The Bauer Confidential

I’m back from Casper, WY and my brother is doing much better than we all expected.  I debated on writing this note, but I decided that family and friends would want to know, and the other people could, if they choose to, pray, meditate, send good karma, or do whatever they wanted to help.  Plus, if I didn’t write something soon, I might forget parts of it.


Chris was in a horrific accident on April 1^st.   Chris, a semi-truck driver, was traveling on highway 16 near Buffalo, WY.  While driving down the side of a mountain, his brakes stopped working.  I don’t know the details of the accident, and Chris has no recollection after the failed braking, but the Police suspect that after the breaks failed, the load Chris was hauling sifted toppling the trailer over the side of the road and pulling the truck with it.  The truck and trailer rolled several times eventually landing in a gulch.  Although Chris was wearing his seatbelt, the force eventually threw him from the truck and into the muddy gulch.  That is were he was found and a helicopter “life-lifted” him to the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper.


An article from the local paper, the Buffalo Bulletin, picture included: http://bit.ly/i4Uzay


Chris suffered three fractured vertebrae in his neck, which was operated on immediately when he arrived.  With pins and whatnot, they fused his damaged vertebrae together with healthy ones.  That’s all I know about that operation.  His lungs were bruised, which placed him on a ventilator (it was taken out three days later).  He had other minor internal injuries, but nothing requiring an operation. With some drugs those injuries are healing.  His brain and lower spin were not dramatically hurt (hurray!!).  He also has “road-rash” all over his body, especially his knees, and his eyes are black and purple like he took a beating in a boxing match.


The blunt force trauma to his body was focused on his left side, and mangled his left arm and hand.  The mud and dirt embedded in his arm also caused a major infection, but using copious amounts of antibiotics has cleared it out.  In another operation, the doctor told me that they literally put his left elbow and hand back together.  They reattached many ligaments and I can’t remember what else but the Ulnar nerve was damaged and is healing now.  Chris has feeling and can move his fingertips, but how much strength and overall use of his left arm he will regain is yet to be determined.  It will probably never be 100% again, but he will have a functional arm, which I think is a great compared to no arm at all.  Although being thrown from a vehicle in an accident like this kills most people, the doctors think that landing mostly on his left arm, as opposed to his head or chest, plus the muddy wet conditions of the ground he landed on, all helped to keep him alive.


As of 4/11/11, the doctors have basically immobilized Chris from the shoulders up.  He has to wear a neck brace when he is lying down, or this head-and-neck brace for sitting/standing/walking.  I’m not exactly sure what this latter brace’s official name is, but it wraps around his chest, the back goes up and partially wraps his head.  The front has a chin rest, and there is a part that wraps around his neck.  It’s all hard plastic and metal and does not look easy to put on or to take off. His left arm is in a 90-degree angle splint, and wrapped up with so much gauze that it looks like those arm things animal trainers wear to protect their arm from attacking dogs.


Right now, he can move his right arm and both legs, but he can’t get up on his own, sit for very long, or walk on his own, walk very far, or basically do anything that puts a strain on his neck.  He was transferred to a physical rehabilitation hospital today, and will begin the long arduous journey of rebuilding his strength in his back, neck, and his left arm and hand.  The doctor said it takes normally three months for the vertebrae to both heal from the operation and to have enough strength so that he can walk without the head-and-neck brace, but he’ll have to wear a neck brace and have physical therapy for a long time.  No one knows about his left arm and hand.  Only physical therapy and time will tell.  Once the doctors think he can travel without the aid of a nurse, they’ll transfer him somewhere closer to home, probably St. Louis, and he’ll have outpatient physical therapy from then on out.


I think Chris is in good spirits, and I think Karen being there is directly contributing to that good spirit.  I think that with Karen there, having his kids Patrick and Ashley eagerly waiting for their daddy to come home so they can smother him with love, and knowing that many people, especially family, are pulling for him to get better, has all greatly helped Chris emotionally.  Chris appears determined to overcome these injuries.