Cody Bristlin Injured

[MxMom94]

Ok, so I don't get on the boards near as often as I should, every race seems like someone we know is getting hurt, fortunately, not super severe--but nothing is as severe as Willie McCormick (and others) loosing their lives doing what the love, but

Here I am sitting in the hospital feeling all sad because it's now my son's turn. Last year 4th of July he had a compound fracture of his right radius and ulna, today, his 13th birthday none the less, we are at the same hospital his buddy Willie was DOA at, with a fractured left ulna. He had surgery at 8am and they were able to set the fracture without pinning it, so now we wait to see if it works.

My tough part is the pain levels. Last year he never really complained, this year, you'd think we were trying to cut it off right there with a dull knife the way he's screaming. They have once had it under control, only for him to quit breating everytime he starts to fall asleep. I hate seeing him like this, and what hurts almost as much is the way he treats me--all he wants is his father, not me.

Hopefully we'll be back to riding again in about 6-8 weeks. Thanks for everyones thoughts, I appreciate it.

Dawn Bristlin

[Tatonka]

Dawn - so sorry to hear about Cody. I hope they get the pain levels down soon and everythings sets up OK without pins. Don't take it too hard about him only wanting Dad - I think I was pretty tough on my Mom for a few years rhere around that age... :evil:

Good luck with everything and please keep us updated onCody's progress!

Take care,

BV

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

So sorry to hear about Cody.... Stay strong and keep us posted !


Angie

[MxMom94]

Thanks Bruce and Angie--it was comforting to come back to the board and already see a reply. Right now it's tough, they can't get another IV started and the oral medication is not working as well as it should. He said he's having trouble feeling his hand and its really tingly. Of course they had the IV therapist come up and 2 trys and no luck.

They are going to try and give him another dose of oral lortab to get his pain levels under control and then ry another line.

I'm waiting for 8 am when I can get in touch with his doctor's office (of course getting hurt on the weekend and we couldn't get any one associated with him at this hospital, and his colleage that was on call was at a hospital that shut down their peds floor last year--oh yeah, we found that out after being at that ER for 5 hours).

Which makes me think--can you guys remind me about the bill review company--do I need to do anything special? I'm upset that we had to have 2 separate ambulance rides because the $%@#^@^ didn't bother to tell us that the first hospital wouldn't admit him, not to mention a few HIPPA laws that I think may have been broken.

He's being such a :twisted: :evil: . It just kills when he starts yelling at me and only wants dad. I gotta give it to my husband though, he HATES hospitals--spent a lot of time in them as a kid and has never been able to stay long in one, and he's stayed tonight--

I can't thank you enough for having this outlet. Just typing out my thoughts is a great release. I'll keep you posted, but have a feeling he's headed back to OR for possibly a carpal tunnel release or something.

Trying to hang tough...
Dawn Bristlin

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

How did the rest of your night go ? I hope Cody is resting by now. There is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain and not being able to help. It is hard to keep your cool with the Dr's. We will get you a injured rider report to fill out for AMBR. (This is the Medical review you referred too).

Im glad you feel you can come here and vent. There are alot of parents here that have gone through your same situation and understand what it is like.

Hang in there. Cody will be home soon !

Keep us posted and try to get some sleep !!



Angie

[MxMom94]

Well, we've now gone all day and they have decided to take him down to surgery for a carpal tunnel release and most likely they will also now have to pin the fracture. Cody's really "stoned" as he has said for the past 3 hours, but at least he was able to rest a bit. I even grabbed about an hour and a half of sleep.

Hopefully tomorrow we head home.

Thanks for all your thoughts and concern.

Dawn Bristlin

[Tatonka]

Dawn - I'm glad to hear that Cody's getting some rest, I hope you can get more than 1.5 hrs in tonite. I'm sure the surgery will go well - they heal so darn quick at that age! Oh, to be young again.... :cry:

I hope you are able to getr back home and in more comfortable surroundings tomorrow, I'll be thinking of ya!

Take care & keep us posted.

BV

[Gatlin5]

Hi Dawn,

Real sorry to hear about the rough couple of days you have had. I think parents feel more pain than the kid's when they get hurt. And teenager's for some reason that age between 13 and 18, they can be such little sh$ts sometimes.

