Alan's Story

Update: May 25, 2006

There has been some great local coverage of Alan's condition and the fundraiser planned. You can see more info about the fundraiser here. The Peninsula Beacon ran a fantastic story that you can read here.

Alan went to the hospital again last night. They released him a few hours later but he's been really sick the past 3 days.
Hopefully he will be well enough to go to the auction after the boats get back.

Update: May 11, 2006

It's been some time since we've updated everyone on Alan's progress so I'd like to take a few minutes to do so.

Alan is now home from rehab and staying at Mom's house. We are all trying to be patient waiting for his back to completely fuse The doctors are saying it takes about 4 months so we have a bit longer to go.

He has almost completely stopped using the back brace that has been a part of his dressing routine since he got out of intensive care. This has allowed him to regain some of the range of motion in his torso area. Unfortinately pain continues to be a big problem, although some days are better than others. His outpatient therapy at the Spinal Cord Rehab seems to be going well. He has therapy 3 days a week for 2 hours at a time. That along with the visitation he has with his daughter keeps his schedule very full.

We are all looking forward to the upcoming benifit at Fisherman's Landing on May 26th. The people Alan used to work with have been unbelievely supportive, especially his friend Scott who has worked very hard to put everything together. The participating boats are starting to book up and an upcoming story in our local paper the Beacon should help to get the word out.

Alan is also very grateful for all the incredable e-mails and donations he has recieved to date. Although he is still not quite up to answering them himself he does want everone to know how much they are appreciated. I'd like to thank all of you for your continued support.

Update: Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update to let you all know how Alan's doing.

Alan has improved significantly the last week or so, so much so that he was moved to the rehab facility 2 days ago. He is presently being evaluated so they can tailor his program to suit his particular requirements.

The drain tube from his lung has been removed and his ribs are healing properly and don't hurt as much. His pelvis is healing correctly, hasn't shifted and his leg is also coming along well.
The fused area of his spine is still very painful for him but he's making the best of it.

His pain medication has at last been sorted out to the point where he can function and begin to focus on the rehabilitaion process.

Right now we are trying to get him to eat more so as to build back some strength. This ordeal has drained him considerably and he's lost quite a bit of weight as a result, but his appetite continues to improve slowly. Hopefully now that he's out of the hospital environment and in much nicer surroundings his appetite will come back.

His girlfriend, Ila, is, as usual, by his side and they are allowing her to stay with him at the facility and his sister, Renee is also never far away. I feel it has to be said that these two girls have had a positively dramatic effect on Alan's recovery to be sure.

Modifications to the house continue at a good clip, due in no small part to Gaile's brother, Walter who took a week off work to fly out from Texas and come help. Michael, Gaile's youngest brother was also there to help and we thank both of them immensly. Everything should be finished by the time Alan needs to leave the facility and come home. Gaile's especially happy now that the kitchen's all ripped apart. :-)

Well, thats about it for now.
I'll keep the updates coming as I get time.

Update: Monday, March 13, 2006

First off I would like to thank you all for sending your emails to Alan.

Since being moved to San Diego, Alan has continued to improve but there have been a couple of problems. The latest one is that his left lung is leaking air and as a result is separating from the lining that surrounds it and is not filling with air as it should. A tube has been inserted into this area to try to stop this from occurring. Apparently one of his broken ribs is pushing into his lung and causing the leakage of air.

The pain he is suffering around his back appears to be worsening. He appears to becoming immune to the pain medication he is getting and they are switching it around in an attempt to help, but I don't think its working too well.

Aside from his back and the associated pain problems his ribs are healing (apart from the one damaging his lung) and his leg and pelvis are also healing, although it doesn't appear that he will be going to rehab anytime soon.

I'm getting ready to go see how he is today and hopefully he had a better night than the last two. We are taking each day as it comes right now.