OldGuy

Hey guys talk about a bad week. Went to the mountains for a mini vacation. My 16 YO son hit his head skateboarding on the 4th in Mammoth. Now It was obvious now he was concussed on Tues. He threw up on Tues, and complained of a back ache But I thought when he started eating that nite he was better. I dismissed it when he started eating. He was skating without a helmet. He probably thought if he told me he got hurt skating(head) without a helmet I would have STOPPED his skating till he got a helmet. Which is probably right. We argue about that all the time. He never said his head was hurt.

We got up on Wed. and he was sleeping. I could see him breathing and his pulse. But he didnt wake up in 30 minutes or so sleeping on the couch of our condo and the chihauhaus were on him. So I tried waking him. No response. I called 911 and in 3 minutes there were 8 techs working on him. I told them about the head ache and they progressed on that issue. Then it hit me he might have got in my slow release pain meds for my back. I told them that immediately. The medic says if he was concussed at his age, his reasoning skills would have gone right out the window. Now taking unknown locked up pain meds would not be a bad idea for a concussed teen age brain.

He was in the ER for an hour, but no response, so they airlifted him to Reno, Renown medical center. Right before that I insisted on a Tox screen, it was positive for pain meds. My wife flew with him to Reno I went to the condo and waited for my oldest to drive up and take the dogs and let me drive to Reno. My pain med box lock was busted and many of my back meds were missing.

I drove to Reno that night Wed nite and he was in the Pediatric ICU. Thurs morning he was still unconscious and they did a MRI and Cat Scan on his head. Frontal lobe and left side damage. Doc says he may not wake up.
That morning we found the head injury that probably caused all this oozing on his pillow. No one else had seen that. It was the size of a half dollar.
He DOES have a TON of hair and it was hard to see, if not for the white pillow.

Thurs afternoon my wife and I came back from lunch and my son was awake. He was telling everyone to "Fu*k off" Calling the nurses stupid. VERY angry.
We were happy that he was even awake. He could move his arms and even tried hitting his mom. Legs not so good. But we were very happy. Dr. said this was very good.

Not much happened that afternoon, because he tried hitting the Dr. who was not interested in boxing and sedated him. We got a hotel room IN the hospital and went back and looked up brain injuries and turns out he was around stage 4 in 10 stages of brain injury recovery. INAPPROPRIATE and ANGRY behaviour.
(Renown is SO big it has a hotel in it with tower after tower of different medical study and hospitals)
He called my wife a bit*h. She wasnt happy. I tried telling her that right now, just be grateful we have something to work with. The next morning I started asking him questions to see if I could exercise his brain. I asked him if he knew why he was there. For some reason he showed me a bit of respect and didnt cuss at me.
But he talked in a staccato rapid style and told me he busted in my pain med safe and took close to 20 of my meds. He said he took 3 and nothing worked, 10 minutes later 3 more etc etc. I take 4-6 a day.
Now we had an idea of what happened.

Every Day he started improving more and more. Sunday, my meds are starting to run out. I am in the biggest medical center in the west outside of California.
Monday with Sean improving and sleeping. In four or more towers, with 10 story towers and a covered medical facility bigger than Magic Mountain, I could not find ONE doctor to help me. We went to the top Dr. of the facility and he told me I had to drive 300 miles back to SoCal to see my Dr. to take care of my Rx. I was heart broken. Never so devastated in my whole life. My wife is still in Reno!

So I drive back to Mammoth Monday and wake up Tues racked with pain. I had to go to the Emergency room in Mammoth to get some help to finish the drive back to my home. I get back home and I cant get my doctor to see me. It appeared the guy doesnt believe me. We faxed the report from Reno to his office and his nurse says the report said my son took ONE pill. Apparently my son had brain damage from taking one pill.
I got the ER report from Mammoth and take it to his office, and still would not move up my appt. that report was 150 pages for one hour. Talk about being just completely screwed and in a bad situation.

Luckily my son is improving every day. My appt is Tuesday and hopefully I get my Rx refilled and allow me to drive back to Reno the minute I leave his office.
The DEA rules are so strict now that the only people that get really regulated are the legitimate patients.

I had my back surgery rescheduled to a really good doctor in Los Angeles but thats not till middle of Aug. at St Johns hospital in Santa Monica. As soon as thats done I am having the Rx situation shut down and out as soon as my Back rehab is done.

I dont know what all this is going to cost, but I have a feeling my Porsche days may be over. I have insurance but I already got a letter from the air ambulance
telling me to alert my insurance about their bill. I havent even figured out how my son is going to transferred from Reno to a Rehab facility in SoCal and I already have a letter from Sierra LifeFlight in Bishop Ca, telling me though I have insurance its my responsibility to make sure the bill is paid. They wrote the
letter on July the 8th, 2 days after the flight. How touching.

