The long and short of it

Dennis was flown to a different hospital last night.  He is making slow, but good progress.  He opens his eyes and they arent blank stares any more.  He nods his head when his family asks him questions, like who they are, if he knows they love him, etc.

My dad and sister went to visit him yesterday.  He had already been sedated, they were getting ready to transport him.  But, when he heard my dads voice, he started trying to open his eyes, my sister said you could see his eyebrows moving and his eyes trying to open.  So, he knew my dad was there.

He really is my dad’s bestfriend.

They have moved him to a hospital, one that is closer.  Maybe we will all go visit this weekend sometime.  Stephen was going to try to get by there today since he is working in that area.

Everyone is mad at the EMS crew, saying they took too long and didnt do their job etc.  Which could be true, but alot of those people arent aware of the protocols they have to follow.  Stephen understands it better than us because, well, he is an EMT.  I asked if he was going to talk to Tammy (Dennis’ wife) about the EMS side of it all, he said not if he doesnt have to.  Which I understand, he cant speak for that crew and their actions that day.  However, he can let her know what the protocol would be for a situation like that, if she asks.  Everyone is mostly concerned with how long it took for EMS to get to him.  Plus, they think that they should have checked his vitals, done CPR, etc.  But, like Stephen says, if he gasps for air, then he has a pulse and they dont check for it.  Plus, they dont do the breathing for you, they are supposed to do chest compressions, their theory is, if the heart is pumping then he is getting oxygen through his blood supply.  So, that could simply be what they were doing.  Someone said that Dennis did try to gasp for air just before they put him in the ambulance, which means he would have had a pulse and they wouldnt have checked for one.

They arent sure what happened.  They arent even sure that it was a heart attack.  They just know his heart stopped beating for a few minutes.

Still no word on how much brain damage he has.  Hopefully its minimal. 

The good news though, he is awake, he is responsive and he says he knows who people are.  He’s still got a long road ahead of him.  At one point his wife said she needed to go make a phone call, he nodded no, they went back and fourth a few times and she eventually left to make the call.  The nurse came and got her, Dennis was trying to break loose, they have him restrained, he got very upset because she left.  My guess, he is afraid and she is his comfort and does not want her to leave his side.  Totally understandable.

Basically the story is this.  He got to the line, did his burn out, staged the first light, and then that was it.  Someone realized something was wrong, they eventually pulled him out of the car, a lady from the crowd started CPR then EMS took over and now we are here, a week later and still confused as hell.

Someone says it was NOS poisoning.  One of the people who pulled him out of the car says that when they opened the door they were overcome by NOS fumes.  But, more than one person was in the car with him, there was someone working from each side, driver and passenger, to get him out, so what about the other guy?  Does he have the same story.  His son Lane says that isnt possible.  Dennis asked Lane to get him a bottle of NOS, so he did, when he gave it to Dennis, Dennis asked for a different bottle because that one had a leak.  So, they put in the better bottle.  Dennis always installs his own bottle, unless he got confused about which bottle had the leak, which I doubt, then the bottle shouldnt have been leaking.  It is possible that the purge hose had a leak. 

We really dont know and maybe only time will tell what really happened.  Maybe Dennis will finally come to enough and remember those last few minutes and be able to tell us if there was a leak or not.

Anyways, thats about it.  Right now, Im feeling very positive about the situation.  Hopefully everything will soon be back to nearly 100% normal.  Hopefully.

Tomorrow is my sisters bachelorette party.  Sunday is a cousins wedding shower.  Busy weekend for me.

Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!

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