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Update on Jim Treacher accident; reporter hit by car in DC
Topic Started: Feb 11 2010, 08:34 AM (1,027 Views)
Quasimodo

http://dctrawler.dailycaller.com/

February 8th, 2010
An update on my medical status
[ Jim Treacher ]
I’m typing this from a hospital bed, with an oxygen monitor on my finger that’s making it difficult to navigate the keyboard. I’m going to ask the nurse to move the monitor to one of my toes, because I can’t quite do it myself yet. My left leg is wrapped in bandages and locked into what they call an immobilizer, which is very aptly named. I can’t move anything from my hip to my ankle, nor do i want to. Everything in-between hurts because of the shattered tibia I suffered Wednesday night when I was crossing the street, within the crosswalk, with the light, and a State Department security officer named Mike McGuinn made an illegal left turn and ran right into me. This happened on 22nd and M, not 26th and M as specified on the jaywalking citation I was issued that same evening.

But this is supposed to be a medical status update, so let’s get back to that. I’m not clear on all the technical details, but during the surgery, basically they had to take all the broken pieces of bone and stick them together with some sort of bone paste. They shaped a new bone out of that. And then there’s a piece of metal attached to something somewhere, but again, I’ll have to get back to you on the details. Knee injuries can be pretty complex, I guess. So that’s on the outside of my knee. There’s still some weird stuff going on deeper inside, with torn cartilage and stuff, but I’m not exactly sure how that heals up. They’ve still got some more work to do. I’ll need to do some more reading on this sort of knee injury. I’m not a doctor. I just know it hurts like hell.

My right leg is pretty banged up too, but not nearly as badly as the left. I’ve got a big bruise on my knee and thigh, and right now I’ve got some sort of automated inflatable balloon strapped to my calf to prevent blood clots.

Oh, I have blood clots in my lung, did I mention that? Pulmonary embolisms, they’re called. They’re blood clots from the knee injury that have traveled through the bloodstream and entered my lungs, where they’re interfering with my ability to process oxygen. My lung strength is fine, fantastic really, but there are still times when I can’t get enough oxygen when I sleep. That’s where the aforementioned oxygen monitor comes in. It starts beeping when my blood oxygen goes below a certain level. That was happening too often for their liking, so they gave me a CAT scan and found the clots in my lungs.

They can’t do anything about the clots that are already there. Those will just be absorbed eventually. But to prevent further clots, they’ve put me on something called lovenox. This is an anticoagulant that I have to inject myself with. It goes in the fat at the very bottom of the stomach, so that’s no problem for me. I’m also taking a pill called coumadin, another anticoagulant. Once that kicks in, after 5 days or so, I can stop the lovenox injections. Then, once I’m out of the hospital, I’ll have to visit a blood lab at least once a week to make sure my blood isn’t too thick or too thin. This will continue for 3-6 months.

It’ll also be between 3-6 months before I can put full weight on my left knee. They started me on something called a continuous motion machine yesterday, which is a device your leg straps into that, well, moves it continuously. We started it off very slowly and at a very mild angle, and every day I’m supposed to increase both a little bit. I’ll have to do this for 4 hours a day for the next 3-6 months.

That’s in addition to the actual physical therapy, the details of which are still a bit unclear. I was able to get in and out of bed and over to a bedside chair with a walker and some assistance. They tell me I’m doing very well for such a bad knee injury. I figure, what’s the alternative? Not healing? I want to get back on my feet as quickly as possible so I can help figure out how this happened to me, and how the people who are doing it think they can get away with it. I am highly motivated to get better.

I was just getting ready to move apartments when that guy hit me. I’ve been here about 6 weeks in a furnished apartment, and I finally found something more permanent that I liked. I had all the paperwork ready and I was going to go to the landlord the next day to put down the security deposit. Obviously I’ve been busy since then. So I don’t know if I still have that apartment, or if I can even get around in it in my current condition. And I’m supposed to be out of my current place by Wednesday, but again, I’m not sure how that’s going to work. I’ve got plenty of people who want to help, but I’m just not sure what to do. The knee has been taking up most of my time lately.