Ultimately this would have never happened if my son was wearing a skate helmet. Tell you kids what can happen if they dont. I could sure use your prayers guys.

regards

Paul G.

911rox

Paul, so sorry to hear this and I'm sure the thoughts of all will be with you and your family...

It is a scarey experience to have a family member go through a head injury... I speak from experience. Dad came off a ladder at work and landed head first from 4 meters up when a fellow worker moved it not noticing he was up there!!! What you describe is normal for frontal lobe injuries and with time it improves. Your son is young and is in the best position to recover from these injuries. Spare no expense to get him right... Rehab will make a world of difference...

Screw Porsche ownership, don't even think about that for a moment... If you get yourself and your son back to good health and have to drive a ford focus, BONUS... No material pocession is more important than your health. Best of luck...

masmole

Sorry to hear. I hope your son makes a full recovery, or as close to it as possible.

RSRRacer

I am so sorry to hear about this.

I own a company in NC and we are in the business of administering health plans for large self insured companies. I am not sure who your carrier(s) are for your health coverage, but regardless I am glad to help you if you get into any trouble with your carrier(s).

There are certain paths you can take this if you believe for one minute that they are going to try to deny the claim(s). I can't promise anything but can give you some guidance that may help.

Please pm me your contact info and I will do likewise.

aussie jimmy

damn! sorry to hear this. hope all is well soon.

OldGuy

Thanks, I just cant believe I am held hostage by an Rx! I want to at least be up there with my boy and my wife, but I get to sit here while waiting for my dr. to allow the calendar to cycle a couple days. To me thats unconscionable on my doctors part. I understand the DEA rules but making me wait here while my family is in Reno is one of the biggest farce's I have ever seen in our twisted insurance situation.
AND OBAMACARE is going to solve issues like this?
THIS is just SCREWED. Its not fair to make my wife put this on her shoulders while I am held hostage
by my pain management Lord.

kyrocks

Very sorry and good luck. Unfortunately, the US system is very screwed up. No one in Canada would be broke because of medical situations like yours (it all comes from taxes which you pay anyways). It's hard to convince Americans that their system is very faulty, but no system is perfect. Everyone here believes what they hear from Fox news, TV, etc... All the best to you and your family.

DreamCarrera

Sorry to hear this Paul. I have a 17 y.o. daughter and I cannot imagine how hard it would be to experience something like this with one of your children.

I sincerely wish both you and your son a full and speedy recovery. My thoughts and prayers will be with the both of you.

SaveMeA550

All the best to you and your son. BTW, what's his name? I'll keep him in my prayers.

SaveMeA550

"Screw Porsche ownership, don't even think about that for a moment... If you get yourself and your son back to good health and have to drive a ford focus, BONUS... No material pocession is more important than your health. Best of luck..."

+1 on that note.

ADias

Paul: I am sorry to hear this and my prayers are with you.

OldGuy

BELIEVE me that wasnt my concern. I wasnt concerned about my Porsche, I was DISGUSTED with the Air Ambulance sending me a letter TWO days after the accident telling me that they would appreciate my help with the bill with the insurance company and how they dont like bills going past 60 days unpaid. And billing my insurance was a COURTESY provided by THEM. That I SHOULD call the insurance company to make sure it gets paid, and to ENLIST ME in helping them AVOID any DELAYS in PAYING the bill.
Like right now I am thinking about THEIR billing dept. Like I CARE wether the bill gets paid in 30 days or 60 Days.

The whole letter was disgusting. Really. given the severity of injuries the patients they serve have you think they could have waited maybe a WEEK? before sending their HOUNDS out?

911rox

I hear you OG and it didn't come across as though owning a Pcar was of concern to you.

Regretfully health has gone the way of everything else these days and its all about business... Even governments are in the business of implementing policies to suit friends in high places for personal benefits down the track. You do wateva it takes to get your boy right and let them wait. There accounts will be sorted in due course!

OldGuy

Sean is my sons name.

Good news from my wife, today was a stellar improvement day. According to her, and I talked to my son on the phone, she said he is pretty much back to being the 16 year old goof ball he was before. He sounded completely normal on the phone. He wants me to bring him his phone from the Condo. He wants to bring him some gatoraide and some Hot Links. 4 days ago he was being fed by a tube.

My wife said the only thing now is his walking is hard for him. Balance of his upper trunk. He told me his legs were "retarded". He can text on a phone that doesnt have a QWERT keyboard so that tells me his fine motor skills are rapidly returning. We are a very lucky family.

But being HERE sucks instead of being there with them.

BTW I was surprised how badly the economy has hurt Reno. It looks no more than Winnemucca did 10 years ago.

NJ-GT

Paul,

My deep prayers go to Sean and to you as well. Things will get better, be patience and keep your faith strong.