This post was originally done on Brandie's BLOG at the address below.
Brandie is Rob's sister.
Link
Where do I start at a time like this? The last 48 hours have been quite a whirlwind with very little sleep and lots of tears.
On Wednesday morning my brother was leaving for an electrician job in West Texas. As he was telling his kiddos by, Caleb said "daddy don't go because I don't have a good feeling about this". So Robert did what every parent does and said "it's ok buddy I'll be back in a few days".
My brother was driving on of the trucks with one other guy in the passenger seat. Just outside of McCamey, Texas their truck had a tire blowout. Rob lost control of the truck and rolled several times. His passenger was able to crawl out of the truck, but my brother was not. Emergency services were notified. They arrived on the scene and Rob told them that his neck was hurting. He was taken to a small rural hospital and then transferred to a somewhat larger one, where by the grace of God, they had a trauma and neurosurgeon working that evening.
During this time my parents, me, George and the girls were at Walt Disney World. As soon as we were notified we waded (yes waded, as God was dumping sheets of rain in Orlando). We found out soon that we couldn't get flights back to Texas until morning. This, of course, was devastating for my parents.
Back to Rob. At this time he's all alone in Odessa and we are relying on God to hold his hand through the evening. After an MRI and CT scan were concluded we got the devastating news that he had broken his neck. He had bone fragments at C2-3 and at C5-6 the vertebral bodies were jumped. The spinal cord was pinched at C5-6. So he quickly went in for surgery. The bone fragments were easily removed with no damage and the surgeon tried to reposition the vertebrae with traction (Rob has a lovely gash on the side of his skull to show for it), but was unsuccessful. He was turned and had a C4-7 fusion. If you aren't familiar with medical lingo, this procedure is done to stabilize the boney spine, but does nothing for the spinal cord. There is no current procedure to "fix" the spinal cord, but the boney structures are fixed in order to stabilize and prevent further damage.
He came out of surgery on a ventilator and heavily sedated, as your breathing muscles are often involved with injury at the higher cervical levels. Our angels for the evening, Uncle Bubba as Anne, we're the first to arrive at the hospital and hold hands with Rob. There are not words to express how much peace this gave all of us that a loved one was with him.
He had a decent night and by morning the vent was removed and he was breathing on his own. Praise Jesus. Hollie and other family started trickling in throughout the day and were able to give us updates as we were traveling all over the country to get back to him.
I think that Thursday was a good day for him. I can't even begin to imagine how it would feel to lie in a bed, with people surrounding you, but being unable to move. My parents finally arrived in Odessa around 6pm and were able to see him for the first time. This, of course, was very very difficult for them and I wish more than anything that I would have been there to love on them during that time.
He had another decent night on Thursday. I hopped in the car early yesterday and arrived around noon. Man, seeing your only brother lying in that hospital bed is not easy. Seeing that, along with your parents at his bedside crying is one of the hardest things I've done.
I spent the day yesterday just hanging out with my brother and helping with anything he needed. I left to take a small break a few times, but it was so hard to walk out of that room. I'm not saying that I'm an expert by any means, but I think that during this time I have enough knowledge of spinal cord injuries, treatment and rehab that I need to step in and do everything I can to help him. My brother and I have had a rocky relationship, probably since birth or at least the time that I told the principle about a fight in high school so my brother got detention:), but right now I can't sit back without helping him in every way I know possible.
Yesterday, helping him meant brushing his teeth, giving him drinks and my dad and I trying desperately to position him and get him comfortable. It's all I knew to do, along with some pep talks, some crying and just being there.
I was able to talk with the neurosurgeon last night. He spoke to Robert, Hollie, my parents and me. He was very honest and told us everything we needed to hear. He shared the before and after X-rays. As I was leaving the room alone, the dr stopped and asked if I wanted a complete medical rundown of what he was seeing. His exact words were, "you've seen this before and know what's going on so I thought that I would talk to you as a professional instead of family". I wanted to say that I already had him fooled, but instead I listened closely. He showed me the pics of neck at every level before and after and was very open and honest once again.
As a professional, it was gut wrenching to hear, knowing the research and facts, but as a sister it gave me a desire to fight even harder for my brother.
Currently, we awaiting him to stabilize his breathing and heart function and then will be moved to a regular room until a rehab bed becomes available at Baylor in Dallas or at TIRR in Houston.
He has a long road ahead and seems like he is ready for the fight. He has been in wonderful spirits considering the entire situation.
Current prayer requests:
1) that his breathing and heart function stabilize
2) that he is able to control his pain better
3) that we can start raising the head of the bed and it be comfortable
4) that he can transfer to Baylor or TIRR soon so that we start rehab
5) that Caleb and Sarah can see their daddy soon
6) peace for Hollie, my parents and Rob to know that all of this is out of of our control
That's all for now. I will update again in a few days.
Here is a link about spinal cord injury to help answer any questions. This is an issue that's near and dear to my heart before all of this happened. So I have lots more info and lots of new researching any of you would like more info.
The Reeve family has been in the forefront of research and advancement for many years. There is a lot of info on their site.
There has also been a donation fund set up by PaulAnn Baptist Church in San Angelo. It is for Robert Powell at Crockett County National Bank in San Angelo and Abilene. The amount of expenses during this time will be very very great so if you feel inclined to donate please do so. Thanks
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