith the exception of him being a little more crude and tempermental. He's going to have surgery for his right leg and ankle on Tuesday at one and will be down for a few days, but after that it will be all recovery. Unfortunately, that recover is going to last probably until early May before they let him out. He's doing all kinds of therpy now and they still are discouraging visitors to prevent a relapse of what they've accomplished... sorry guys. But we're hoping about a week or two after the surgery we can start working people in there. He received the frame with the signatures and picture today and was impressed with everyones encouragement and was super excited. So thanks to everyone who contributed to that. Until then, Nic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
avenfoto 0 #87 March 8, 2006 bump...update? i had a wierd-ass dream last nite.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pope 0 #88 March 8, 2006 I just wanted to remind people on this thread that there has been a place on the web set up to help support Matt and his family. There are places here to send an email, a card, or donate to his family. Again--our brother is not out of the woods just yet--we need to support each other during these times! Keep up the fight Matt! pope Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spidrmnky 0 #89 March 9, 2006 Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while.. I've been super busy with school. Here's a message from his dad, Jim, that I recieved today... Matt is continuing to improve. He is still at Craig Hospital in Denver. We had our big meeting with the staff last week. They noted that Matt made good progress last week. He knows everyone and his speech has gotten to where if you didn't know it, you may not know he had the injury. He still has a long way to go. His brain was injured in 3 areas. It takes time for these to heal up. He seems to really be coming around that way. I can tell that although he has made miraculous leaps, especially from where we have come in a month. These guys at Craig are real pro's. They understand the issues and can zone in on how to make real progress. The things that are hard on Matt tend to be things that over stimulate him. If it is too noisy or too many people he can get somewhat agitated. So far however, so good. There has not been any seizures since his original one when he crashed and that is particularly good news. They think he will be there until the beginning of May. He just had a 5+ hour surgery on his right leg yesterday. He severely broke both bones above the ankle. He has been in a fixator (outside apparatus bolted to his leg and heel to keep them straight)since the night of the crash. They took that one off, but replaced it with even a bigger contraption. It is connected, from the outside, to his leg in numerous places. It hurts like hell. He can give himself pain meds at the push of a button. He doesn't want anyone near his bed as you may touch it and that shoots pain up his leg. The heal cast on his left leg has been replaced by a "boot" to allow him to move his ankle. It will be many weeks before he can put significant weight on either leg. hope this helps, -Nic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calvin19 0 #90 March 13, 2006 I am Still Alive... thanks for the kindness. im stuck in the HS until late MAY... and that sucks. and i need a new paraglider, and a harness needs to be sewn. Savvy? be well kids. Thanks Until Then Dream Immortal Keep The memories. "yeah... All the different berries..." -SPACE- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blitzkrieg 0 #91 March 13, 2006 heal well. this world needs more people like you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
avenfoto 0 #92 March 13, 2006 sweet pic... edit to add attachment... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lifewithoutanet 0 #93 March 13, 2006 Hecker, Really good to hear from you, man! Heal fast, heal well and keep in touch. We're all here for you, bro. -C. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cornishe 0 #94 March 14, 2006 QuoteI am Still Alive... yay! Quoteim stuck in the HS until late MAY... They flunked you back down to High School??? there's always something to laugh about. cya.Abbie Mashaal Skydive Idaho Snake River Skydiving TandemBASE Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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