I Am Stunned (Full Version)

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Gauge -> I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:03:11 PM)

I have a friend that I have known since high school. He decided to join the Army right after school. He stayed in the reserves after several years in the Army and became a local policeman. He was a policeman for many years and had stayed in the reserves during that time. Last year, he got shipped to Iraq where he saw combat and literally watched a friend get blown to bits right in front of him. He came home just recently in June.

He and his family went to Florida for vacation and got there Monday. He came out of his hotel after a few hours of sleep and was walking to the car with his family deciding where they were going to go for dinner. He collapsed and hit his head on the concrete. He is now in a Florida hospital in intensive care where he is in an induced coma. They have done some surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and they have him on a feeding tube and all sorts of other things. They do not know what brain damage may have been done in the fall. He may die. If he survives and they bring him out of the coma he will be in the hospital for a minimum of 3 to 4 weeks. And it may take him at least 6 months of rehabilitation after this. His daughter is getting married next week... this is just all wrong.

I am really having a hard time dealing with the fact that he has been in severe danger before in his life and he walked away unscathed and yet he goes on vacation, falls and may die.

It doesn't make sense to me... it really doesn't.



smilezz -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:09:20 PM)

I know there is really nothing i can do or say in a situation like this.  I have been through something more similar than you could know.  All i can say is, i will keep your friend in my thoughts and prayers, as well as his family and you.

~smilezz~



cuddleheart50 -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:10:56 PM)

No, its not fair at all, I wish your friend well.



fox2152 -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:16:10 PM)

i kind of know how you are feeling. i went to Iraq, and although i came home with only minor damage, i know many who were lucky enough to come home with me did not live long once they got home. Some died seeking an adrenaline rush they had come to enjoy. Others where killed accidentally. It not right or fair but it happens more then many people realize.

I hope your friend will be ok.



pahunkboy -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:17:05 PM)

-- the drs seldom give you straight talk...as they dont want to be sued.

he could have picked up a virus. could be an odd form of TB.

ild guess it has nothing to do with FL- but rather his travels and the expeimental weapons used in war. even when a cop hold a radar it triggers radiation.

if i can help solve any of the riddle - many on the board would jump in too i am sure.

being that you known him since school age- i can see where it would hit hard,

my best friend was in the hospital 2 days. they told him nothing. i plugged in his symptems and told hinm what they did not. or he failed to understand.

the military is always using experimental tech - thats my guess.

kind regards-for a speedy recovery. 



corsetgirl -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:24:00 PM)

My prayers go out to you and your friend, I had a similar experience with one of my family members.



BrokenDoll -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 6:59:17 PM)

ok Im a bit freaked at how similar your story is to what happend to my sister in laws father, last july he had gotten pretty drunk and went to walk home he triped and hit his head on the side walk and everything els in the OP almost to the T is what happend to him... only he passed away a few days after the swelling of his brain had caused to much damage and the family desided to unplug the micheans that wre keeping him alive. He was also a veteran ... Reading this sorta freaked me out becuase the stories are sooo similar. I do wish the best of luck and i do hope he does recover!!



desertdancer -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 7:12:54 PM)

I'm so sorry to hear this Gauge, I'll be sending prayers to both you and your friend and his family.  This is unfair, and often in times like these, we can not see the higher purpose through the pain we are feeling.  I will be thinking of you and sending you warm thoughts and good energies.

~dancer



SweetSarijane -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 8:00:23 PM)

I am so sorry to hear this and I will put him, his family and you in my prayers. I hope things will turn out ok.



Gauge -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 10:28:37 PM)

I want to thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. It is nice to know that he has support from people that he doesn't know... somehow that is comforting.

I just got an email updating his condition and it is not good. The doctors have him on a ventilator and he was trying to take breaths on his own, but in this case, that wasn't a good thing because he was becoming agitated and thrashing around. The doctors had to induce paralysis, which basically means that he is totally dependent on life support now. The swelling in his brain has got to go down and they couldn't risk further injury so... I just can't believe I am writing this.

