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Hi there

Enclosed you can find, in chronological order, photos of my experience.

Three friends and I were coming home from burning man on September 2nd, 2002. We were towing a [U insert national rental brand here] trailer that blew a tire and proceeded to flip us over several times. The pictures are the result of my being seat belted into the front passenger seat . The plastic from the dash is what hit and cut me. As you can see in the first set of pics I was cut down to the tendons and the bones. Yes, those are my bones.

I was in the hospital for 7 ½ weeks and underwent 6 different surgeries for tendon reconstruction and a few skin grafts.

After they did a few debridment surgeries and tendon reconstruction, the first step to my tissue reconstruction was cadaver skin. Yeah, from like, dead people. I was hoping like, one would have a tattoo or something, that would be kind of cool.

Next came the plastic looking stuff called Integra. That's actually the same stuff they used on the heads of those conjoined twins you might have seen on the news that were separated recently. It’s a weird blend of shark cartilage and silicone..its sort of a pre-skin graft.

At this point I was OVER staples in the feet. The staples hurt more then my gaping wounds. I got a nice gnarly infection when the Integra was on, so then they cut those areas away in some spots...

After that I get more cadaver skin..joy. This time around they made it all net-like..i dunno why. Also at this time it was suggested I be cut off of my Demerol...not a very happy time in my life. I hate Morphine, but that’s what I got. Demerol, sweet Demerol.

That patch on my upper leg was the donor site where they took a thin layer of my skin for the final skin graft. There has been slow healing with that, its about 99.9% done right now.

Then finally, the finished product. I have no movement in several of my toes due to tendon damage on my right foot and have limited movement on my left. I'll never be a foot model, but I can walk, dance and run again.

As for the other passengers, my two friends in the back seat suffered minor cuts and bruises (note: if you're riding in an explorer, sit in the back seat). The driver got whacked pretty hard. He shattered several vertebrae in his neck, and instead of wearing a halo for over a year, he opted for surgery were they replaced his vertebrae...with what, I dunno..new ones? Who knows. But we're all still doing quite good. And involved in a nice suit against [U insert national rental brand here].

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Editor's Notes:

Uh, wow. We've been getting some pretty serious wounds lately, but for some reason this one is tough for me to view. It makes me shiver when I look at it. And so many pictures! Very well documented indeed.

So let's see...You were at Burning Man and to regenerate your skin they used a fairly new product called Integra which was designed for use on burn victims. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. Here's some more FDA info on Integra. My favorite page is page four.

And on to Demerol. The thing I noticed reading that page about Demerol was that the side effects are very similar to those of way too much beer on an empty stomach.

Side effects of Demerol include: lightheadedness, dizziness, sedation, nausea, vomiting, sweating, respiratory depression, circulatory depression, respiratory arrest, shock, and cardiac arrest, euphoria, dysphoria, weakness, headache, agitation, tremor, uncoordinated muscle movements, severe convulsions, transient hallucinations and disorientation, visual disturbances, dry mouth, constipation, biliary tract spasm, flushing of the face, tachycardia, bradycardia, palpitation, hypotension, urinary retention.

I know, I know, I sound amazed everytime I see healing pictures, but check these out. It really is fascinating. I'm starting to understand why doctors develop god complexes. They can take skin from a dead person, silicone, and shark cartilage and grow new. Better than he was before. Better . . . stronger . . . faster. Oh wait, that's the six million dollar man. But I'm sure when you get the bill for the part your HMO won't pay for, it'll be close.

Sharky

Photos:
Fresh- down to the bone
Not good- this doesn't look promising to me
Other Foot- That's a lot of skin to leave in the car
Foot again- get a good look
Cadaver?- Is this the cadaver skin?
Integra- plasticy
Growth- slow but sure
Progress - Getting there
Lattice work- netting
Donor area- taking it for the team
More Lattice- and more integra?
I'll Be- damned, look at that, it's working
Cool- that's amazing
Plenty of Skin- to cover the wound
Truck- built fr0d tough
Burning- Man
My favorite pic- of the bunch