Hang in there and it will get better and the attitude should come around in about 5 years. By the way if his father was the one there he may have received the same attitude/grief.

All the best for a positive and fast recovery,

Joe

[Damon50]

Just got off the phone with Dawn and it looks like things might have taken a turn downhill and Cody will get to stay a week or two in the hospital. They ended up putting in the pins and having to do the carpal tunnel surgery as well as a faciotomy? Not sure what the last one entails but it sure doesnt sound fun. Dawn did say that Cody is scheduled to see the plastic surgen on the 5th of july. I would guess it will be sometime after that before he will be released. Cody is staying at Sacred Heart Medical Center 101W 8th Ave. Room # 348 Spokane Washington 99204. As I hear more I will do my best to keep you updated. Please keep this AWESOME boy in your prayers and thoughts. We all know they would for us. (GET BETTER SOON CODY) Damon really hopes you feel better soon. Take care buddy. The Longs.

[MxMom94]

Thanks Alan and Damon, and everyone else.

Alan is correct, I believe they said they had to do a faciotomy, which in short meant they had to cut him open from the end of the carpal tunnel incision which they left stiched to about 2 inches below the inside elbow area. This wound has to remain open until the swelling goes down, which they anticipate another week before it can be closed by a plastic surgeon.

Tomorrow will be his first dressing change at 7:30 AM. Today has been a much beter day for him though, although he has pain, it's manageable. The hardest part will be keeping him realatively bed ridden for then next 2 weeks for sure, and almost that for the 6 weeks.

Our spirits are good--if they would have waited until today to open up his arm the surgeon said he would have had permanent muscle and nerve damage, but they are pretty confident he will make a full recovery.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.
Dawn Bristlin

[Tatonka]

Dawn - Our spirits are good--if they would have waited until today to open up his arm the surgeon said he would have had permanent muscle and nerve damage, but they are pretty confident he will make a full recovery.

I'm glad to hear they figured out what needed to be done in time before sending Cody home and then having issues and going back in! Seems like a long time off right now but it'll go fast and I'm sure you guys will find productive ways to spend the time! Maybe watching old McGrath race tapes?

Good luck today!

[50ccMoM]

Thank goodness they found out what was wrong before sending you all home. These kids are tough as nails and they heal so quickly !! Hang in there Dawn. You make sure you get some rest while you can. You are going to need it ! Keeping these kids down is nearly impossible.

Thanks for the update !


Angie

[TwinTurbos]

Dawn,
Sorry to hear about everything you are going through. It's so hard to see your child in pain and not be able to make them feel better immediatly. To have them grumpy on top of it does not help either! :( I'm sure Cody appreciates you being there even if he can't tell you that. We are thinking of you all and wishing him a speedy recovery.

Amy

[MxMom94]

I am glad that I have been so involved in Cody's care. I find myself stopping nurses from giving medications that he hasn't taken for 2 days, advising the radiologists what really happened when they tried to different pic lines the day prior since the notes weren't really clear etc--When I have physicians asking me things, it makes me know that being so involved is the right thing to do.

Since I was able to stomach looking at the picture of Cody's arm, the plastic surgeon asked if I'd like to be present for the dressing changes, actually getting to see the wound up close--while it made be a bit weak in the knees, I am fascinated. His wound is 12cm long and 6cm wide. Thursday they placed a vacuum unit on it in hopes of shrinking it as much as possible before he has the skin graft on July5th. Monday he will have his 3rd dressing change and Wednesday is the surgery. They will take the skin from his thight.groin area of his right thigh. After that they say 5 more days or so and we will get to go home.

Cody misses home and his dog--today he was a bit bummed knowing he was going to be racing the next 2 days for the Idaho State Championship, but fortunately a few of his friends stopped to say hi, and he even made it down to the cafeteria for a milkshake.

Thanks for the continued support.
Dawn

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

When you get a minute could you email me an address where Cody can be reached ? I hope the you are getting some sleep. I understand what you are saying about the medical staff. It pays to stay on top of things, because they dont always no whats going on. Which is sad.

We are praying for Cody and your family.

