I was in such a great mood yesterday after the update I got, as I'm sure you all were. I got another call from Adam's dad yesterday evening which turned that around on a dime. He was in tears and it was hard to understand why. He didn't say much. I could guess, but I waited until this morning and called adam's brother for the brass tax.
The family was on such an emotional high yesterday with adam's amazing physical progress and hearing him speak his name, the reality of the long road to recovery was temporarily forgotten. Shortly after I got the call yesterday it hit them square in the face. Adam seems to be himself sometimes, sometimes he is not. His physical health continues to improve. He is eating with a spoon now, sitting in a chair. The family played all of the messages for him, and he listens to the choice tracks we put on an ipod with head phones, but doesn't smile or say anything. John says he seems depressed and distant. I personally think they are expecting too much so soon, but I can't imagine how difficult it must be to see him come back to conciousness, only to be so distant and blank.
Now that he is physically stable (breathing and eating again) another whole challenge begins: dealing with his brain injuries and the potentially long (years) recovery not knowing exactly what condition he will be in at the end of that road.
The fact that his body has healed so fast gives me confidence and hope his head will follow suit.
The family still does not know how soon he will be ready to come home on a commercial flight. It does not seem long. John said maybe they will rent an RV next week or two and put adam where he loves to be, Back on the road!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
March 27
I just got off the phone with Adam's dad. Miracles are happening in Brooklyn.
Adam is now out of bed and seated in a chair! They are talking about moving him out of the ICU in days! This is incredible. Over the last 48hours his progress has been fantastic. He is completely off the respirator and on just an oxygen mask. He is sleeping alot and drifts in and out of conciousness. Jeff says that there are moments of clarity and they are amazing. His eyes are still pretty glazed over, but he says things everyonce and awhile like "I'm alive."
The family now has to look at the next step, getting him out of king's county hospital. They feel like the hospital they are in was good for trauma and ICU, but do not want to be there any longer than they need to, or for any of the therapy/recovery. They have looked into flying him home, estimated cost $50,000. They are looking at moving him to another hospital in NYC until he is well enough to travel on a commercial flight (at this rate only a few weeks away!), the catch is they need one that accepts medi-cal (adam has no insurance).
They also asked me to do some research on brain therapy hospitals here in the bay area that accept medi-cal and have a good rating. If anyone works in the healthcare industry on this thread and can ask around that would be huge.
:-) !!!
Mike
Adam is now out of bed and seated in a chair! They are talking about moving him out of the ICU in days! This is incredible. Over the last 48hours his progress has been fantastic. He is completely off the respirator and on just an oxygen mask. He is sleeping alot and drifts in and out of conciousness. Jeff says that there are moments of clarity and they are amazing. His eyes are still pretty glazed over, but he says things everyonce and awhile like "I'm alive."
The family now has to look at the next step, getting him out of king's county hospital. They feel like the hospital they are in was good for trauma and ICU, but do not want to be there any longer than they need to, or for any of the therapy/recovery. They have looked into flying him home, estimated cost $50,000. They are looking at moving him to another hospital in NYC until he is well enough to travel on a commercial flight (at this rate only a few weeks away!), the catch is they need one that accepts medi-cal (adam has no insurance).
They also asked me to do some research on brain therapy hospitals here in the bay area that accept medi-cal and have a good rating. If anyone works in the healthcare industry on this thread and can ask around that would be huge.
:-) !!!
Mike
March 27
Hi!
Nam and I just got back from the hospital and Adam is off all tubes!!! He was awake/conscious and reaching out for all of us to hold/shake our hands. He is only on the oxygen mask thing which is assisting his breathing- but that's it! He was not allowed to talk to us- but we were all very excited but could only talk to him a little as the doctor insisted he be kept calm as he wanted his heart rate to be lower. A nurse asked him his name and he spoke it!!! His dad got the clearance to use a CD player to play him all the messages we have left him. I feel this is such a great day for Adam. Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers- it has worked!!! It seems like a long time all this has been unfolding, but considering the injuries he has- I think with the great care of the hospital, Adam's own will power and the love and support of his family and friends has all made it a speedy recovery! Like I said in another email- we know how serious the injuries are, so keeping a positive light on it all has really helped Adam as well as his family.
