On March 1st of 2005 I was in an accident that nearly cost me my life.  Shortly after leaving home on my motorcycle (Harley Sportster) on a Tuesday evening I was in a near head-on collision with a car.  How bad was it you ask?

1. Multiple fractures to my skull. (Temporal bone and occipital bone)
2. Broken bone in my left ear.
3. Subdural hematoma.
4. Nerve damage to the left side of my face. (I was unable to close my left eye for almost 4 months).
5. Broken collarbone on the left side.
6. All my ribs broken on the left side and a fracture on the right. (bilateral 1st, left 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th)
7. Multiple fractures to bones on my spine. (Bilateral T2 processes, left T5 process, left T7 process.  The processes are the little bones that stick out on your spine.  Was really fortunate that there weren't any 'more serious' spinal fractures that could have very well left me paralyzed.)
8. Lung contusions.
9. Both lungs collapsed.
10. Traumatic brain injury (TBI).
11. Brain laceration.
12. Anoxic brain damage. (Lack of oxygen to the brain)
13. Hip and thigh injury. (Minor)
14. Lower leg injury. (Minor)
15. Injury to face and neck.
16. Injury to abdomen.
17. Injury to chest wall.

I was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and placed in the Intensive Care Unit.  A ventilator was placed in to assist with breathing.  I remained in the ICU for about three weeks and a coma was induced to keep me from moving while the fractures healed.

After the time in ICU I was moved to Kindred Hospital to be weaned from the ventilator.  Sometime during this time, I believe they stopped the drugs that had induced the coma.  Though they stopped the drugs, I still did not regain consciousness. 

Two and a half months after the accident I was moved to North Seattle Health and Rehab. (A skilled nursing facility)  At this time my family in New York was being advised that I would probably never wake up and they began preparations to have me moved back to New York, expecting that I would need nursing home care for the rest of my life.  The longer the coma continued, the more it looked to be a permanent condition.

I am a recovering addict (clean for over 12 years at the time of the accident) and had been active in NA (Narcotics Anonymous) for years.  A person I sponsor had been coming to the hospital regularly to see me.  After two and a half months of a coma, and little expectation of improvement, he began to get discouraged and went home and made the following prayer.

"God, Rod doesn't seem to be getting any better.  I have a step that I need to work and Rod is the only sponsor I have had so I tell you what I'll do.  I'll go in one more time.  If he's no better I'll find a new sponsor and get back to working the steps and get on with my life."

The next day he came in and that was the day I woke up!!  Miracles do happen and I received one.

At first I was unable to walk, talk, sit up, write or tell time.  I wasn't allowed to eat any solid foods and was being fed through a tube into my stomach.  The rehab at North Seattle was designed primarily to begin getting my strength back enough to first sit up, and them walking short distance with a walker and a cane.  I still was not allowed to try and was unable to get in or out of bed or into a wheelchair without help.  As I slowly began to get stronger I was finally transferred back to Harborview to their intensive rehab unit.  Where I had been walking for short periods of time under supervision at North Seattle, now I walked everywhere I went, even if it was with a walker.

After 4 months of hospital care I was finally released to return home at the end of June.

I began taking regular walks and was making progress on my rehab.  I put the walker in the closet and it remained there for the next six months.  I was in a real hurry to get back to the condition I was in before the accident.  Looking back at it, maybe too much of a hurry.  In talking to people who had similar accidents, they were told 2-4 years before returning to work.  I returned to work, on a limited basis, six months after the accident.  I was almost to a point where I felt I could work full time when I had what seemed to be a minor fall.  (This is an additional note made later. I had been walking a mile a day unassisted. In a foolish attempt to prove that I could, when I got to the end of that mile walk I turned around to retrace my walk for a walk of two miles. When I got almost to the end of that distance, and in sight of my home my legs gave out and I fell.) Because of the brain injury, even a seemingly minor fall can have some rather pronounced effects.  This setback, and the psychological effects of the TBI led me to a point where I resigned my job and moved back to New York to be near family.  .Over time I am slowly learning to live with this new body and mind that I now inhabit, and come to terms with the fact that the old me is gone, and the new one isn't such a bad guy.