Angie

Angie@riderdown.org

[MxMom94]

Hi Angie

Here is the phone number to Cody's room
(509) 474-6208

Thanks
Dawn

[MxMom94]

HI Angie

Thanks for the phone call--it really lifted my spirits.

Cody had his dressing change today, the wound is still 12 cm long but it's shrunk 1cm so only 5cm wide. His skin graft is on Wednesday and he's getting very nervous about that.

I'll try and post Wednesday or Thursday.

Dawn

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

It was really nice to get to talk to you too. That is one of the reasons why iam here. I understand how hard it is to try and talk to someone outside the offroad community about what you and your family are going through. I really feel for Cody. He is a brave young man. I don't blame him a bit for having reservations about Wednesday. Maybe if you force the Dr's to take a little extra time with him before surgery, they can calm his fears. Most of the time the Dr's get so busy they are just going through the motions and forget that the kids need a little more of there time. Hang in there ! Soon this will all be over and Cody will be home and in his own bed.

Good luck and keep us posted.


Angie

[MxMom94]

You know out of all the physician's etc, the plastic surgeon has taken a lot of time to explain things to both Cody and me (dad to when he's here at that hour--normally 7am) He didn't sugar coat things, which made my hubby a bit nervous, but when I explained why I think he was a bit more at ease.

Has anyone had any experience with skin grafting? If so, can yhou give me any ideas on what to expect?

Since today is the 4th the doctor was having an associate come in to check on Cody, I'll try to remember to ask her my questions (how many layers of skin do they take, can he still wear his boxers etc)--yep, Cody is a boxers, not briefs--except for racing we finally got him to wear some "sliding shorts" with a cup-hit the gas cap too many times so we were able to talk him in to some more "safety" equipment.

Today I'm going to actually force myself to go home for more than 15 minutes (I've done that twice, the thing is it takes me about 1 hour to get there). I've got to get some work done for this week and I figure today would be the best day to do it being Brian (my hjuuby) has the day off and they aren't doing anything to Cody. Brian will actually probably get Cody out of bed some more than I normally do. His joints and muscles are aching from lack of use--a few walks around the halls make them tense up--good thing I'm not that bad at massages.

Well, back to try and get some more ZZZZs.

Happy 4th of July to All--Have Fun, Be Safe.
Dawn Bristlin

[Gatlin5]

Hey Dawn,

Glad to hear things are coming around. Tell your son skin grafts are a piece of cake, no big deal at all. My wife had to have a few of them to try and get a wound to heal. She had issues with her vascular system and was having a hard time getting the wound to heal, it was on her foot.

They take almost what looks like one of those cheese wire slicers and barely skim the surface. It works really well and the area that the graft was removed just has a little different shading when it heals. To bad they couldn't do a cool design for him.

It will be over in no time and honestly it's one of those things he'll think was no big deal at all. That's probably why the Drs have been so nonchalant, they think we know what to expect.

Best wishes and tell Cody to relax there is nothing to worry about.

[Gatlin5]

Dawn

Here is a couple of sites that may give you a little insight:


http://www.shands.org/health/surgeries/100100.html#
Check out the different pages at the top.

http://www.debakeydepartmentofsurgery.org/home/content.cfm?proc_name=Skin+Graft+&content_id=272

[MxMom94]

thanks Joe

I've printed the article for my hubby to read. We are hoping for good success with the first try. The Dr did say he may need multiple surgeries in the future, but mainly for cosmetic issues, but I doubt Cody will care about that--although an entire interior forearm is a large area to not have feeling in.

Dawn

[Linda]

Wow! Hi I'm Linda and I just read this whole thread what a roller coaster ride Cody and his family has been on! What a brave young man you are and you have an amazing set of parents! Our thoughts and prayers are with you! We know with your high energy you will have a full and speedy recovery! Good Luck! Linda & Mike

[Gatlin5]

Hi Dawn,

Been thinking of you guys today, let us know how it went.

Thoughts and prayers to a tough kid and his parents!

Joe

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

Ive been thinking about Cody and your family all day. I think we are all waiting for an update. I hope things went well and that Cody is being kept comfortable.

Prayers from PA !!

Angie

[Gatlin5]

thanks Joe

I've printed the article for my hubby to read. We are hoping for good success with the first try. The Dr did say he may need multiple surgeries in the future, but mainly for cosmetic issues, but I doubt Cody will care about that--although an entire interior forearm is a large area to not have feeling in.