I'm so happy and excited. Because he is conscious now, I think any support is still very much needed, appreciated and welcomed.
much love,
Angela
Nam and I just got back from the hospital and Adam is off all tubes!!! He was awake/conscious and reaching out for all of us to hold/shake our hands. He is only on the oxygen mask thing which is assisting his breathing- but that's it! He was not allowed to talk to us- but we were all very excited but could only talk to him a little as the doctor insisted he be kept calm as he wanted his heart rate to be lower. A nurse asked him his name and he spoke it!!! His dad got the clearance to use a CD player to play him all the messages we have left him. I feel this is such a great day for Adam. Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers- it has worked!!! It seems like a long time all this has been unfolding, but considering the injuries he has- I think with the great care of the hospital, Adam's own will power and the love and support of his family and friends has all made it a speedy recovery! Like I said in another email- we know how serious the injuries are, so keeping a positive light on it all has really helped Adam as well as his family.
I'm so happy and excited. Because he is conscious now, I think any support is still very much needed, appreciated and welcomed.
much love,
Angela
Monday, March 24, 2008
March 24
So I just got back from a weekend with adam and have some more detail for everyone, pardon me if I ramble....
Its a pretty somber scene at kings county hospital. Adam has now been in the intensive care unit for 1 full week. When he was brought in last sunday, doctors didn't think he would survive. That has changed. That is the good news. The bad news (and I am not going to sugar coat anything) is that he is still critical, and isn't making any great progress. We have to view every little baby step in the right direction as a step in the right direction. Of the two days Amie, Gareth, and I spent at his bed side nothing really changed. The doctors won't give the family any idea as to how long he will be in the ICU, let alone how long he will be in the hospital. They are telling him that full recovery (if we can expect such a thing) will more than likely be a year or two. Now, we all want to get him back to California ASAP, but again, we have no idea how long that will be. Best case weeks.
The doctors are telling jeff and diane they want to make some changes to his set up. He has tubes and sensors all over his body. He has a feeding tube and breathing tubes jammed into his mouth down his esophogus that are very agitating to him. He has a cathater and a thermometer in his rectum, he has multiple IVs, and 10-15 vitals being monitored by sensors all over his body. He is completely incoherent and was the entire time we were there. The doctors and nurses cycle him on and off of sedatives every few hours to see if he will respond to any commands. This is painful to watch, not just because he still isn't responding, but because it looks like he is being tortured when they try to wake him up, he gags on the tubes, arches his back, coughs up fluid, kicks his legs wildly, pulls his hands up and down (though they are tied to the bed to avoid him from pulling his tubes out or knocking off his sensors or IVs.
Possible negligence on the part of the hospital: adam's hands were not initially tied down when he was unconcious and the tubes were placed in him last sunday. He had a moment of conciousness and pulled out his tubes, asberated (spelling) and contracted pnemonia. This is a problem because now they have to keep him on the breathing tube and resperator, which is problematic because that is the biggest annoyance to him when they try to bring him back to conciousness. THe pnemonia was getting progressively worse until THursday of last week when it stabalized. We are hoping that will get under contral ASAP so we can get on with the nueological testing.
When I say responding and not responding let me explain. he is responding to people pinching him under his arms (he kicks his legs and acts annoyed) and he responds to people rushing a hand to his face (he blinks). Other than that he is completely incoherent, he opens and closes his eyes, but no one is home. Totally glassy.
The doctors test for respones to commands so they ask him for a thumbs up, or to squeeze there hand, but he hasn't responeded to any of this yet. As he is coming off the sedatives they yell these commands at him until he starts coughing and gagging on the tubes in his mouth and throat, kicking and thrashing, but not responding, then they dope him up again. Over and over. All day long. It is really terrible to see. I question why they do it this way, can't they just accept that his brain is in the state its going to be in until they can get these tubes out of him, just hold off until the pnemonia clears, get him off the respirator, then do the nerulogical tests. I have to assume they know what they are doing.
Two of the tiny baby steps that we have to view as improvements to keep positive were on saturday they took out the cranial pressure tube because his pressure had stabalized to the point where the risk of brain infection was greater, so they pulled it. On sunday they decided to move forward with a traciatome (spelling?) and plug the feeding tube into his stomach directly. It sounds like these steps will be setting him up for the longer term in the ICU, where as the tubes were a quick fix. Another sign he will be there for a while.
