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<P>Some Details of my injuries sustained Jun 1st</P>
<P>First of all thanks for the well wishes. Well I have had a pretty big scare and came as close as any man would want to come to becoming paralyzed, even though I was severely injured I am damn lucky as all toes and parts are working as they should. By the number of e-mails wishing me well in my inbox and the number of you asking questions I wanted to&nbsp;post this and&nbsp;let you know I am doing ok and will be headed back to&nbsp;Hawaii in the next several days. </P>
<P>On June 1st I fell while having some fun at the pool with my crew who was scheduled to go home the next day. The facility we where staying at had a large water park type waterslide. Having probably slide down the thing 50 times over the past month I headed to the top to give it one more whirl. Upon reaching the launching area I simply slipped and fell in a swooping motion backwards. It was like someone had pulled the rug out from under my feet and I landed very hard and painfully on my tailbone. My body continued down the slide with me screaming. My&nbsp;co-workers where their to rescue me as I came pummeling out of the water slide and into the pool. They removed me from the pool as paramedics would and called an ambulance. Upon arrival at the hospital while strapped to a backboard drugs where administered to ease the pain to no affect (they fixed that later). The doctors initially thought I had bruised my tailbone muscle and after several screaming sessions with them poking a prodding got the good stuff out..</P>
<P>It took two sessions of x-ray’s followed by a Cat-Scan. They drugged me up heavily and put me to bed. It was determined the next morning that I had fractured a vertebrae in the T1 region with a bone having misplaced that was pressing against my spinal cord to pinch it by 60%. I was taken to surgery several hours later where they “jacked” my spine up got that bone away from spinal cord stabilized everything and used some steel plates and rods and screwed me together getting my alignment back to 80% normal which will result in my being a 1/8 inch shorter.</P>
<P>The prognosis is good I have no ill side effects all parts are moving as they are supposed to no tingling. I was in a body cast for 5 days and then fitted with a prosthetic device that immobilizes a part of my back and makes me walk like a robot. I am currently&nbsp;trying&nbsp;to get home&nbsp;I have been discharged from the hospital and can walk for short periods and am spending a lot of time on my back. </P>
<P>For the rest of the blood and gore I will save it for later as I definitely have some great stories. Reminder to all don’t get hurt in foreign countries as medicine outside the US is definitely different.</P>
<P>Thanks Again for the well wishes</P></FONT>