Delegated Authority

I’ve got all my books for school.  My laptop finally arrived :)  I’m ready and rarin’ to go!

Lets go!  Bring it on!  UMUC, here I come!

Motorcyclist, driver hurt when car hits bike
August 22, 2007

PHOTO BY TRAVIS DUNN
An Easton man and a Cambridge woman were hurt early Monday afternoon when a Lexus turned into the path of a motorcycle on Washington Street at Dover Street in downtown Easton.
EASTON — Two people were hospitalized after a lunchtime crash Monday at Washington and Dover streets.

Easton police said Justin Alan Tuttle, 21, of Easton was driving south on Washington Street on his 2003 Kawasaki motorcycle, while Rhonda Terese DeShields, 31, of Cambridge, was heading north on Washington Street in her 1994 Lexus 300.

DeShields then tried to make a left turn onto Dover Street when Tuttle’s motorcycle collided with her car at about 12:09 p.m.

Police cited DeShields for failing to yield to oncoming traffic on a left turn.

Both Tuttle and DeShields were taken to Memorial Hospital at Easton. Tuttle was being treated for a broken left tibia, according to police.

Both vehicles were towed from the scene.

Traffic was blocked at the intersection for about an hour.

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Well, a lot has happened since Friday.  Justin is home and resting.  Learning to get around with a “boot” on his lower leg, using crutches to go up and down stairs, and how to take a shower when you only have 1 leg you can (a) get wet and (b) put any weight on.  He’s definitely getting into better spirits tho.

Per usual, we have found out a little more info regarding the accident and it looks like the…..um…..person (and I use that word especially lightly here) who hit him seems to be uninsured.  Or at the very least, provided false information to the State Trooper.  We have to do more leg work, but it looks like Justin is going to take it in the shorts more than one way.  I’ll spare you the unseeming details, well, because I would fill it with expletives and I just dont want to do that.

Hell is looking like a step up from here.

This is where it happened, less than 1/10th of a mile from his office, and barely 4/10ths of a mile from the so-called-hospital that “triaged” him:

Justin got the okay from Dr. Greco to go home this morning as soon as a PT makes sure he can walk on crutches!

Hooray!

Well, its after 9:30pm, Justin has been tucked in for the night and we are home trying to grab some shut-eye before tomorrow comes.

As you can see, Justin was finally smiling, which made this mom very happy!  The nerve block they used on his leg is still working wonders, so the pain is minimal.  He knows that by mid-day on Friday that will probably change, but the good news is, the pain, whatever he does have, should STILL be less than what he had on Monday.  We did get the good surgeon we were hoping for, and although the procedure took an hour and a half longer than projected, all went well.  Justin is now the proud owner of a titanium 1/2″ diameter rod down the full length of his calf, and 3 new screws.  Dr. Greco confirmed that the leg was definitely out of whack pretty good, way out of alignment and it took some work to get it all straightened out, but we all have faith that he did a good job putting the kid back together correctly.

We have a tradition in our family of taking an obscene amount of photos in situations like this, so you will see a link somewhere in here to all the craziness throughout the day.

Justin does have some wonderful friends, and those who could, Kristin, Julie, Bryan and Nick stopped by, and definitely raised his spirits.  The nurses got his number pretty quickly and threatened him with big needles if he didnt behave.  Seems like they will be getting along really well

The pictures currently posted are the ones Dennis took on his camera phone and loaded to Flickr.  I’ll post the rest tomorrow probably. 

I’m exhausted, and going to bed.

ACCIDENT PICTORIAL

This is the helmet that saved Justin’s noggin.  Bless this helmet.  It barely has any marks on it.

I love this helmet.

[p.s there are approximately 6 posts so far concerning Justin's accident, so scroll down if you want the full scoop!]

It seems Justin had a pretty quiet day, which is good.  The last couple days have been really painful for him, so I’m glad it seems we’ve finally gotten the pain under control, if nothing else.  I’m reallly thankful that Dennis has been able to stay home with him. 

Surgery is scheduled at PRMC in Salisbury tomorrow (Thursday 8/23).  We have to be at the hospital at about 8:30 am. He was 4th on the list, but he’s been bumped up, so that part is good.  We’ve been told he’ll stay 23 hours after and should be ready to come home Friday.  Shelly tells me we should have a good Ortho team there, so I am feeling pretty good.  [We're just hoping we dont get the 1 doc that she said to stay away from.]  Hopefully once the bone is straightened out and put together, the rod inserted, it will be less painful for Justin than the situation he’s currently in. (pics of the xrays in the link below)

Here’s a link to the pic’s again, if you want to look, and there are some good pictures of his mangled bike, too.  Dennis went by the lot today and took the pics.

Please send happy thoughts and good wishes Justin’s way on Thursday.  I’ll update again Thursday night, if possible, or Friday when I can.