The doctors have said that in these cases the patient will get worse before they get better, but the doctors were reluctant to say much more than that. After the swelling goes down, they can determine why he collapsed in the first place. They have a theory that he may have had a slow bleeder in his brain that just got to the point where he collapsed.

This has given me some serious cause for thought and reflection on the things that are the most important to me. I feel out of balance. All I can hope for is that he gets better and that we can sit down at our groups annual wine party (I don't drink so I have non-alcoholic wine) and have a toast to his health.



Rule -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/24/2006 11:51:45 PM)

These years I suspect not only physical causes, but underlying spiritual causes as well when I hear about similar cases - but that does not help either you or him. I am sorry for your pain.



twicehappy -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 3:33:24 AM)

Guage, speaking from experience (i was a nurse for 18 years); the induced coma and paralysis are the best things they could do for him right now even though it seems pretty extreme to you. In order to get the cerebral swelling to resolve itself absolute quiet is a must, no motion, no agitation. Believe it or not using this method saves many a head injury patient that previously would have been lost.
 
It does sound horrible to a layman but many procedures do. My sister in law recently had severe arrhythmia of the heart so the doctors stopped her heart and restarted it, the family thought that really was a bad idea but in fact it worked wonderfully.
 
Life is a funny thing isn't it; eat right, exercise and get hit by a bus. This is why when folks ask why i do the things i do that are not safe(like race, smoke, jump, ride without a helmet) i say you never know what is going to happen so i grab life by the balls and squeeze, you never know which day is your last.
 
Hopefully he will recover, my thoughts are with you.
 
 



pahunkboy -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 8:25:57 AM)

this is creapy when it happens to a young person. 

i put my brother under strick orders not to work with epoxy paints. 

im trying to look for a silver lining here- grasping.  ...so heres my attempt. im in touch with no one i went to school with. i have no idea if there was a reunion, and being that i changed schools.......it is irrelevent.

each day is indeed a blessing.

regards=- keep us posted



yourMissTress -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 9:08:17 AM)

Gauge, there is nothing I can say that will make you feel better.  I hate situations like this.  It's so frustrating when these nonsensical things happen.  But they do and such is life.  Your friend will be in our prayers. 



SexyRed -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 9:12:07 AM)

I want to add my sympathy for this situation, so sad when bad things happen to great people. I hope it works out well.



RosaB -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 10:45:11 AM)

This is one of those threads that dosen't belong in this section, IMO, as it isn't random nor is it silly stupid, it pulls at the heart strings and I so much feel your pain.  I don't know what I can say to make your hurt any less, but I do wish for you to know that you, your friend and his family are in my thoughts.

I am so sorry for the pain you are experiencing.  Having lost all but one of my siblings, I know life is so very unfair.  Your friend must be like family having known him for so long, yes indeed, life can really just through us for a loop when we least expect it.  Making things that once were important of little significance.  I know my priorities have changed for the better.

Rosa



maybemaybenot -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 11:44:36 AM)

Gauge:

I will keep you and your friend in my prayers. It's so hard to conceptualize a strong, fearless, invincible person going thru something like this. While we are thinking of the person who is going thru it, we also naturally personalize it and peek into our potential future.
This is a very scary time for you, his family and friends. Sending lots of positive energy your way.
                             mbmbn



CleoVale -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 12:04:03 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gauge

It doesn't make sense to me... it really doesn't.


Gauge,

I know we don't know one another, nor is there anything I can say to make you feel better....but I will keep you and your friend in my thoughts and prayers.

Best,
Cleo



zumala -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 1:33:39 PM)

Gauge,
 
I'm sorry to hear about your friend.  I hope for the best and that he will be able to recover fully in time.  Thank you for sharing this with us.  Sometimes it's comforting just to talk about things like this.  And I'm sure that a few of us needed reminding about how precious our loved ones are to us.  Sometimes being reminded makes us treat them as they should be treated - with love rather than with bored familiarity.
 
Best wishes,
 
zuma



Reflectivesoul -> RE: I Am Stunned (8/25/2006 1:51:26 PM)

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=RS

I shared this site with Gauge on the other side, but I wanted you all to have an opportunity to see it as well and to add a candle to the section. Also there are places to start new candles for anyone you feel may need one...



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