Dawn

Dawn,

After I saw this reply about the whole interior of the forearm I felt bad about my piece of cake comment but did not want to retract it before the surgery just in case it gave him some comfort.

I hope it went well, looks like you have had a lot of us thinking about you guys today.

Joe

[MxMom94]

Thanks all for your thoughts today. Cody was in quite a bit of pain following the graft, but the good news was that the plastic surgeon actually pinched together a lot of the wound and stiched it and the actual graft site is a larger than a half dollar--maybe 3cm in diameter. They didn't have to take such a large area from his thigh, insted he took it from the area where the belly and groin meet and stiched it.

Cody's had quite a bit of pain associated with the groin area, but it's less than it would be if he had the larger graft area.

Joe, I read him the email about not too big a deal--so of course when he was coming to in recovery he did say whoever said it wasn't really bad didn't know what he was thinking--that and I'm guessing your wife has a much stronger pain tolerance than Cody.

The dr said we'll still be here throughout the weekend, he'll change the dressing on Friday and again on Monday then we'll have a better idea of when the heck we can get out of here.

Right now he's waiting for the #!%R$3 nurses to get him more pain medicine in his PCA--it's been out for about 20 minutes and they just don't more quick enough for him, of course it's shift change too....

I'm going to read him all your posts now.
Take care
Dawn

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

Glad to hear the surgery went well. Now that its over you can focus on Cody's recovery and going home.

Don't be afraid to light a fire under those nurses. To darn bad that its shift change.... ohhhhhh.... im a 1,500+ miles away and im getting fired up !!

Anyway, thank you so much for the update. I truly have been thinking about you guys all day. :wink:

Talk to you soon,

Angie

[Gatlin5]

Hi Dawn,

Tell Cody I owe him one. I'll send him an RiderDown Tshirt and a picture of me so he can through darts at it when he gets home. :x :)

I'm so glad he came through it OK and they didn't have to do as much as they originally thought. Hopefully with some pain medication and a decent night sleep he'll be feeling much better in the morning, but don't tell him I said that he won't believe it.

I hope all goes well and you are all home soon.

Let Cody know we were all thinking of him today.

Joe

[50ccMoM]

Dawn,

Just tell Cody that alot of these guys around here are so old they don't have a clue what they are talking about half the time !...... :lol:




j/k



PS: Not really, but they mean well..... :twisted:

[Gatlin5]

Dawn,

Just tell Cody that alot of these guys around here are so old they don't have a clue what they are talking about half the time !...... :lol:




j/k



PS: Not really, but they mean well..... :twisted:


You young kid's are all the same no respect for your alders.:?

[Linda]

Hi Cody, hope you are feeling alot better today, I bet you'll never forget this birthday ever! In the future you will probably even have a good laugh over it, but at the moment I'm sure you want to just get better and get back to normal!! Godspeed (ask your mom what that means) Linda & Mike

[MxMom94]

Wow, hard to remember what day of the week it is in here. Thanks all for your posts, Cody enjoys hearing what people have posted, and Joe, he got a laugh a out the dart post.

Today the plastic surgeon and the orthopedist both came in and talked with us. Looks like Monday July 10th they will take out the stiches from the carpal tunnel release and change the dressing on the skin graft again.

I'm really hoping they will also discharge him that day, but we don't really know.

We do know that in another month they will pull out the pins and then he's looking at 2-4 weeks of therapy before they think he'll be good--but I have a feeling that will mean he's riding as soon as the pins are out. We'll take him to the Fossil Bowl (check out www.clarkiafossilbowl.com) to ride/race. Unfortunately they don't pull the crowd that the local track does, but it's good for rehabing because there's not the crowding etc.

I better start ordering his gear so he's ready to ride when he gets the okay. I tried explaining that it's not that bad, he's only got 1 month or so to wait once we get outta here!

Have a great day.
Dawn

[MxMom94]

We got the okay to go home today. They weren't going to until tomorrow maybe, but we talked the doctor into it. Cody is supposed to stay at home though for the next 5 days, no going outside etc.

Thanks to everyone for their support and thoughts.

