Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:07:39 +0000
>
> Hi
> so we arrived in Miami yesterday, We have no definate answer on Alexs
> condition as with an injury like his it takes days before you can tell how
> or if the damage will be permanent, but as it stands he is on a ventilator
> which a tube in his throat and he also has another tube which is going into
> his stomach so thats 2tubes in his mouth which is understandably very
> frustrating for him. they are hoping to reduce the work of the ventilator in
> the next few days to see how he copes breathing on his own, he has been on a
> cooling drip which basically is like if you sprain your ankle you would put
> a cold dompress on it so they put cold stuff in his body thru a drip to have
> that effect on his spine and nervous system. He broke bones c4 and c5 which
> are just below the neck c3 is the one at the top of your neck you can feel
> sticking out so its the next 2 down, he has had surgery which included a
> bone graft and a metal plate put in there. His spinal cord was not severed
> but squashed so that gives us hope but we have to just take each day at a
> time and once he gets the tubes out he will be less frustrated. he is not
> fully sedated as they need to asses him constantly so he wakes up every so
> often for a short time each time, he has in the last couple of days had
> movement in both arms not strong but more than he could at the begining
> which is fantastic but we have to just wait and see what will happen in the
> next few days are critical.
> And it was a complete accident the way it happened, alex and a friend were
> walking into the sea into the waves and both dived into the wave and that
> was it no rock or anything like we thought maybe originally.
> well i am absolutely knackered so am going to bed now as its gone midnight
> here, i hope i have not missed anyone but im sure you will speak to who you
> think needs to no. i have a laptop set up in our apartment so i will be
> checking my e-mails in the morning before we go to the hospital and at night
> when we get home and my mobile is working if you want to text me but trying
> to save credit so may not always reply until i can e-mail.
> Jennifer x

Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:54:37 +0000
>
> hi i thought i would give jen a break and write this.we are in miami at
> jackson memorial hosp icu with alex following his accident .he broke c5 and
> c6 and badly bruised his spinal cord mri showed his spinal cord was
> bleeding.he is being sedated following surgery to the spine he had bone
> grafts and a metal plate inserted;he is on a ventilator and is very
> distressedwith all the tubes in his mouth he ended up with 3 yesterday they
> cant sedate him too heavily as it affects his bp etc his body is being
> cooled wiyh iv saline it helps the body heal but alas has side effectsin
> that he will end up pneumoniabut on balance iy its worth it.alex captain
> and crew mates came on sun it was so good to meet them and meet the people
> who styed with him until he was airlifted from st martins.they have been so
> kind and we are so grateful .the care alex is getting is first class and is
> the best pace for spinal cord injuries.its an 1800 bed hosp also a county
> hosp which means any body can use it we have met some interesting characters
> they all need to borrow 31 dollars im guessing the crack cocaine is 30
> dollars with a dollar tax just heard from hosp his breathing has worsened
> he has flui in his lungs keep us in your prayers love sandraxx
> this is jen here we have just been informed that his condition has got worse
> so please whatever you were praying before do it ten times as much, Elliot
> and Ross are waiting for flights to come over.

Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 02:01:35 +0000
>
> Hi
> Were just back from the hospital, Elliot and Ross arrived safely thank god
> it was a shock for them to see him, no matter how much you prepare yourself
> for the machines and tubes its a shock when you see it.
> Alex is still critical but stable and holding his own they have reduced the
> amount of oxygen in his ventilator slightly today as his blood was showing
> good levels of oxygen and thats the next step to slowly reducing what the
> ventilator does for him. we spoke to the doctor this morning he said it
> would be monday at the earliest before we see any sign of improvement from
> the infection so lets all pray Father Christmas will bring us what were
> hoping for.
> Were just taking each day 1 day at a time for now Thanks for all your
> support xxx
> Keep up the prayers xxx

Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:07:08 +0000
>
> Hi everyone,
> Its been a tough couple of days for all of us alex especially, he has been
> put on full life support as of last night and put into a coma. This is
> because of his strength and determination in a way, he has a ventilator to
> breath for him but his body is trying to breath over the ventilator so
> therefore using energy and the oxygen he uses each time goes around his body
> trying to fight the machine instead of just letting the machine do it for
> him so his body can just relax and heal. he has an infection in his lungs,
> they are growing samples in the lab so they can see exactly what it is but
> until then they have him on double antibiotics to fight it and when they no
> exactly what the infectionn is they can deal with it right. he is still in a
> critical condition but the machines are now doing everything for him so
> hopefully his body will now fight the infection in his lungs and heal. They
> will keep him like this for a couple of days then bring him out again and
> see how he gets on but he could possibly have to go back into full life
> support, time is the only thing we have it is the only thing that will tell
> us what is going to happen and we are now 8 days after the accident and he
> is still with us so please all just keep praying and some more and hopefully
> he will get over this infection as soon as possible.
> A few of you have asked where to send cards to, mum and i will be staying in
> Miami until we bring Alex home so you can send cards to the apartment,
> obviously at the moment he is intensive care so it is a sterile environment
> but as soon as he is allowed cards in his room it would be lovely to have
> them all here ready.
Well that is all i can say for now so keep him in your thoughts and prayers
> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 00:23:33 +0000
>
> hi just back from hospital alex has had a very stressful day his heart
> stopped last night but they kickstarted him very quickly his lungs are still
> full of yuk he has a urine infection his poor body has taken such a
> battering at the mo we are not concerned about his paralysis but keeping him
> alive thank you all for your love and support from every corner of the world
> keep praying love sandra tony elliot alex ross and jen xxxxxx

Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 15:06:29 +0000
>
> Hi all,
> We had a hard day yesterday alex crashed again yesterday morning but the
> team of doctors and nurses looking after him are fantastic and got him
> stablised again quickly and he has stayed stable throughout the night. He
> really couldnt be in a better hospital.
> We are just taking each day as it comes for now,the doctor said he will
> probably put a trachy in on wednesday, they said it sound and looks scary
> but he will be a lot mre comfortable and it’l be slightly easier for them to
> control his lungs through it and is easily removable when its done his job.
> Thank you to everyone all around the world for your love support and prayers
> please keep them up xxx
> and if you ever want to go on a cruise please use Holland America line they
> have been absolutely fantastic throughout this whole thing and have made the
> situation easier to cope with and its one little way we can give them
> something back.
> Love us All xxx

> Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 16:40:04 +0000
>
> Hi everyone,
> Alex is still stable so thats brilliant as he is not going to get better
> overnight so as long as he is stable that means his body is doing the
> healing it needs and he is not getting any worse. They have postponed the
> trachy till thursday possibly friday as they have had lots of emergencies in
> the last couple of days and with each day that passes it means he is that
> little bit stronger for the procedure.
> He is on antibiotics now for the infections and hopefully in the next few
> days we will see gradual signs of them working, his temperature came down to
> 37 yesterday so they removed the cooling blanket but had gone back up to
> 37.9 towards the end of the day so they put it back on but that is to be
> expected with all the medication he is on and what his body is going
> through.
> Thank you for all your support and please keep him in your prayers x

 Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 02:02:39 +0000
>
> Hi all,
> Alex has had a steady day, he had an incident at 2am this morning where his
> pulse rate dropped to like 30 but he didnt crash and they stabilised him
> fairly quickly. they did more xrays and found he has a pneumo thorax (fluid
> on the lungs) so they put in a chest drain to obviously drain the fluid out,
> his lung had collapsed a bit as well so the tube helps with that and they
> think that the pneumo thorax is probably why he has been crashing before. He
> is booked to have the trachy done at 12 midday tomorrow, so he will be a lot
> more comfortable with that rather than the tube for when he wakes up. They
> have also changed the way his ventilator works, its a bit complex but its
> basically this, before he was getting 18 breaths a minute with a high
> pressure and now they are giving him 30 breaths a minute with a lower
> pressure which is more like what the lungs would do naturally which
> apparently allows the oxygen to flow better…
> Im not sure if that makes sense to any body else but it did when the doctor
> explained it to me earlier!
> Love the smiths x

> Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:49:34 +0000
>
> Hi everyone,
> Alex had his trachy done this morning and it all went well so thank god and
> he will be much more comfortable when he wakes up. He has had a steady and
> stable day, his blood oxygen was a little low earlier this afternoon but
> they just increased the oxygen given to him in his ventilator and it was
> soon sorted out.
> The doctor said in a few days time they will hopefully be able to think
> about bringing him out of the coma as long as his oxygen levels stay steady
> and if his lungs start to clear up.
> I just want to say thank you to everyone who sends replies with their
> support it means alot and its nice when you get home at the end of the day
> and see all the people who are thinking about and praying for alex and i
> have to send this e-mail out twice as i cant fit all the address’s on one
> e-mail which just shows us how many people care about him, he is one special
> brother, son and friend to us all.
> Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers he is still critical but
> hopefully starting to come through the other side, Thanks again
>
> ps dan johnson – elliot said can you thank clifford for the message…

> Hi,
> Alex had a setback last night, his blood pressure,pulse and blood oxygen
> levels dropped quite dramatically but they managed to stabilise him before
> it got to the stage it has before where his heart stopped, that was at 5am
> this morning and he has been fairly stable all day since they are not too
> sure whats causing it to keep hapening it though, its either just the ARDS a
> combination of ARDS & pneumonia or possibly a clot somewhere maybe in his
> lung so they are planning on doing some more tests tomorrow to see what they
> can find.
> I’l keep you posted and thank you for your support
> Jennie x

> Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 03:55:54 +0000
> Hi everyone,
> Alex had a stable day today, His white blood cell count (which is what shows
> infection) has started to come down so please god it will continue to do so.
> Really tiered tonight so im off to bed now, but please keep praying and
> please god he will stay stable,X

> Date: Mon, 01 Jan 2007 03:22:28 +0000
> Hi all,
> We have had a tough day today, Alex has been fairly stable all day his pulse
> was a little low earlier but has come back up again now.
> We had some lovely visitors today, The Captain of Alex’s ship came this
> morning with Sarah (a good friend of alex’s from the ship who was with him
> at the time of the accident and has been an absolute diamond to us here) and
> this afternoon Mike, Martin, Micheal and Willem who are all people that work
> with Alex on the ship and were also there at the time of the accident and
> got him out of the water. Everyone from the Westerdam, Holland America and
> Viking have been absolute rocks to us and we cant thank you enough, words
> can’t express the gratitude we have for you and always will.
> Best wishes to you all, we wish you all a happy, healthy New Year. And pray
> the new year will answer our prayers,
> All of us xxx

> Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2007 01:58:03 +0000
> Hey everyone,
> Alex had another stable day today, they have warned us that he is likely to
> crash again though so were not able to relax anytime. But he is down to 55%
> oxygen input from his ventilator for the first time and has managed to
> tolerate it well so far so fingers crossed.
> Dad Elliot and Ross are flying home on Friday as they have to get back for
> work and stuff but dad will come back depending on how long we are here,
> which is looking more to be like months than weeks from what we have been
> told in the last few days by various people.
> Alex is still in a critical condition so please keep praying for him, we
> have to remember that he is young and strong and if anyone can get through
> this its him.
> Thanks x
 
> Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 15:13:01 +0000
> Hi,
> Alex is stlll stable and we just hope and pray he will stay that way
> although we have been warned the chance of him crashing again is high so we
> cant relax anytime.
> (for assumpta – 50% is what they are aiming at the moment, 55% is where he
> is now)
> The doctors said yesterday that they are hoping to clamp his chest tube and
> then after a couple of hours do an x-ray and depending on how the lungs look
> maybe take the tube out.
> His lungs still arent working though they dont open and close like yours or
> mine but each day he is getting stronger and his body is healing a little
> bit more.
> Jennie