Recovery has been slow and at times painful.  There have been times of great progress and also times of serious setback, but through it all I have been truly blessed.

As I update this page, (end of February '07) I am approaching the two year anniversary of the accident, and this seems to be a good time to look at what appears to be the permanent effects of the accident.

1. Nerve damage to my right leg resulting in almost constant pain and sensitivity.  This is manageable with medication to a point where I can sleep comfortably etc.
2. Nerve damage to my right hand.  When I get tired this is especially noticeable and I have noticeable tremors in that hand.
3. My balance can be rather shaky at times, although this seems to be very slowly improving over time.  It is particularly noticeable if fatigued.
4. I fatigue rather quickly and when I push too hard, my physical ability takes a rather dramatic nose dive.
5. I can get rather emotional at times, but I have been clear of any anti-depressants for almost a month.  The mood swings can be rather severe, but they are more manageable now that I am living with family and am on disability and have much less pressure day to day.
6. Don't have the ability to overeat like I used to.  Overdoing it leaves me sick at times.  This actually has forced me into a much healthier lifestyle, and has allowed me to get clear of meds for type 2 diabetes.  My blood sugar level is much more stable now that I drink diet soda, and am not trying to cheat on my diet all the time.  As an added benefit of this better diet, I have lost a significant amount of weight and have kept it off.  (I dropped from 220 lbs. down to 150.  I have gone from 170 almost a year ago up to about 180, and this seems pretty stable.
7. Some major hits to my memory as a result of the brain injury.  This comes and goes.  Not sure sometimes how much of this is the injury and how much of it is age catching up to me.
8. When overtired there is a noticeable deteriorating in my speech, and overall some permanent effects to my speech, although I am able to talk clearly enough to communicate effectively most of the time.

As of July, 2007.  I am once again taking anti-depressants.  My physical improvement seems to have come to an end.  Most days I can do ok, and I walk with a cane whenever I am out of the house.  The one irritating thing is that every once in awhile, with no apparent warning or cause, my physical condition really takes a dive, leaving me barely able to walk at all.  After a couple of days things seem to go back to 'normal' but I never know, day to day, how I am going to do.  Frustrating, but I guess that in the long run I am lucky to be alive at all.

Update in February 2011. I am now living in an Assisted Living Facility after having fallen a number of times. After one such fall I had an MRI at the local VA hospital and the neurologist explained to me what was happening in terms that finally made sense to me. I was describing the problems with fatigue and she said that for all intensive purposes what happened to be (in particular the TBI) is the same as a stroke. Where a stroke is because of damage to the brain internally, this damage was the result of injury from an outside source. This made sense finally. I have to avoid overdoing it, because if I reach the end of my limits, I crash dive. This has happened on more than one occasion when I have pushed myself too hard. For example, when I first came to where I now live I was using a cane, but walking wherever I went. Then shortly after coming here I found out that they had a treadmill in the activity room. Being the bullheaded person I am I used it until I was exhausted. Two days later I was using a wheelchair and have been using a wheelchair for most of the last two years. I am able to walk short distances and do not use any assistance to get around my room etc, but use the wheelchair most of the time I am away from the facility. There are occasional burst of energy when I can walk farther with a cane, but these are rare.

Treatment such as I received was probably the best in the country!  I was very fortunate that a trauma center such as Harborview was available.  I was also very fortunate that the medical insurance available through my employer covered the cost.  How much does care of this caliber cost?  Here's a rundown of what my insurance paid. (Cumulative totals)

End of day 1        $9,112

End of week 1    $11,145

End of week 2    $12,731

End of week 3    $13,609

End of week 4    $116,224

End of week 5    $124,914

End of week 6    $125,491

End of week 7    $139,741

End of week 8    $139,815

End of week 9    $152,817

End of week 10    $157,418

End of week 11    $165,583

End of week 12    $165,602

End of week 13    $166,193

End of week 14    $171,342

End of week 15    $171,822

End of week 16    172,397

End of week 17    $193,084     (End of inpatient care and release from the hospital!!)