Prayer Needed

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:38 pm

After a harrowing evening of ups and downs I'm happy to say Skip made it to Houston and checked into St. Luke Hospital. When the jet detoured to Panama City yesterday Skipper was taken to hospital where it was determined Skip was suffering from Pericarditis. Once stable, the Doctors and Pilots put their heads together and determined it was safe to bring Skip on to Houston....Thank God! Skip was admitted to room 7S3 Bed2 at around 9:30 last night. I have not talked to Jan yet so I haven't been told why he had pericarditis....don't know if it was flight related or something new we have to worry about....time will tell I guess. I'm heading over after work so my next update will be first hand!

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers!
Scott

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:36 pm

Hey Scott,

Great news. Keep us up dated. You got to get skip on an F when he gets better so he can't go fast enough to hurt him self Wink

. Glad he is moving up and out of his hole. Home ought to help.

Grant.

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:38 pm

I got to see Skipper last Friday for the first time since the end of Daytona Bike week. First impressions.....he has lost a lot of weight! He opened his eyes off and on during my visit but never really looked at anything but maybe the TV a little. He was totally unresponsive to any verbal commands, but it was still great to have him back in town. A recent CAT scan showed improvements to the left and right sides of the Brain. The Doctors are concerned about the center though, they are afraid it's not receiving enough blood flow. A MRI was done yesterday to check this out but Skip moved too much for a clear picture. They are going to try again today.

I tried to see him yesterday after work but they moved him out of the ICU to the next level of care down. With the move comes no visiting hours between 6 & 8 pm during shift change. So I'll try again tonight after 8:00.

Now for some positive news. The Doctor got Skip to follow some commands yesterday. He asked Skip to close his eyes and he blinked. When asked a second time to close his eyes he blinked again. Next Skip was asked to stick out his tongue and he did. Along with this he was tracking the Doctor with his eyes and puckered up again when Jan gave him a kiss. It might not be much progress but it is something to build on!!! Thanks everyone for the donations, prayers and thoughts!

Scott

Hawk Joined: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 351 Location: Indiana

jesus. this thread proves the human body is one piece of work. it's amazing what kind of abuse it will take. been trolling this thread since its start, and my thoughts and hopes are that your buddy makes it out of this A-OK. to hear of positive progress even of simple things as sticking out his tongue is simply remarkable. this is why I wear gear EVERY TIME i ride. a life is too priceless and precious to not do so. keep us posted scott.

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 6:33 pm

Just found this Picture of Skip goofing around with Scott McVickers the day befor his crash at Daytona. Though ya'll might like to see it......and the bike. lol

Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:19 pm

Good luck to Skip, all the best mate.

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:33 pm

A mutual friend of Skip's and myself went by and visited with Skip yesterday. It's the first chance he has had to see him since Skip's return. He call me afterwords and said Skip looked a lot better than he thought he would and was happy that skip was making eye contact with him...gave him the feeling that Skip is on his way back to us.

The MRI results came in last Friday. Jan said it showed a couple of spots in the back of the brain that showed signs where he had some hemorrhaging. It all so showed damage to the front right lobe, probably why he's not moving his left arm and leg as much as the right, and what they are calling nerve shearing in the center of the brain. The brain stem checkout fine plus all his other injuries are doing very good. As far as his brain goes the MRI was not bad news, the Doctors feel there is nothing showing that the brain won't heal by itself. It will just take time maybe a year on the nerve shearing.

Sunday was bring your pet to the Hospital day and Skip had a special guest. In a house with four females you are bound to find cats and the Bradley's have a hand full. lol One of the cats is Rajee, the friendliest little Siamese you ever seen. It is Daddy's cat without a doubt and she has been moping around for a month till last Sunday. When she saw Skip she curled up on his chest and just purred for 45 minutes. Skip even pet her a bit....Jan said it was good to see. That was good for both of them.

As soon as Skip is off the meds he's taking for a little blood clot in his leg right now he is going into an advanced head trauma recovery program he has been approved for by the Hospital. This will help him get on the fast track to recovering his motorskills....Very Cool!!!

Scott

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:37 pm

That's good to hear. Hope he gets better soon. Tattoo

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 4:05 pm

Man,

That last post made me well up a bit. The image was amazing. It is so good to hear Skip is making improvements.

On a side note I have a question. Was Skip wearing a neck protector? You know, those padded doughnut deals? I have thought a lot about getting one and started wondering if that is what kept his neck from breaking.

God speed Skip, Grant.