Dawn (and Cody) Bristlin

[Gatlin5]

WooHoo,

Alright Cody! Ice cream and cake tonight with some Dust to Glory with it.

Dawn, you must be so relieved to be getting him home and staying away from that hospital for awhile. How is the skin graft doing? Piece of cake right Cody? :x :shock: :D

Glad things are finally on the upswing. Give us progress reports now.

Joe

[50ccMoM]

Great news Cody ! You better get to have two pieces of cake for all you have been through.

Dawn,

Keep in touch and keep us posted on cody's recovery.

Angie

[Administrator]

Cody
thats great going home, I hope the best for you, keep us posted

[MxMom94]

Well, today was the first follow up with the orthopedist. We are at 4 weeks since he pinned the wrist, and it doesn't look like the bone is growing as well as he hoped, he said it's behind a bit, so in another 2 weeks we'll go back in and he'll pull the pins and likely put Cody in a short arm cast for 4 weeks. Cody was not happy--he said he should be able to ride in 2 more weeks, not just look at getting his pins out.

We'll see--we decided to still go to Washougal, even though Cody isn't racing we'll go cheer on our friends and watch the pros. We leave tomorrow for that.
I hope his spirits are good there--this weekend at the races he had a bit of a tantrum wanting to come home--I don't blame him though 104 degrees, and he wanted to still race, but couldn't. Once things got started though, his attitude improved. Unfortunately one of his buddies broke a tib/fib--so they'll end up hanging out watching at Washougal.

Thanks everyone for your support. Have a great, safe, week.
Dawn

[50ccMoM]

Cody,
Two weeks will be here and gone before you know it ! Hang in there little man and don't give your mom a bad time at the races.

Try to enjoy being there and hanging out with your buddies. I hope you get some cool swag from the pro's !


Angie

[MxMom94]

Well, we got home from Washougal today. Cody actually cleaned up well on the swag wagon. He got to hang out all day Sunday in the pro pits and talk with lots of the guys. Of course we did the pit passes and got the usual autographs, one of my complaints would be that the "Big 3" all required tickets and they handed those out at the same time, so you really only could get one of theirs--fortunately 2 years ago he got Carmicheals and Reed's so this time we waited in line for 2 1/2 hours for Stewarts, and he only signs one thing per person.

Back to the swag--he got autographed Kelly Smith goggles, Vuillemin's rear fender (he didn't even ask-he was hanging out near there and lots of kids were asking for it--the guy said, hey this kid is quiet so he gets it) #48 ( I don't remember who that is) front number plate minus the plastic--they gave him a brand new graphic and autographed it--more exciting than that was he got to actually hang out with some of the guys, Nick Wey and Ryan Villopotto (He's actually raced with Ryan on occasion, but of course Ryan didn't remember him, but Cody didn't think he would). He also said OLN interviewed him, so now I have to figure out to to record on the VCR ( no TIVO here).

It was a GREAT race--glad we went. Cody did have his moments though, he really wanted to ride--We watched almost every amateur moto too--including the ones he would have been in--I found myself actually starting to tear up (must have been one of those hormonal moments) because I could feel his pain for not getting to race--he would have done well there.

If the pins had been in a cast we'd be letting him race locally, but with only the splint there's too much to risk. We are talking about maybe letting him get on the bike and put around with a splint once the pins are out. Funny how last year he couldn't be near the bike until he got a release, now even my hubby is talking about modifying a cast if they end up doing that.

I'll let you know how next week goes.
Dawn

[50ccMoM]

Sounds like everyone had a great weekend ! :awesome:


TTYL

Angie

[MxMom94]

WOW--what a surprise last night. The presentation of the RiderDown gear bag with goodies really bosted Cody's spirits. Alan Long did a wonderful presentation at the rider's meeting. I did get some pictures, which I'll forward to Bruce and Angie--which I would have got more later but was working at the track.

When Cody got back to the motorhome he started looking in the bag, and immediately changed his TShirt--he sported the way cool black RiderDown TShirt the remainder of the night--it fit perfectly!