~sigh~

I like to talk, anyone who knows me, knows that!

However, I dont have the ability to put words together as well as Dennis and Adam do. This is Dennis’ description of Justin’s status (his report to his bosses):

Orthopedic visit today wasn’t good news. They felt the ER in Easton should have operated on Justin yesterday or transferred him to PMRC for an emergency procedure last night. Easton ER x-rays weren’t done well and apparently didn’t show this much damage.

Because it’s already been more than 24 hours and because tomorrow’s OR was already booked he’s now scheduled him for surgery Thursday morning (he’s 4th). He’ll stay overnight and, with no complications, be released sometime Friday.

The break is pretty bad. Bone displacement is about 3/4 inch and there’s a floating 1×3x1/4 inch piece sheared lengthwise. He has to have a full length rod installed inside his tibia (the bigger of two bones in your lower leg) along with a few anchor screws to pull it all together. I’ve heard about rods before but never knew anyone that got one. This was the first time I’ve heard that they have to be removed in 2-3 years.

He’s on 10mg Oxycodone. Pharmacy said it doesn’t get much stronger. Mostly he’s either asleep, semi-lucid or in a lot of pain.

Much better than I ever put it.

Today, there was some really good news!

My brother Don became a Grandpa (and sister-in-law) Irene a Grandma for the first time!  YAY!  Daughter Ellen and son-in-law Charlie have been anxiously awaiting the birth of William Terrance who made his appearance at 3 pm Central time :)  All 10 fingers and all 10 toes are all accounted for, and I hear he’s quite a looker!

Weighing in at a whopping 8lbs, and 19.5 inches, he’s got a good healthy start on life!

We wish you guys all the best!

Woo Hoo!

(or at the very least, they are going to get a scathing complaint both at the hospital and the Maryland Medical (Malpractice?) Board)

Dennis took Justin to see the orthopaedist this afternoon.  They were appalled at the treatment Justin received in the ER.  Said he should have gone straight into surgery last night.  If we had opposed the surgery in Easton (which we would have) they would have done an ER to ER transfer to the hospital that we wanted him at, and had the surgery scheduled ASAP there.  Apparently that is not unheard of, and they should have known to do it.  At a minimum, he should have been put in a FULL leg splint.

Lets go over the mistakes screaming out at us here. 

1) they took bad xrays, from the wrong angle, and couldnt see the extent of the break (kind of looking from the knee down, we were told today) (DUH); 

2) relying on the bad xray (DUH) lead the ER doc to misinform the orthopaedist on call (did the ortho even SEE the xray, or did he just get told about it?); 

3) again, relying on the bad xray, and the misinformation, the ortho relays to the ER doc that Justin didnt need any surgery and should be splinted, and referred to his own orthopaedist.  (super DUH)(I understand the one part, since they were told we had our own ortho doc we wanted him to see)

Resulting in:

1) Excruciating pain and discomfort for Justin;

2) The bone not being set straight or in the correct type of splint when he left the hospital;

3) Because he was put in only a lower leg splint, the bones in his lower leg can actually move some, and that can/could cause even more damage, since his whole leg was not immobilized.  This can damage tissue, muscles, etc.

The ortho today took new xrays that clearly show the break and how offset it is.  It is just mindblowing that something like this can be overlooked.   This is a very serious break.  (the ortho said so)

So, now, Justin is scheduled for surgery Thursday morning.  He’s #4 in line on the Ortho list.  He will have a steel rod going basically the length of his shin and many screws put in his leg that apparently he will have removed in two or so years.

Some trivia tidbits…. I have a brother that is a Fireman/EMT (actually I have lots of them, but only one who is an EMT. . . that I know about), and I called him this afternoon (I’ll explain why in a minute)… and he mentioned seeing many motorcycle accidents, and just leg injuries in general, and even he knew that his leg should have been in a full splint, and 90% of the time required surgery. . .  so why didnt this ER doc? Why didnt the ortho on call - just as a precaution, make sure he was at a minimum, in a full leg splint?

The reason why I called Frank (my EMT brother) is because his daughter-in-law happens to be a top-notch surgical tech, who before my nephew dragged her to Texas, worked in the hospital Justin will be having his surgery in on Thursday.  She actually worked Ortho cases there.  Naturally I wanted to get her input on the surgeons and stuff.  So I got Shellys number from Frank…..  Anyway, Shelly was also appalled at the treatment Justin got, and pretty much said it was basic knowledge to use a full leg splint on leg breaks. Period.  She also told us what surgeon to totally avoid, as in, she wouldn’t let him near her with a 20 ft stick if she was dying.  So it gives us something to look out for.

Well, I have a couple pictures to put up of the xrays they took today-but I’ll only post one,

 

and you can see the rest of his broken leg journey here…..