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:37 am

Scott-

I'm glad to hear of Skip's progress. I hope his recovery continues. Keep up the updates.

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 2:48 am

elcman wrote:

Man,

That last post made me well up a bit. The image was amazing. It is so good to hear Skip is making improvements.

On a side note I have a question. Was Skip wearing a neck protector? You know, those padded doughnut deals? I have thought a lot about getting one and started wondering if that is what kept his neck from breaking.

God speed Skip, Grant.

+1, Grant, well said!

Keep up the progress, Skip!

Hawk Joined: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 351 Location: Indiana

Continuing to monitor his progress, so great to hear he is doing well. Animals can help a great deal to promote recovery, especially one that is your own. Such a good feeling came over me just to read he was petting his cat again. Such a simple thing, but really hard to imagine after all he has been through. The human body is a resilient creature...its amazing. Thanks so much, we are all thinking about him I know.

Corey

Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 6:38 pm

Hey everyone, went and visited with Skip last night. Haven't been by as much as I would like but I try to make it at least once a week. The rest of the time I pretty much cover up liquidating Skips assets he won't be needing in the near future. Hate to do it but need to keep the family afloat till he is back on his feet. He's still making progress but hitting little pot holes on the road to recovery every now and then. His official status is "conscious with minimal awareness" but it apparent he is having more and longer periods of awareness....but they do come and go.
When I walked in last night he immediately locked eye contact with me and stayed engaged until I step away to let a Nurse give him his meds. When I stepped away he turned and started watching TV while she was working. After she was done I stepped back up to the bed and he started paying attention to me again until he closed his eyes and drifted off for a few minutes. You can tell that focusing on someone is tiring for him at this point but he drifts off less often and for shorter durations than before. He did have a good talk as I started encouraging him to dig deep and work on restoring motor control. Told him we were all behind him and reminded him what a fighter he is. I can't wait till they move him to the advanced rehabilitation center but he has to be off the IV meds for 48 hours before he can be moved. Twice now he was ready to move and then and a little problem like a spike in temperature that put him back on an IV.
As I was saying my goodbyes to Jan and Skip last night standing next to Skip's bed I looked down and there was Skip steadily holding his hand out waiting for me to shake hands goodbye. I can't tell you how good that made me feel!!
Please don't forget the May 16 benefit for Skip at Han's Bier Haus in Houston's Rice Village if you are in the area.
Thanks for Caring Everyone!!
Scott

Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 9:39 pm

70rsss wrote:

Hey everyone, went and visited with Skip last night. Haven't been by as much as I would like but I try to make it at least once a week. The rest of the time I pretty much cover up liquidating Skips assets he won't be needing in the near future. Hate to do it but need to keep the family afloat till he is back on his feet. He's still making progress but hitting little pot holes on the road to recovery every now and then. His official status is "conscious with minimal awareness" but it apparent he is having more and longer periods of awareness....but they do come and go.
When I walked in last night he immediately locked eye contact with me and stayed engaged until I step away to let a Nurse give him his meds. When I stepped away he turned and started watching TV while she was working. After she was done I stepped back up to the bed and he started paying attention to me again until he closed his eyes and drifted off for a few minutes. You can tell that focusing on someone is tiring for him at this point but he drifts off less often and for shorter durations than before. He did have a good talk as I started encouraging him to dig deep and work on restoring motor control. Told him we were all behind him and reminded him what a fighter he is. I can't wait till they move him to the advanced rehabilitation center but he has to be off the IV meds for 48 hours before he can be moved. Twice now he was ready to move and then and a little problem like a spike in temperature that put him back on an IV.
As I was saying my goodbyes to Jan and Skip last night standing next to Skip's bed I looked down and there was Skip steadily holding his hand out waiting for me to shake hands goodbye. I can't tell you how good that made me feel!!
Please don't forget the May 16 benefit for Skip at Han's Bier Haus in Houston's Rice Village if you are in the area.
Thanks for Caring Everyone!!
Scott

Scott - you are truly a great friend and Skip is lucky to have you around. Please keep the updates coming as the situation changes.

Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 2:05 am

Incredible story, puts my little life complaints in perspective, good thoughts to both of you!

Hawk Joined: Aug 20, 2009 Posts: 351 Location: Indiana

Pointdiver wrote:

Incredible story, puts my little life complaints in perspective, good thoughts to both of you!

That it does. Please keep us updated

Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 8:01 pm

Hey,

If everyone had a friend like you the world would be a more peaceful place. Keep us posted.

Grant.

Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 8:27 pm

Skip was moved to rehab yesterday....Yea. He will spend today being evaluated so a rehab plan can be generated. Before things get kicked off the Doctors and family will have a sit down and agree on a path to recovery.

Some great news already though....Skip talked for the first time last night. He has been trying to talk some but with the trach he couldn't without closing the hole. Last night when he started talking Jan was able to block the trach and he let her know his back was hurting. She told him he was in an accident in March and was in a coma and it is now May in which he replied......June, July, August, September. lol So he might not understand what has happened to him yet but he does know his months by God!! lol.

The other thing is he has started moving his left side again. This is big because the last time he was moving his left side was before small intestine problem. It's not much movement right now but it a start, something to build on in rehab.

Some people who have followed Skips path to recovery have suggested that I pat myself on the back for my efforts and to that I have to say no. I'm not doing anything that Skip wouldn't be the first in line to do if the tables were turned. Who deserves a pat on the back are the casual friends, acquaintances and total strangers who have bathed Skip in positive energy, for lack of a better expression, with your payers and well wishes. Let's not forget about those who unselfishly gave to Skip's recovery fund to help the family stay afloat. So stand up pat yourselves on the back and please keep up the prayer and well wishes as he still has a long road in front of him!

Scott

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:13 am

Scott,

I'm with the other folks who say thanks for keeping us posted and for being such a good friend. I can't help but think about what life may have been like if Matt (@PSB) would have survived his accident. Part of me thinks that if he knew he had only a second to respond and that the chances weren't good for a survivable accident... well ... he said he wanted to go on the bike and he wouldn't be a vegetable. I still miss him so much but as I contemplate the 4 year anniversary of his loss I know that I'm doing better and that Matt would be glad.

Such a tough road the family is on. I'm so glad Skip survived and is making progress and that you and the family have this wonderful CB family.

Hope your May 16 fundraiser was a great success.

God bless. Prayers.

Glenda from MT

Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 8:35 pm

It's been a couple of weeks sense my last update on Skip and I'm happy to report things are going well. Spent some time with him last night and was able to hold some simple conversations with Skip. This time he even asked me several questions about items I've sold and his home machine shop. When I was by last Friday evening he was very talkative but he talked in numbers. I think he thought he was saying something but was just stringing numbers together. I was told early in the day when he was fresh he was OK and having conversations with people but by the time I got there at night it was just numbers till last night.

Another step forward is that last time I saw Skip the air hose was gone and he had a cap on his trach tube. Last night the trach was gone and his feeding tube going into his stomach was disconnected. I can only assume that are starting to feed him real food again. His short term memory is starting to improve....I asked him last night if he has seen his dad and step-mom (Roger & Brenda), who were in over the weekend for Skip's benefit we held. He started to go on about their visit and how good it was to see them. His dad told me Saturday when he walked in Skip's room skip looked over at him and said " where's Brenda?" Roger and myself had a good chuckle over that. It wasn't Hi dad how are you it was where's mom! lol

Sunday we had a benefit for Skip at one of his buddies bar. Had a decent turnout and as usual some people who said they were going to make it didn't . The weather was a little iffy but it stayed dry the whole time and all that came had a good time with food, live music, adult beverages and a auction that raised enough to help Jan some and put a little aside to help Skip start his business again when he's well. That's it for now....Thanks everyone.

Scott

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 8:56 pm

Just a quick update on Skipper. Tuesday at rehab, they got Skip to stand for the first time. It took three people to do it but he got up and stayed up for a bit before he got tired. He's still is struggling with movement and control on his left side but it is improving. Well Skip being the hardhead that he is decided he was going to stand again Wednesday. Well this time no one was around when he started to stand up from the wheelchair he was sitting in. With the wheels un-locked he basically fell on his butt and had to be helped back up. You ask him if he can stand yet he'll tell you "no not yet" but as soon as you turn your back now he at it again. They had to put a net over his bed to keep him in now. lol

I was wrong about him eating real food last week..they tried but he couldn't get it down the right tube all the time. After working with him this week on it he ate real food successfully for the first time last night.

Monday an old friend drop by to see Skip. Although they do stay in touch, they have only seen each other once in the last 20 years. When Sander walked into the room Skip immediately know who it was and call out his name. When I went by that night with some more friends Skip told me that Sander and his wife came to say hi. Again short term memory is getting better. Ok That's it for now hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend!!

Scott

Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 1:21 am

Thats awesome news! Glad to hear the good report, thanks for keeping us updated. Will continue to keep your buddy in our prayers.

