Monthly Archives: June 2010

Tyson – Part 5

Well we’ve got some good news folks. Tyson is back in Texas at Baylor Dallas! We can already tell his care is going to be a lot better here. He has a semi-private room but no room mate yet. The doctors don’t anticipate him being here long. They’re going to teach him to get around on his own in a wheelchair so that he can go home with mom. He’ll probably be in a wheelchair for a month or two until they take out the hardware and then more rehab. He can’t bear weight on his left leg at all and his right is supposed to be for pivoting only to get in and out of his chair/bed. He’s in pretty good spirits and I can go take him Chic-Fil-A and Chipotle so I’m sure that will make him feel even better. Mom called this morning and they were dressing him for Physical Therapy. He’s supposed to go the PT three times a day here so he’ll be tired but well on his way to getting better. I’m sure I’ll get more info monday but that’s all I have for now.

Video Test

Commute in June from Joshua Boyd on Vimeo.

Tyson bought a GoPro Motorsports camera for his trip and I’m borrowing it for now. I thought I would do a quick test to see how well it worked. So I put it on my tank and rode to work with it on. It’s difficult to tell that it’s recording but I still like it. This video has been compressed so the quality isn’t quite up to par with the original footage but it looks pretty good. Let me know what you think.

Tyson – Part 4

I write this post today with mixed emotions. I’m glad to be back in Texas; I missed Ronna and Odie, but I wish I could be there with Ty and mom and dad. I had to leave Saturday in order to get back and get ready for work today. Since I left Miami quite a lot has changed. Tyson was moved from his ICU bed to a bed upstairs in what they call mini-ICU. This move is not without it’s ups and downs. On the upside, he knows he’s not in ICU which is good for him mentally. He knows now he’s on the long road to recovery. The downside is that there isn’t a nurse by his side 24/7 like there was in ICU.
I had to leave the hospital at 10 Saturday morning to make it to the airport. Mom said they moved him upstairs at around 11 and he was able to sit up in a chair for nearly 2 hours before it became too uncomfortable. The physical therapist visited on Saturday to assess and also started the first round of exercise. He’s moving his legs and feet and starting to work on his mobility. The second big thing to happen on Saturday was the visit from the dietitian. Before lunch they decided to start him on liquids to see how his body would react to having something in his stomach again. So his first meal after the accident was Jell-O and broth. He told me on the phone Sunday that was the best meal he’d ever eaten. So he’s back on foods and that’s a good sign. Mom told me today that he was able to eat a real breakfast. Oatmeal, French Toast and Corn Flakes. Mom said he ate a little bit of each. He’s supposed to be going to the gym with the physical therapist today so I’ll post on that more tomorrow. We’re fully aware of how hard this is going to be but I think we’re off to a good start for now.
I plan on doing an illustration to show his injuries and how they fixed them soon so stay tuned.

PS: Thanks to everyone who left a message for him and us. We appreciate all the kind words and well wishes.

Tyson – Part 3: Attacked by Ninjas

First off, I appreciate all the well wishes from friends and family. Though he has a long road ahead of him, Tyson is doing better. He’s still in and out but the nurses are able to move him more and more now that his pelvis is stabilized. He took some more blood last night and I think that helped. He’s taking in and putting out more and more fluids as well. Yesterday he was asking for Morphine and getting it every two hours. Now it’s more like 4-6 hours. I know that he’s still in pain and will be for a long time but he’s already doing better. We’re still working out the logistics of getting back to Texas so who knows when that will be but the staff here is great. That’s a lot more than I can say for the locals. I miss the friendly state.
I haven’t gotten a smile out of him yet, but he’s still pretty aware. Sometimes he has his eyes closed but it seems he’s always listening. Here’s a list of things he’s said in the last couple days.

  1. “It feels like I’m being attacked by Ninjas every time they do that.” – referring to when the nurses roll him over  to move pillows around
  2. “Potassium is the devil.” -  because the nurse said the potassium might sting a little when going through the IV and into his arm
  3. “They beat me when you’re not here” – explaining why he’s so sore

Tyson – Part 2

More news: Miami sucks.
Also, Tyson had orthopedic surgery this morning. We had a chance to talk to the surgeon about an hour ago and we’re waiting to see him. They did a lot or work and, according to the surgeon, it went well. Basically an internal fixator was installed as well as some bolts to the posterior part of the pelvis into the sacrum. What does that mean? Basically there is an arc of metal just under his skin that’s attached to his pelvis on both sides via bolts and all that is supposed to hold is pelvis in place. When he wrecked, the front of the pelvis opened and, at the same time, crushed part of his sacrum at the back of his pelvis. So the bolts in the back are intended to hold the sacrum together while it repairs itself. It looks like the ring in the front will have to come off in 6 months and the bolts in the back will stay indefinitely. The doc said he thought he could be moved in 10 days or so but really he can’t say for sure because there’s still urology stuff to be done. When the pelvis broke, the bladder was ruptured as well so there will be another surgery to fix that. We haven’t been able to see him yet so we’re waiting. Stay tuned.

Tyson – Part 1

The bad news: my little brother Tyson was in a motorcycle accident.
The good news: he’s alive.

Tyson and his buddy Craig (thank heaven for Craig) went on a trip to Miami on their motorcycles last week. They were planning on leaving Miami to head back to Texas yesterday. Craig said a few minutes on the road and they hit pretty bad traffic. At some point Ty hit the brakes and lost control of the bike and, in doing so, fell off and slid into the next lane. Hit the back button if you have a weak stomach. It was here that it got nasty. Craig said he heard the bike go down and turned around in time to see Tyson being run over by an empty flatbed truck and he immediately thought he was gone. The rear wheels of the truck went right over his mid-section. He eventually came to and was in a bunch of pain. Obviously. So they got him to the Jackson Memorial Trauma Center. After X-Rays, imaging and laproscopic surgery they found out his pelvis was fractured and he had some other internal damage. Dad got to Miami about midnight and relieved Craig who left this morning. Mom and I got here around 10 and have been at the hospital since. I’m just now at the hotel. The night shift doesn’t take kindly to visitors so we decided to let everyone including Tyson get some rest. He has surgery in the morning early so we’ll be there and I’ll keep you posted.

Side note: He was wearing his helmet and has no sign of head trauma so he’s lucid. He’s on drugs but is still talking to us. At one point today he asked me for a monkey. That could go and get him things. If you know Ty like I do you’ll recognize that humor. He also made a comment on the pain of the catheter that was pretty funny. If you want to send him a message leave him a comment on this post and I’ll get it to him.