First Facebook Update
I initially put up a "Note" on Facebook to get Joe's message out, but that is a limited audience. Following is that first message and it should help tell the beginning of Joe's saga:
My great friend Joe arrived late Sunday night to spend the Thanksgiving week at my house. Although I had to work this week, he brought his motorcycle in his pickup with the hope of spending some time in the north Georgia mountains for a few days. It rained on Monday so he just hung out and relaxed. I wish it had continued to rain.
A cool Tuesday morning came with the promise of warming up as the day went along. Joe was psyched to get out and ride. Unfortunately, the day was over early and ended very badly. Joe hit some bad pavement around 11:00 AM on a very twisty road and negotiated a right hand curve badly. He crossed the center line and had a head-on collision with a pickup truck. As will always be the case, the truck won that battle.
Joe has been badly hurt and needs all the prayers, energy, and good thoughts you can send his way. He was initially taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. Before I could reach him there, he was airlifted to Grady Hospital in Atlanta. He required the level of trauma care that Grady could offer. Sumarie (my girlfriend) headed to Grady while I made my way down there. I was finally able to see Joe in Trauma Room #3 around 8:00 PM if memory serves.
Joe had not only broken his right arm, but his pelvis was broken in 5 places. He was feeling some serious pain, but the biggest concern was his bleeding.
The bleeding was battled by placing a "binder" on Joe. Basically a very tightly cinched girdle designed to keep the pieces of his pelvis closer together. Later on Wednesday morning, Joe was moved to a less hectic exam room in the ER, and was able to sleep a bit with the help of some serious painkillers. He was subsequently moved to a room in the ICU. Here, he was placed in a much more comfortable bed, however, comfort is something that still eludes him.
Although he has painkillers to help, he continues to be in pain and can't move from his position in his bed. This morning (Thanksgiving) he finally ate something. A bit of jello, one swallow of broth and two apple juices. He was told the his surgery will be on Monday and will consist of hardware to piece him together. Both his arm and his pelvis require surgery and it's my belief that both will be taken care of at the same time.
This afternoon Joe was taken back off of any food or water taken orally. This makes him very thirsty and the reason for doing this is they detected some level of bleeding. When bleeding becomes a concern, a quicker surgery may be required and that means they want/need the stomach to be as empty as possible. This evening he was not as lucid as this morning.
Tomorrow, Joe's daughters will be coming into town and I expect that will raise his spirits greatly, although his dry mouth will hamper his communication. I'll be heading to the mountains, where his bike was taken, to retrieve his belongings...wallet, phone, camera, etc. I'll update this again as soon as there is more information. In the meantime, any good thoughts you can direct toward Joe will help in his recuperation and will be greatly appreciated by his family.
