schmoppa

Hello,

A friend, "John," took way too much air off a ski jump and landed funny, on his feet, but somehow he messed his head up. He must have landed stiff, so his brain took the brunt of the shock. He also badly bruised his thigh.

He was airlifted out to a hospital in Denver. They were able to give him a CAT scan before his dad arrived... but they are Christian Scientist so his dad told them to stop.

Supposedly the CAT (or CT? not sure) scan showed that his brain was bleeding. That's all I've heard, his friends can't ask the doctor because he can't talka bout it to non-family. I don't think anyone has asked his family, since they are in their Christian Science-brand denial, waiting for God to fix him up. Ironic for two reasons: one of his brothers married a nurse, and his dad went in for a shattered elbow 6 months ago. I guess shattered elbows are more serious than potential brain damage.

Just before he got put on the helicopter, his friend asked him "say my name," and John was able to do it.

Later that night, at the hospital, he was not really conscious.

After the initial CAT scan, his dad put a stop to it, and they moved him out of the ICU, so he is lying unsedated in a bed.

When I saw him the next day, if he wasn't taped up with an IV needle, catheter, and neck brace, he just seemed like he was tossing and turning a bit in his sleep. His legs move, he shifts from his back to his side and back after a while. Other than the tossing behavior, he grabs a pillow, moves it around, like between his legs, or off. It just looks like he's in a never-ending quest to become comfortable; with all those needles and catheters and head trauma, I'm sure he's not comfortable at all.

Occasionally he will try to untape the IV needles. Or else he sort of tries to sit up in bed. Also he He is REALLY strong, so we have to wrestle him down. Once his brother had to do it, and John said "you're hurting me" a couple of times. When I stopped him from pulling his needles out, saying "No, you have to leave them in, No, NO!" he said "Stop saying no, Stop saying no." And he grabbed my wrist in a death grip (did I mention he's really strong?)

I've seen him sort of try to open his eyes, but it doesn't really work. He responds somewhat to stimuli, like grabbing his hand, and sometimes when we ask him to squeeze he does so. When I left, I said bye, and I think he sort of reacted and reached for my hand, maybe said something. It's hard to say.

I heard that after I left, he tried to get up several times. But again, he doesn't really open his eyes. So I think he's at least somewhat aware of his surroundings, though I'm not sure if he's seen the room. He is very strong willed, so he doesn't like not getting his way and having other people tell him what to do or restrain him.

Anyways, as his friends we think he would want treatment. He is not a minor, so we don't see how his family can tell them to prevent at least exploratory scans and treatment, to figure out an actual prognosis.

In watching ER, i've seen where people have DNR statements, so in a sense it's a sort of "opt out" radio button on a website - except that on a website, you are opting out of receiving spam - a bad thing - while in real life it is more like opting out of treatment, which is a good thing if you are in a medical situation where it's not worth it to resuscitate(sp?). So what I am trying to say is that without such a signed statement, doctors should treat him despite his family's wishes in such cases where their (not HIS) religion states that they shouldn't receive medical help; back the teh website analogy, the good websites automatically opt you out of the things that most people wouldn't want, but if they do want it they say so, for medicine, most people want treatment, but if they don't, they better have a form signed stating such. I'm all about freedom of religion and such, but a father being a devout Christian Scientist does not make his son a Christian Scientist, no matter how hard the son tries not to "rock the boat" and disclose his non CS-behaviors. Further, he actually has health insurance. That should automatically override any familial dictates.

We, his friends, all know that he does a lot of things that don't adhere to the CS subset-faith. We think that he would want treatment. We are afraid that without treatment he may never be able to be of adequate sound mind to tell the doctors that he wants treatment.

Any ideas, or help? Time is of the essence; he had his accident a couple of days ago; the cynical side of me says that he is never again going to be the John we knew, because it's already been too long.

Sorry for the long post. I'm a little crazy with concern and sadness today and missing some capacity for brevity.