Week 1
July 3, 2021
Dimitri was riding his bike in Bragg Creek when he went over his handlebars and landed on his head. Nothing technical or challenging. Joseph, his son, found him crumpled, arms blue and unable to breathe. Joseph saved his life till STARS came. Dimitri had surgery 10 hours later by Dr. Evaniew, a Neurosurgeon. He was not sure of the outcome but felt that surgery had to be done as soon as possible to relieve the pressure on the spinal cord for the best possible results.First 8 days in ICU
Dimitri was worse than pre-op. He had difficulty breathing as the spinal cord injury was so high that it affected his lungs and diaphragm. He could barely speak at an audible level.I am grateful to U of S for respiratory training as I was doing breathing exercises and suctioning to maintain his airway. I did acupuncture and gave him approved herbs ( liquid vitamin B for nerves, cranberry D mannose for bladder ). As I moved each joint (shoulder, elbow, wrist, fingers, thumb, hip, knee, ankle, toes), I asked him to visualize moving since he could not do it himself.
Day 3 was special as I brought in Greek music and the expresso machine while we did Physio. Dimitri was moved from a more intense to a less intense ICU. Our kind nurse and respiratory therapist allowed us to go outside to see the immediate family, including Hedley (our fur baby), with their supervision.