In regards to setting up for the long term, all of us need to do that emotionally and not set high expectations. His family had at first, and every day got harder as the lack of significant progress as you can imagine when all you are doing is watching him 20 hours a day could be frustrating. Also there are some real logistical challenges for the family. The hospital is in the ghetto. Let me be clear on that. I have been to highland hospital in oakland, and this hospital and this area is FAR worse. I have to wonder what adam was thinking walking home alone! We wouldn't go anywhere without John who was armed. Where adam was beat up was a couple miles from there, deeper still in the projects.
His friends in NYC have been wonderful. He has made a great many of them in such a short time his family was really suprised at their support. Joan, Nam and Angela have been really great coming to the hospital often, Joan lending the family a car. The rabbi keeps an apartment for people in the pates situation and has let them stay there. Its a dingy one bedroom, but a shitty hotel in brooklyn is $180 a night and if they are there weeks if not months, this can really add up.
So, thats my ramble for this morning. I think being out there really helped boost the families moral and adam's if he could here us. I didn't have a chance to play the messages for him as the ICU was so lad the spearkers couldn't over power the respirator and things. No headphones allowed yet. But I know that will be really great for adam when he comes to.
Thanks to everyone for their support. I'm going to try to fly back out again on friday night. If anyone wants to come from california let me know. I think the family can use all the support they can get. Diane has taken a six month leave of absense, and John is going to be out there for at least a month. Lets hope he is back before home before then.
Mike
Its a pretty somber scene at kings county hospital. Adam has now been in the intensive care unit for 1 full week. When he was brought in last sunday, doctors didn't think he would survive. That has changed. That is the good news. The bad news (and I am not going to sugar coat anything) is that he is still critical, and isn't making any great progress. We have to view every little baby step in the right direction as a step in the right direction. Of the two days Amie, Gareth, and I spent at his bed side nothing really changed. The doctors won't give the family any idea as to how long he will be in the ICU, let alone how long he will be in the hospital. They are telling him that full recovery (if we can expect such a thing) will more than likely be a year or two. Now, we all want to get him back to California ASAP, but again, we have no idea how long that will be. Best case weeks.
The doctors are telling jeff and diane they want to make some changes to his set up. He has tubes and sensors all over his body. He has a feeding tube and breathing tubes jammed into his mouth down his esophogus that are very agitating to him. He has a cathater and a thermometer in his rectum, he has multiple IVs, and 10-15 vitals being monitored by sensors all over his body. He is completely incoherent and was the entire time we were there. The doctors and nurses cycle him on and off of sedatives every few hours to see if he will respond to any commands. This is painful to watch, not just because he still isn't responding, but because it looks like he is being tortured when they try to wake him up, he gags on the tubes, arches his back, coughs up fluid, kicks his legs wildly, pulls his hands up and down (though they are tied to the bed to avoid him from pulling his tubes out or knocking off his sensors or IVs.
Possible negligence on the part of the hospital: adam's hands were not initially tied down when he was unconcious and the tubes were placed in him last sunday. He had a moment of conciousness and pulled out his tubes, asberated (spelling) and contracted pnemonia. This is a problem because now they have to keep him on the breathing tube and resperator, which is problematic because that is the biggest annoyance to him when they try to bring him back to conciousness. THe pnemonia was getting progressively worse until THursday of last week when it stabalized. We are hoping that will get under contral ASAP so we can get on with the nueological testing.
When I say responding and not responding let me explain. he is responding to people pinching him under his arms (he kicks his legs and acts annoyed) and he responds to people rushing a hand to his face (he blinks). Other than that he is completely incoherent, he opens and closes his eyes, but no one is home. Totally glassy.
The doctors test for respones to commands so they ask him for a thumbs up, or to squeeze there hand, but he hasn't responeded to any of this yet. As he is coming off the sedatives they yell these commands at him until he starts coughing and gagging on the tubes in his mouth and throat, kicking and thrashing, but not responding, then they dope him up again. Over and over. All day long. It is really terrible to see. I question why they do it this way, can't they just accept that his brain is in the state its going to be in until they can get these tubes out of him, just hold off until the pnemonia clears, get him off the respirator, then do the nerulogical tests. I have to assume they know what they are doing.
