wow it's only april . . . and, page-12

DTrad, we certainly are sharing something in common and it sounds like they were both very fortunate.

My husband was fitted with a neck brace at the scene of the accident. On arrival at the regional hospital, the Dr on call removed the brace (without x-ray) as he believed the pain my husband was complaining of, was soft tissue damage. I arrived the following morning, a Sunday, to witness a rapidly swelling neck. I requested some ice from the nurse, she refused until the Dr had seen him. At this stage, they had him up and about, he even had a shower! At 1.30pm the Dr arrived, still claiming it was soft tissue damage and that ice would be a good idea. I pleaded for an x-ray but his reply was that there wasn't a radiographer on call and tomorrow would be ok. He also suggested that it would be a good idea if he stayed in bed and didn't sit up, just in case is head fell off (as a joke!!)

11.15am Monday morning his neck was x-rayed. Panic stations were hit, he had fractured and dislocated C7. Immediate RFDS to Perth. He was fitted with a halo (torture plus!) put in traction and operated on the next day.

He is also in a brace 24/7 for 3 months and cant drive. He is healing very rapidly and driving and lifting are his only limitations. My workload will increase dramatically...but hey...I still have him and what's a year in your life :))

All the best to your wife, hope she has been prescribed some good pain relief ;) And all the best to you DTrad :)