The Accident

On 4/16/2010 at approximately 10 to 10:15pm, my Lenny was involved in a serious boating accident. There were 6 occupants of the boat, all were injured. Both Lenny and his best friend Jakie sustained life threatening injuries and were airlifted to trauma centers, Jakie to Las Vegas, Lenny to Phoenix.

I received a call at 1:45am informing me of the accident. I then spent the next 2 hours trying to find him and find out what happened. After calling two hospitals I found Jakie, and then called his mom and she took it from there. I still couldn't find Lenny, so I called the Lake Havasu Police and they got back to me in about a half an hour telling me he was in Phoenix and that the social worker would be calling me soon. Next came the longest 20 minutes of my life. Waiting to hear....

Lenny sustained the following injuries - Completely fractured face from the upper jaw to above the eyes, broken neck, broken ribs, collapsed lungs, and severely broken legs. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I spent the next several minutes rallying friends and getting to YiYi (that is what Lenny calls his sister). We all headed to Phoenix and below I will update you on his condition, how we are holding up, and have a way to communicate with you to keep you updated and be able to answer your questions and be able to get the support we so desperately need from all the wonderful people that love him.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sunday

I was actually able to sleep after seeing him the night before and watching those toes wiggle. We headed over to the hospital for our morning visit.

As soon as I came in he starting motioning to his leg, and I got the nurse to give him his pain medicine. After that he was sleeping so we just sat with him.

We headed out to buy some clothes and toiletry items as I was a mess. Then we headed back to the hospital. A very old friend cooked us lunch and brought it to the hospital it was great.

Our afternoon visit was good, but he was really groggy so we did not stay long. We met with doctors in the afternoon to do the consent forms for Lenny to have his facial reconstruction surgery. Hearing all the risks was so scary, but all we cared about was helping Lenny.

Our evening visit he was awake again, and you will never believe what happened next! He started to motion to know what time it is, and when he did that I knew exactly what he wanted......."Who won the Laker Game"....it was the only time I had felt some relief that my Lenny was in there. I read him the play by play of the game and he gave us his "awesome" hand gesture. They are calling me the "Lenny Whisperer", it seems I am the only one that has been able to figure out most of his hand gestures. I guess after being together for so long you don't even have to talk to know what someone is telling you.

At our night visit he was a little out of it, and we had a new nurse. His name is Barry and he is fantastic! He gave us an explanation of every machine that is hooked up to Lenny (and there is a lot of them). I was glad to get so much information and I think Lenny was too. He learned so much as did we.

I was a bit of a mess when we left because of the surgery the next morning.

4 comments:

  1. Dear Lenny ,
    I just wanted to say that,
    I don't know what to say,
    cause I don't.
    I want to be mad, I want to be sad,
    But i don't.
    I am thinking of you always and when I'm not, I think I am, so...
    I'm gonna see you and be with you, as soon as I can.
    Bennie

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  2. It's raining outside, cloudy and so,
    I can't but help... but ,
    think about you some more,
    the next time,
    that I look outside,
    it's just another reminder of you...
    I don't mind,
    cause u have always, always,
    made me feel alive.

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  3. Nancy, you and Lenny are in my prayers. I know I only met you when I started here at CMS, but I feel like I've known you for a long time. Please stay strong and I know just being with Lenny even though he sleeps alot, helps him tremendously. His recovery will be quick because of you. I love the both of you and think about you everyday. Love you lots, Liz

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  4. So I'm really sry for this and what you are going through!! Can someone tell us how the other 5 people are doing!!

    ReplyDelete