Two of the tiny baby steps that we have to view as improvements to keep positive were on saturday they took out the cranial pressure tube because his pressure had stabalized to the point where the risk of brain infection was greater, so they pulled it. On sunday they decided to move forward with a traciatome (spelling?) and plug the feeding tube into his stomach directly. It sounds like these steps will be setting him up for the longer term in the ICU, where as the tubes were a quick fix. Another sign he will be there for a while.
In regards to setting up for the long term, all of us need to do that emotionally and not set high expectations. His family had at first, and every day got harder as the lack of significant progress as you can imagine when all you are doing is watching him 20 hours a day could be frustrating. Also there are some real logistical challenges for the family. The hospital is in the ghetto. Let me be clear on that. I have been to highland hospital in oakland, and this hospital and this area is FAR worse. I have to wonder what adam was thinking walking home alone! We wouldn't go anywhere without John who was armed. Where adam was beat up was a couple miles from there, deeper still in the projects.
His friends in NYC have been wonderful. He has made a great many of them in such a short time his family was really suprised at their support. Joan, Nam and Angela have been really great coming to the hospital often, Joan lending the family a car. The rabbi keeps an apartment for people in the pates situation and has let them stay there. Its a dingy one bedroom, but a shitty hotel in brooklyn is $180 a night and if they are there weeks if not months, this can really add up.
So, thats my ramble for this morning. I think being out there really helped boost the families moral and adam's if he could here us. I didn't have a chance to play the messages for him as the ICU was so lad the spearkers couldn't over power the respirator and things. No headphones allowed yet. But I know that will be really great for adam when he comes to.
Thanks to everyone for their support. I'm going to try to fly back out again on friday night. If anyone wants to come from california let me know. I think the family can use all the support they can get. Diane has taken a six month leave of absense, and John is going to be out there for at least a month. Lets hope he is back before home before then.
Mike
March 24: #2
Get ready for great news.... NYPD has caught the perpetrator, and they have a confession. He is a 16 years old (african american with priors, am I aloud to say that? I'm not racist, just reporting FACTS), one of four perpetrators. John is working to have him tried as an adult. There are three felony charges being filed! Arraignment is tomorrow. Also, Adam is completely off the sedative now and very calm. He is opening his eyes more and starting to come back to life. All and all a GREAT DAY!!! Rejoice in this great news....
Sunday, March 23, 2008
March 23
Hey everyone,
I have another update on Adam.
-They are pretty positive that Adam is going to make it.
-They said it could be very short amount of time he will be in the hospital to a long amount (2 months)
-They have taken him out of the coma, but he is heavily sedated.
-Today they did a lot of test on him and Gareth, Mike and Amie got to help out. When they would ask him to squeeze their hands he would. They had a lot of fun being able to help and having Adam do the things they asked.
-He has his eyes open today.
-He still has the pnemonia but it has not gotten any worse.
-Tomorrow they are going to consider putting a trek (sp?) in, so that this will help him breathe better and make him more comfortable. This will make them able to take the breathing tube out of his throat.
We will send another update when we hear more.
Mya
I have another update on Adam.
-They are pretty positive that Adam is going to make it.
-They said it could be very short amount of time he will be in the hospital to a long amount (2 months)
-They have taken him out of the coma, but he is heavily sedated.
-Today they did a lot of test on him and Gareth, Mike and Amie got to help out. When they would ask him to squeeze their hands he would. They had a lot of fun being able to help and having Adam do the things they asked.
-He has his eyes open today.
-He still has the pnemonia but it has not gotten any worse.
-Tomorrow they are going to consider putting a trek (sp?) in, so that this will help him breathe better and make him more comfortable. This will make them able to take the breathing tube out of his throat.
We will send another update when we hear more.
Mya
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
3/21
No update yet today.
I do want to say thank you for all that called and left adam a message last night. We had over 20 people call! He is going to love it. Brandon Paski and I are putting the messages on an iPOD shuffle with some choice tracks tonight so that we can plop some giant headphones on adam this weekend and keep his motivation up!
Also, if you haven't called yet, please call today asap if you want your message in:
530-644-4846
Keep thinking positive,
Mike
I do want to say thank you for all that called and left adam a message last night. We had over 20 people call! He is going to love it. Brandon Paski and I are putting the messages on an iPOD shuffle with some choice tracks tonight so that we can plop some giant headphones on adam this weekend and keep his motivation up!