David

Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:19 pm

Spent some time with Skip last night.....got there just in time to help Jan get Skip back into bed. She had taken him for a roll outside to get some fresh air. I haven't been able to talk to him since Friday before last when he just jabbered away for 40 minutes straight nonstop then looked at me, stuck his hand out and said thanks for coming by he's going to sleep now. I'm still laughing about how he handled that. Went by last Friday but he was asleep by the time I got there but I was able to spend time with one of his daughters who was there hanging with dad.

Last night he was very talkative but wasn't in to good of a mood. He's starting to hurt at night from all the physical theory he doing during the day. They got him a tall walker (he's 6'5") and have him up walking everyday now, Jan said he walked 600 feet yesterday. He still dragging his left side a little but it's getting better even though it's hard on his bad back.

At this point I would say he has recovered about 50% physically and 70% mentally. He can now hold a long conversation if you are talking about something in the past but he does drift off point some with unrelated tid-bits. He is still struggling with short term memories but he is improving every week. He is very aware of his surroundings and fully understands that he has to work hard to get better. We were watching a little TV last night and when a caption came up on the show he would read it out loud. That was the first time I've seen him read which was very cool!! That one more thing we can check off the list that he can do again!

Scott

Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:08 pm

Good to hear Scott, I was just wondering how Skip was doing. You are a good friend.

david

Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 12:43 am

djhurayt wrote:

Good to hear Scott, I was just wondering how Skip was doing. You are a good friend. david

+1. I was also wondering how he was doing. Skip is obviously a fighter and determined to recover - that spirit will serve him well in the long run. Very happy to hear of his progress.

Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:24 pm

Thanks for the update Scott! I'm so happy to hear Skip is doing much better, wish him the best from us. Very Happy

MB-5 Joined: Jun 16, 2010 Posts: 1 Location: CA

Hmmmmm....let's see here: your basic veg case in a coma, no hope whatsoever, goner for sure, now up and walking, talking and improving every day?

Sounds suspiciously like a miracle to me!

Thank God your friend is better and on the way back! More prayer sent.

Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:22 am

God speed.

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:23 pm

It been awhile since I did an update on Skip. He has been in rehab learning to mainly walk and function physically. He’s starting to walk fairly well with a walker now, but he still runs out of juice pretty quick. Before his crash he was around 225-230 lbs after he came out of the coma he was down to 170. What he loss was basically his muscle and for a long time his body rejected food with enough calories to put mass back on while on the feeding tube. Now that he able to feed himself and eat real food he’s starting to add weight and strength again. Now he needs to work on endurance and balance.

Skip was moved last week to a different rehab center in Houston. The new place specializes in mental and social rehab. This place only takes 20 patients at a time which should get him more one on one rehab time. One of the great things about this place is they believe in getting the patients out in public to help to re-teach how to interact in the real world during recovery. And with this policy Skip got to go home for a day visit for the first time since the crash. He was a happy camper to say the least!!

You can tell Skip is far more active mentally than in the past. He is initiating conversations, talking about current affairs he watches on the news, we even tech issues for various race series. While that all sounds great he still mixes story time lines. He will start talking about one thing and move into something that happened ten years ago like it was part of the first part of the story. He also has to be proactive when walking reminding himself out loud to take a step. Something we take for granted everyday like walking is not second nature to skip yet…..but it will be! I’ve challenged skip…told him if he continues to work hard and get to the point he can go out of town for the weekend I will take him to the AHRMA race at Barber Motorsports Park in October!

Skip has made a remarkable recovery with the help of everyone that prayed, given positive vibes or good will. So all of you out there stand up and give yourself a pat on the back for me. A special thanks to everyone who made donations…your generosity has allowed Jan to spend more time helping skip do his rehab after work and spend less time working late to keep a roof over their heads. So all of you also needs to stand up and give yourself a pat on the back for me.

Scott

Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:24 pm

70rsss wrote:

You can tell Skip is far more active mentally than in the past. He is initiating conversations, talking about current affairs he watches on the news, we even tech issues for various race series. While that all sounds great he still mixes story time lines. He will start talking about one thing and move into something that happened ten years ago like it was part of the first part of the story. He also has to be proactive when walking reminding himself out loud to take a step. Something we take for granted everyday like walking is not second nature to skip yet…..but it will be! I’ve challenged skip…told him if he continues to work hard and get to the point he can go out of town for the weekend I will take him to the AHRMA race at Barber Motorsports Park in October!

Hell Scott I do that! Glad to hear about Skips recovery.