Sandy Frank was in a serious auto accident on Oct. 1. I just received the following from Doug Powell:
This is Doug "Chief" Powell. I have been getting a lot of inquiries as to the Condition of Dr. Sandy Frank. He and I are long time friends. I am sending out this update on Sandy's condition to try to let as many friend and associates of Dr. Frank know his current condition. Please feel free to share this update with anyone else that you feel would be concerned as to his condition/progress since his horrific auto accident the afternoon of Monday, 1 October, 2007 there in Muncie, IN. The following is an update on Sandy's condition as of about a half hour ago (0830 hrs, 11 Oct), directly from his Nurse there at Methodist Hospital in Indy.
Sandy has had the drain tubes removed from his lungs, and from the surgery site on his lower right leg. He is only lightly sedated but is still getting pretty substantial doses of pain killers. He is still on the chest ventilator but they have cut the oxygen content back to 40%. He was given an MRI on his neck yesterday to determine the exact extent of damage to the two fractured vertebrae in his neck. The nurse said that the damage there was pretty much what the Dr.'s had figured all along. She did not elaborate and I forgot to ask. They did not x-ray his broken left collar bone, but she said it was not serious and that it appeared to be mending fine. There is little that they can do for that anyhow, as with any of his ribs that may be broken. No word on when they will x-ray those to see how bad, if any. The tests came back from the camera procedure that they did on his right lung upper lobe on the 9th. They have him on some new antibiotics to clear up the small infection to that lobe. He has contracted a light case of pneumonia but they used samples taken in the camera procedure to determine exactly what kind of meds to administer for that and are doing so. That is pretty much what all she had to report this morning.
The original reports I was given by the nurse when we got to Indy Tuesday evening (2 Oct) was that his left wrist, both legs below the knees, left collar bone, #2 & #3 vertebrae, and probably several ribs were broken. They had done the first surgery to his lower right leg Monday evening/night to save the limb. That was a compound fracture with the bones being "in many small pieces" and reported to me by the Dr. when he called me on the road for authorization to do the surgery. He also sustained a large gash across his forehead with some bleeding under the scalp which they have now drained and removed that tube as well, and several scrapes and bruises. By the time I got up there, they had been able to determine that there was no brain damage or paralysis. It was later determined that he did NOT sustain a broken left leg or wrist after all.
Since the accident Sandy has been been kept heavily sedated and on large doses of pain killers due to the extent of his injuries and his extremely critical condition. As reported above, he has shown enough progress and improvement to move him from the 5th floor down to the 4th floor, remove all but his breathing, feeding, and medications tubes from his body. He is supposed to be moved, today, off of the tilting bed he has been on since he arrived there by air evac helicopter Monday (1 Oct), to a regular hospital bed. He is still listed as in critical condition and probably will be until he can have the remaining tubes removed from his body. To quote the nurse(s) "He is not out of the woods yet, but continues to improve at an acceptable rate".
Jean and I were there until right at noon this past Friday (5 Oct) when it became clear that he was stable and showing signs, even then, that he was improving. We returned home to tend to other pressing matters, but will be returning back up to Indy as soon as he is conscious and can speak or otherwise communicate. Sandy's Lady friend has been there at his side since he arrived at the hospital in Indy, and has been providing daily reports to me on his condition. Those reports are in addition to the nurses reports that I call up there and get daily.
Please do not try to call the hospital and get reports as he is still in the critical care unit and the nurses are very busy. I have a POA for Sandy, and have thus established a call in code word (required by the hospital) to obtain detailed information on his condition. I will not send out daily condition reports, but will wait until there is enough change in his condition to warrant an update. If you are receiving this "second hand" from someone else that received it originally, you can send me a note at snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net and I will include your email address in the list of those that I am addressing this update to.
Please do keep Sandy in your thoughts and prayers, as there is still a long road and a whole lot of healing ahead of him. Later.
........Chief
Bill Fulmer