I'm posting under the injured thread here to say how it helps heal--he's now at 6 weeks since his injury and really chomping at the bit. Tomorrow we go get the pins out of his arm, and will find out what the next step is. He also got his Supermini back last night-and his dad (I don't know what he was thinking) Let him get on it and ride in the pits (I was amazed). Of course he just putted, but he got the feeling of being back on the bike--which was a good thing-the night before when we were getting the race trailer loaded (since we knew his bike was being delivered) he came across the glove that was cut from the broken hand--he picked it up, put it on, said, "Look, I got a glove on my hand, I can ride now, right?" He wore that glove to sleep and didn't take it off until 9am.

As exciting as it was to be a receipient, I'm even more excited about how this jesture brought so much insite to our local racers-some have heard, but not many listen--now they have seen things in action and I hope more become active with RiderDown. I'm hoping Alan has a moment to let you know how things went since I was working I didn't get to talk with as many folks as he did, he did tell me some really cool news!!

Thanks again, tomorrow I'll post about his Drs appointment!
Dawn

[50ccMoM]

That is so cool !!!! I can't wait to see some pics ! :Powerslide:




Angie

[Damon50]

A great night! Thank you Bristlin family for all you have done

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We had a great time sat. night 8-5-06 at the supercross in Spokane Wa. I was so honored to present Cody Bristlin with the ARC angle gear bag. I first want to thank everyone at Extreme Motorsports for being so welcome to Riderdown.org. The people that run this track are AWESOME, they had me come up in the middle of their riders meeting to present this gift to Cody and all night there was not one person from that racing facilaty that did not thank me and Riderdown.org for this. Even the owner came up to me later and talked to me about Riderdown.org. I only hope this has opened up some more eyes to this great organization and it can continue to grow. Thank you Bruce ,Joe ,Amy and everyone else that made this possable for me to do for Cody. Cody, I want to thank you for being such a great young man,for all the other kids to look up. You and you family are such great people to have in this sport. Thank you all and I hope to see you Cody on the track again soon.

[MxMom94]

Today the pins came out, and great news......NO CAST!!! The doctor didn't even bring it up. He put him in a velcro type splint that he only has to wear when being very active. We didn't discuss when Cody can start riding again, so, since he didn't say no, and I looked at the xrays and know what the other arm looked like last year, he's going to give it a try on Saturday and put around--if it bothers him he won't ride.

We follow up in one month.

Here are a few pictures--I"m going to put a disclaimer--the one titled ARM is a picture of his arm after the skin graft etc--it's not bad at all in my opinion, just a big scar--but some find it gross. The other is Alan and Cody with the RiderDown presentation.

Thanks Again.
Dawn and Cody.

[50ccMoM]

Wow ! Great news Dawn ! Im so glad that Cody dosnt have to go through wearing a cast. You guys sure have been on a rollercoaster ride for sure. Im glad that things are looking up.

Tell Cody to take it easy this weekend when he gets back on the cycle. If not tell him he will also have to deal with me. Not just his mother. :lol:

Keep in touch. Thanks for the pics ! 8)


Angie

[Gatlin5]

Alright Cody, way to go but Pleeeaaase go easy for a little while.

Have fun,

Joe

[Tatonka]

So a week later - how's Cody holding up? Did he get to ride over the weekend?

Thanks for the pictures by the way - aren't scars great? :p

[MxMom94]

He's doing good, he rode a bit on Saturday, said the jumps really jarred the wrist so didn't do many of them. There is a creek jump he had to do on Sunday, but he did well.

It's tough, we love the track (check out www.clarkiafossilbowl.com), but they just don't get much of a turn out. There were 2 kids in the Supermini class and 3 in the 85 12-16 class. I guess I was looking at the positive side of that, I didn't worry about going into a corner and clipping someones tire...

He's hoping to get on the throttle a bit more next weekend. Last year I did okay with the nerves after an injury, this time wasn't as easy, I was a bit of a ball of nerves, but tried not to let it show.

Thanks for the thoughts and well wishes. Also, Cody's always sporting his Riderdown.org braclet and I'm having a tough time keeping his TShirt clean--he happened to wear it to our friends wedding last week (they are racers, but it was a nice wedding, I didn't have the heart to tell him to change, the kid doesn't own any nice dress clothes since he never wears them!)

Dawn

[Gatlin5]

Hi Dawn,

How is Cody doing? Love to hear an update.

Joe