Week 2 - Recovery

On Friday, 7/28, Jeff had surgery to repair his broken pelvis. Rather than internal plates, pins, and screws, he has an "external fixator" -- two vertical steel bars on each side of his hips with a horizontal bar connecting the two. This fixator will be in place for a minimum of 6 weeks and could be for as long as 12 weeks. It's purpose is to keep the pelvis rigid and immobile so that the bones can fuse and heal.

The surgeons had no qualms about installing this fixator even though Jeff has not awakened. The procedure lasted about 45 minutes, with no complications.

Following the pelvic surgery, Jeff also had a tracheostomy and had the original breathing tube removed from his mouth. Jeff will continue with the trach and the ventilator until he is able to breath on his own. We're all very hopeful that this might occur by the end of next week.