Day 3 - Post 5 - The 'Shattered' Vertabrae

The surgery to Devin's leg yesterday went just about as good as it could have gone and we are very thankful for everyone involved. We feel very blessed to have such a great hospital with excellent doctors and nurses to care for Devin. We are also very thankful for all of you that have prayed for his recovery.


Today Devin goes into surgery for his back.



He shattered his L4 vertebrae (L4 is at highest point of iliac crest, which was also fractured).

Immediately after the fall, Devin tried a few times to get up and each time he tried, there was no movement in his legs at all... When we learned that he had 'shattered' his L4 vertebrae we were very concerned that he could be permanently paralyzed... We were really devastated...

We would not find out if he had permanent nerve damage until after this surgery. He went into surgery at 9am and 6 hours later the doctors had been able to reposition the fractured and displaced vertebrae, open up the spinal canal, place 2 rods on either end of the spinal cord and hold it all into place with 6 screws. This took pressure off of the nerves and the doctors are giving him an 80% chance of his nerve damage recovering fully. We were relieved to say the least. He will be in a body cast for 3 months, however body casts are so much different today than the plaster casts that were once used.

Additional CT Scans were done on his abdominal area. The doctors are concerned about the internal injuries to the Spleen, Liver and kidney. They also did another X-Ray on his back to verify that he had proper alignment after his back surgery.

The team responsible for his broken arm were able to set the bones, and without surgery as they had thought would be required. So much to be thankful for today.

Still no responsiveness from Devin. He remains in critical condition in the ICU. He has considerable swelling and bruising, mostly in his face and both ankles. He also has 6 medical drainage devices with tubing going into his body at both feet, hip and back. Each of these has removed a significant amount of fluids resulting in a reduction of swelling.

It is still unclear at this time if he will be able to have additional surgery performed tomorrow. He has held up very well after two days of back to back full day operations, can this continue? how much additional trauma can his body take? We will find out tomorrow when the surgery on his feet can begin.