Dr Mahadeo just came in to give us the run down of his status. He is very pleased overall about the healing of the surgery and the setting of the plate in his neck. He is also happy that he has mobility in his left leg and some in his right, though at the moment his right leg is not useable at all. His right arm is still a concern but the fact that he has feeling and some slight movement is very promising. Jim and I have already had lengthy discussions about the merits of having a robot arm with interchangeable attachments; hook, clamp, disk, swizzle stick….the possibilities are truly endless. In fact even when he does regain full use of his arm (and he will) I think he should still have one installed anyway because it would look pretty cool. Again, I am not a doctor.

There will be lots of rehabilitation and physiotherapy required and quite a long road ahead. If anyone is able to recommend a physiotherapist that will  a) be able to come do home visits and  b) be able to tolerate extended amounts of daily shit talks. Please forward us some recommendations to either trudycraig@hotmail.com or tracycraig@gmail.com

Jim is all set up in the ICU with a BBC 4 podcast and some very flashy compression stockings. Seriously, I am totally getting a pair.

He is stable and continues to make progress. Still very limited on his right side but that is quite expected considering the severity of the injury and nature of the surgery. He does have feeling in his hand and the staff are very optimistic about his progress overall.

We hope he will be out of the ICU tomorrow afternoon sometime. The hospital does restrictions on visiting so call before hand just incase we have all gone out to the discotheque to dance the night away with this guy
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He had a good night last night in the ICU, one more small step closer to recovery. Kareen snored slept for many hours and feels certain that the cute nurses on duty last night could be accredited somewhat for Jim’s more restful ICU experience. We would be remiss to continue to be so thankful by not extending our unending gratitude to the staff at St. Clair Medical.

Dr Benjamin the anethsitist who overcame the difficulties of intubation on a fused and broken neck.

The phenomenal nursing staff, who are friendly, professional, caring and apparently quite attractive.

Dr Jose the ICU doctor who took great post op care and ultimately gave us a safe night and another day to fight.

And the man of the hour Dr. Mahadeo for his patience, talent and his incredible skill at performing his first surgery on the broken neck of an Ankylosing Spondylitis patient with such a severe degree of curve. We have never been more impressed with a Drs overall bedside manner and the obvious meticulous care he puts into making the patient and more importantly the family feel heard and have questions answered. Plus he pretty much has the surgical skills of a Stone Cold Ninja! World Class Surgeon!

Trudy thinks she is the parents favourite daughter. She was adopted. She means well.

I woke up this morning and Kareen had left the room. I assumed that she had gone into the ICU or had been called out to answer questions. Nay, she was at the nurses station helping them decorate. I should have suspected as she is magnetically drawn to any opportunity to hang tinsel and adhere the face of Santa Claus to any and every available surface. My mother is addicted to Christmas decorating. I might need to start a support group.

A well deserved hospital teacup of wine. Goodnight, today, you have been most insane.

The surgery was a success, everything went as well as expected the next few days will be critical in the ICU for the healing to take place but the Dr expects he will make a full recovery. He was able to remove the hematoma on the spinal cord and install the plate. His spinal cord had a tear but a nerve was apparently plugging the hole that stopped the fluid from leaking out, yet another unbelievable piece of luck on his side.

There is a very long road of recovery and rehabilitation ahead but the initial prognosis is very promising. He has initial movement on his left side, arm and leg. His right side has minimal movement that they expect to increase as healing takes place. But we know that every ray of good thoughts and prayers will continue him along his path to a full recovery.

They allowed us to come down to the Operating Room when they were done to see him before he went into the ICU. He was awake but groggy and very happy to see us. Kareen had no shoes on as usual.

Thank you all for your energy and prayers and love, please keep them coming. And thank you Jim for being as strong as titanium to get this far.

He is in surgery now, the procedure, overly simplified, involves making an incision in the front of the neck, drilling through the broken bone to relieve pressure on the spinal cord and then stabilizing the vertebrae with a titanium plate or recreating the the vertebrae with a bone and titanium collar. He is pretty much a candidate to be in the next X-Men movie, I can just feel it.

There is also a hematoma on the spinal cord that IF it can be safely removed they will, but only a very strong IF as the fact that he is getting movement back to his limbs suggests that it will overtime go away.

Dr. Mahadeo will have another neurologist in theatre with him, i forget his name, lets call him Dr. Who. They have a very strategic contingency plan and options of what to do in various scenarios. Dr. M did an excellent job of briefing us on all of these earlier so we have some ideas of what to potentially expect.

The total surgery will take about 3-4 hours he went in around 1:30, I am bad at math you can figure it out.

So now we all just wait. I feel an overwhelming combination of very excited and very nervous. Kinda like being at the top of a really large roller coaster…blind folded….wearing a velour pantsuit, a really jaunty one with a hat…Ok i’ll stop now.

They are taking him in now to surgery. We all had lots of hugs and kisses. He is calm and so brave. I am all outa funny right now.

He has been regaining mobility in his right leg (now to almost 70%) where it was more or less paralysed the past few days.

Kareen had been working on physiotherapy mobility for his right arm and the doctor was most thrilled with the results so far. So overall a great set of improvements, especially prior to surgery.
It is expected that he will likely be able to give a pretty solid donkey kick in no time and enjoy the view from his room, it’s quite lush outside. (*the last statement has no medical basis or validity, I am no doctor despite playing one on TV*)