Also, if you haven't called yet, please call today asap if you want your message in:
530-644-4846
Keep thinking positive,
Mike
Thursday, March 20, 2008
3/20: Leave Adam a Voice Mail
All,They say that people in a coma become calm when they hear familiarvoices. I had an idea to collect everyone's best wishes and burn themto a cd. The easiest way to do this I think is to have you all leave avoicemail on a phone set up to convert to mp3s. My dad's phone can dothis.Please call 530-644-4846 tonight after 9pm west coast time and leaveyour best wishes / get well soon message. I will compile the voicemailsto a cd and bring them out to NY with me to play for adam.Mike
3/20
Friends,
The pressure on adam's brain has come back down (back to 10), so more positive news there.
Also, please do leave him a message tonight at:
530-644-4846
I talked to some people today that are a little bit shy about it. Please don't be. Just some motivational words or a funny story I think will really go along way for adam if not immediately, definitely while he is conscious and recovering. If the line is busy, please keep trying.
He's going to make it, keep thinking positive,
Mike
The pressure on adam's brain has come back down (back to 10), so more positive news there.
Also, please do leave him a message tonight at:
530-644-4846
I talked to some people today that are a little bit shy about it. Please don't be. Just some motivational words or a funny story I think will really go along way for adam if not immediately, definitely while he is conscious and recovering. If the line is busy, please keep trying.
He's going to make it, keep thinking positive,
Mike
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
3/19: more
I just spoke to Adam's brother John, he had some positive news. Adam is responding more than yesterday and looking better (less pail). It sounds like he was hit in the back of the head with something (bat, rock, bar) and was found at 3:15am in the morning, so hopefully he wasn't in to much pain or alone for too long. He had a second catscan today, and though the swelling hasn't changed (they don't expect it to for another couple days) the fact that he isn't getting worse is good news.I'll keep you posted as best I can,Mike
3/19
More from John Pate,When he was brought in Sunday morning they weren't sure if he was going to live. After today's catscan they feel pretty confident he is going to make it. The swelling in is brain has stabilized. They are not sure how much brain damage he has suffered. They have seen people come in much worse and be ok, and they have seen people come in better and be in bad mental shape.They are going to try to pull the tubes and bring him out of the coma tomorrow. If it doesn't go well and he freaks out, they will induce another coma and give him more time.Keep the prayers coming,Mike
3/19: Adam in the NY Post
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03192008/news/nypdblotter/nypdblotter.htmAdam is the second paragraph.
3/19: the prognosis
Here is an update from Adam's parents who are with him now:The prognosis so far is:-Epidural hematoma-no change since they brought him in-brain is swollen-blood clots in brain-just got out of another cat scan-blunt forced trauma-he's all hooked up with tubes and stuff going in and out of him....everything seems to be on his head/brain... -they aren't giving him much fluids or anything so he doesn't look very good... Nothing from the doctors as far as expectations which is making his folks frustrated.Keep sending the prayers and good thoughts,Mike
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
March 18: Angela Doan
Hi all,Joan, Nam and I went to see Adam today. Even though it was really hard to see him that way, I'm really glad he is responding. The nurses said his name a few times and he was reacting but he is still in the medically induced coma. I spoke to him too. Let's all keep him in our thoughts and prayers.If you would like to send flowers and cards the address is:Kings County HospitalBuilding D3 North3rd floorBed 43Patient: Adam Pate451 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11203Thanks for all your kind words. I will be in the hospital tomorrow if they will allow it. I'm not sure we should all think about visiting at this stage as it's probably best to keep the next few days free for his immediate family. I will however update you all on information on his condition and when it seems more appropriate for more visitors.Sincerely,Angela
3/18: Adam Pate
Concerned friends,Adam was jumped and robbed on his way home from a party Saturday night and has suffered blunt head trauma and is in critical condition at Kings county hospital in Brooklyn. He is still unconscious and was put into an induced coma. The doctors say he is responding however.His parents are on a red eye flight out tonight. Joan or Angela please send out an update to all and the address and bed number once you are able to get in.This is all of the information I have at this point.Mike
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