What Is Going on?

As many have already heard, Scott was injured in a terrible accident on Friday night. He has suffered traumatic brain injury and is currently being treated in the ICU at SF General Hospital. The purpose of this website is to help keep family and friends informed of what is going on and how they might be able to help.  (Feel free to submit comments for Scott to read when he is better.)

What Happened: 

It is difficult to know exactly what happened. What we do know is that Jen woke to a loud crash around 1 am on Friday night. She found Scott laying at the bottom of the stairs. It appears he fell backwards while climbing the steps and landed striking the back of his head on the concrete landing at the bottom of the steps. Jennifer called an ambulance immediately when she realized he was unresponsive and seriously injured. Scott was taken to SF General hospital, which is very close to their home. SF General specializes in head trauma and he began recieiving emergency care very quickly. As it turns out, SF General is the premier traumatic brain injury center in the U.S. and Scott is recieving top notch treatment. 

His Injuries: 

Scott's official diagnosis is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). He remains in the critical stage of his injury where doctors are monitoring his vital signs and the pressure and level of swelling on his brain by the minute. It is a little unclear how long he will remain in the "critical stage" but it sounds like at least for 48-72 hours. It is impossible for doctors to speculate on how long he will remain critical or what the severity of the injuries will mean in terms of recovery. What is known at this stage is that his brain has undergone swelling and hemorraging in three places. He underwent surgurey yesterday morning to remove the left side of his skull to relieve pressure from swelling. Doctors are most concerned now about an area of swelling and bleeding they discovered during surgery that is at the cerebellum which is very near the brain stem-a critical area that controls life functions like heartbeat and breathing. Doctors are constantly monitoring this area and are on standby to perform emergency surgery if there is any indication that swelling is increasing in this area. For the past 12 hours there has been no change in the swelling and no change in his vital signs, he is stable. This is excellent news and the best we can hope for at this stage is that he remains stable and does not require any further, risky surguries. 

More Good News: 

Scott has shown signs of reacting to stimuli. He is currently in a medically induced coma but doctors and nurses bring him slightly out of that state every hour. During that time Scott starts to move his arms and legs and reach for his breathing tube. Doctors are taking this as a very good sign that his nerve centers remain intact and that his brain is responding to stimulation from those centers. Also, last night around 7 pm, he apparently moved his thumb on verbal command from a nurse. This is A GREAT sign! Doctors plan to continue round the clock monitoring. At some point in the recovery process Scott's own system will take over management of the brain swelling (that is currently being done through medication). I think this will indicate that he is out of the woods, but that is not entirely clear. Any way, it is what we are hoping for at this point and whatbwenare holding on to. 

What Can You Do To Help: 

Jen and Kay, Scott's mom, are at his side letting him know about the tremendous support of family and friends out there thinking about him. It is not safe, nor in Scott's best interests at this time to recieve visits. In lieu of flowers and such Jen hopes that well wishers can instead focus their energy on sending support and thanks to the extensive medical team of ICU doctors, nurses, surgeons and others who are working 24 hours a day for Scott right now. Jen and Floyd have immediate support from friends and family in the area and I'm sure in the future there will be lots of opportunities to help make meals, walk pugs, provide child care and hold Scott's hand during the recovery process.

-Penny