On with his head

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I really don't know what to say about that. His brain was detached from his body for at least 6 hours.

"They said he had broken his neck. [The impact of the crash] had actually taken the skull off his neck," he said.

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Ok, so actually surviving is a miracle.....but actually being able to fully recover within such a short period of time?


How?!?

Kids, the lesson here is: never fulfill your parents failed dreams and race cars.

It is truly amazing that he is recovering so well.

Luck. Plus the fact that his brain was never detached - his skull was. My guess would be that it basically came down to a hyperextended occipital-C1, or possibly C1-C2, joint, with a potential avulsion of the axis. If there was no direct mechanism to the brain or spinal cord, and any fragments/chips that were broken off get properly cleaned out, there should be no more complications that most other cervical fusion procedures.

But HUGE ups to whomever intubated him without popping his head clean off.

Remember that a broken neck is not a death sentence - a transected spinal cord is. During my clinical rotation days, we had an intoxicated walk-in at the ER I was working who had been in a fight and complained of persistent neck pain lasting three days. Examination revealed the area to be tender and swollen. Radiographs revelealed ..

A comminuted C-3 vertebrae.

Apparently part of this fight included getting hit in the back of the neck with a baseball bat. Had this gentleman sneezed in the 3 days since the fight, he would likely have been dead within about ten minutes. Never have I seen anyone put a C-collar on a patient with such rapidity and precision.

Also, there was a guy who thought he was being chased by the ghost of Ozzy Osbourne. But we'll save that one for anothe thread.

A comminuted C-3 vertebrae would be my diagnosis too.

Wow, looks like Byardkuria knows his stuff, remind me to call you up when I take my EMT State Test

Also, there was a guy who thought he was being chased by the ghost of Ozzy Osbourne. But we'll save that one for anothe thread.

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'

Ok, I'm going to take a random crack at that an guess paranoid schizophrenic simply because of the classic sign that *something* was after him...in this case being the ghost of a living person

Second guess would be some sort of drug use.

Combine the two, and you got it.

*Byardkuria endures flashbacks of his various sets of BEMS boards thanks to BW . . .

Paranoid Schizophrenia and rampant drug abuse? You sure this guy wasn't the real Ozzy Osbourne? Perhaps he had just finished with his woman cause she couldn't help him with his mind.


[size=-1]Disclaimer- as far as I know, Ozzy isn't Schizophrenic. But with all that mumbling, who can tell?[/size]

HA! And to think that people think HE'S insane because he is frowning all the time!

Byardkuria:

Also, there was a guy who thought he was being chased by the ghost of Ozzy Osbourne. But we'll save that one for anothe thread.

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You think that was bizarre - about 25 years ago some nimrod walked into a hospital ER room, I think it was Ocean County, NJ (a doctor I know from that hospital related this odd incident to me). The walk-in (for lack of a better term) had taken a power drill, drilled holes through his own skull and fished in about a foot of coat-hanger wire. At any rate, the guy walked into the ER recieving area and asked the nurse at the desk, "Can someone please help me find my brain".

They guy apparently survived.