It Happens

Dearest All,

We all, and especially Eric, Zatha, and I, are so uplifted by the incredible love, prayers, thoughts, photos, phone calls, messages, postings, texts, shares, visits, gifts, and offers of support. Every single one of them and each of you are appreciated and loved in return. We listen to every message, read every text and message, see every post and are reminded of how wonderful humanity is, how dear you all are to us! They always say (and I’ve previously thought it rather pat, but now know that it’s a classic saying for a reason – because it’s true and timeless) that it sometimes takes a struggle like this to realize how much someone is truly loved. Hans is loved! Hans is amazing! Hans is truly an inspirational young man!

Tonight I set up this Caring Bridge website to make it easier to share Hans’s progress and details of his journey through his recovery. I seriously debated doing it because though you all may joke about my excessive posting of photos, and my political beliefs, I rarely feel comfortable sharing the gritty details of our lives. But, like the classic saying above, there is a reason Caring Bridge is recommended and so widely used for this purpose.

Despite wearing his clipped helmet, Hans has several skull fractures, several broken facial and jaw bones, and internal cranial trauma and bleeding. He has no other broken bones, no bodily internal injuries, nor does there appear to be any spinal damage. We do not know the full extent of his brain tissue injuries yet as the incredible team of experts and professionals continue to work on stabilizing his condition to prepare him for a more definitive MRI.

Hans is in a medically-induced coma and is thus breathing via a ventilator. He was placed into medically-induced hypothermia for his first 24 hours here. The pressure in his brain is being relieved via a cranial stent and they have been able to successfully control and maintain his pressure levels this way, rather than by use of the more radical craniotomy (removal of a portion of the skull to relieve the pressure) which is good news. The staff is working diligently on adjusting all of his medications. They are also feeding him a liquid diet.

Today they began and are continuing to work on bringing him out of the hypothermia and return his body temperature to normal.They are also working on bringing his body to a fully supine position in order to safely be in the position for the lengthy MRI. This can be stressful on his fragile brain, so they continually monitor his various vital signs as they move him and change his medications. And it has been stressful on him. He has had several fluctuations in his multitude of variables, and they have been able to control each of them; however, this slows the warming and medication reduction process and delays the MRI. We originally believed that he would be able to tolerate the MRI tomorrow (Tuesday) but it is now postponed until he is more stable, and can tolerate the lowered position for sustained periods.

There are a few more bits of good news! Prior to this evening, his right pupil was dilated and unresponsive, but this evening we were overjoyed to see that the pupil has decreased in size and is responsive! He arrived with his gag reflex working, then it had stopped working – and it has returned! There were times when his extremities wouldn’t respond to neurological tests – they are now responding, though still at a base level. We are hoping Hans will have a quiet, healing, successful night.

We can all remember those hospital stays where we couldn’t wait to get home because we couldn’t get a wink of sleep or rest with all the necessary medical interruptions, thus to keep Hans quiet and still and peaceful for successful healing we have implemented a strict and limited visitation policy. We welcome visitors to the hospital, and, if we are available, we will gladly come visit with each of you in the lobby or waiting room – but not for Hans at this time. Either Eric, Zatha, or I will be in the room with him at all times.

I will update here as often as possible, most likely late every evening. We LOVE all the calls, and postings, and messages – keep them coming! Every prayer, every thought, every positive vibe and energy you offer truly works miracles! Nothing you say or do or bring or question could offend us or anger us or bother us. You know that we can’t answer or respond to all correspondence but we want to hear from you! I know that natural feeling of curiosity we all have, I know that incredible love and admiration we all have for Hans! He is just so darn cool.