What else? My glasses were broken in the accident when I slid outside the crosswalk on my face, so everything beyond this keyboard is fuzzy. My left ring finger got jammed, I think, but it’s just bruised and swollen. I’m off the dilaudid drip, because I want to keep my head clear. And I’m off the catheter, because I want to keep my head clear. (See? I still got it.) I’m currently peeing in a plastic container, which is a blast. Haven’t had to do the other one yet, but they’ve got a special toilet for me that I can sit on without destroying my left leg.

So that’s where I am at this point. Thanks to everybody at the Daily Caller, all of whom have helped me out somehow over the last 5 days. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody, but if it had to happen, I’m glad to have such an amazing team watching my back. And thanks to my family out in Indianapolis, and all my relatives who’ve lent moral support.

This is not over. You can count on that.

If you have any questions about this stuff, feel free to ask in the comments. I can’t guarantee I’ll have an answer, but I’ll try. Thanks for reading.
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Quasimodo

February 9th, 2010
Your 2/9/10 Treacher update
[ Jim Treacher ]
Right after I posted that yesterday, a couple of nice medical students came in and changed the dressing on my leg. I finally got to see the aftermath, and at this point I think I’m too freaked out to really be upset by it. The knee is pretty swollen and the incision down the left side of my left leg is huge. I can’t even think about what they were peeling away and what they were doing underneath. But they seem to have done a good job, because I’m healing faster than they expected.

Then I went down to ultrasound to get checked for more blood clots. After they found the post-surgery pulmonary embolism, they wanted to make sure there weren’t any more clots floating around inside me. And they wanted to rule out the possibility that this was a preexisting thing, rather than the direct result of getting my tibia destroyed by a State Dept. SUV and having surgery to fix it. The very nice ultrasound person, Maria, didn’t find any clots. The good news is that I think I like the soothing feel of ultrasound gel. The bad news is that none of this should be happening in the first place.

Just as an aside to DC residents: You’ve seen the street sign that says something about how in DC, the law says pedestrians have the right of way, haven’t you? It’s not like a traffic sign, with block letters and bright colors. It’s very muted and has a fancy font and all that. It might even have trees on it? I know I’ve seen it here and there. If you see one of those, could you take a picture and send it to jim at dailycaller dot com? The closer to 22nd and M it is, the better.

A quick clarification for Eric Boehlert and anybody else who’s confused: I did not claim Secret Service hit me. I said I was told Secret Service hit me by people who would know. Namely, the paramedics who took me from 22nd and M to Georgetown University Hospital. They said they didn’t know if I realized it, but I’d been hit by CIA or Secret Service. Probably the latter. So I passed along what I was told, and said I wanted answers if it was true. It turns out the paramedics were off by a few federal agencies, but they were in the right ballpark. And the Daily Caller made the clarification the minute there was news. Apparently I shouldn’t have said anything about this, in order not to offend Mr. Boehlert’s sensibilities. But I haven’t been paid a visit by Secret Service, which I choose to interpret as a sign of no hard feelings on their part. Maybe not everybody demands perfect knowledge of every atom in the universe from the guy who just got hit by a car. Everything I’ve said about this has been in good faith, and I resent any implication otherwise.

I now have crutches, a walker, and a wheelchair. It’s good to have options. I’m awesome with the walker, pretty good with the crutches, and I haven’t tried the wheelchair yet. I’ll probably need that to get around outside, especially in all this snow.

(snip)

They’re probably letting me out of the hospital today, if I can get out of here before DC’s daily blizzard. And then I can look forward to months of physical therapy and blood tests, a huge hospital bill, and a jaywalking citation. And the guy who drove the State Dept. SUV that hit me is… ???

(snip)
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Quasimodo

February 9th, 2010
Hit, run, whatever
[ Jim Treacher ]
In the comments on the previous post, mak5 posted the following from DC’s traffic laws (emphasis mine):

District of Columbia Official Code 2001 Edition
Division VIII. General Laws.
Title 50. Motor and Non-Motor Vehicles and Traffic.
Subtitle VII. Traffic.
Chapter 22. Regulation of Traffic.
Subchapter I. General Provisions.
Part A. Traffic Act, 1925.
§ 50-2201.05. Fleeing from scene of accident; driving under the influence of liquor or drugs.

(a)(1) Any person operating a vehicle, who shall injure any person therewith, or who shall do substantial damage to property therewith and fail to stop and give assistance, together with his name, place of residence, including street and number, and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle so operated, to the person so injured, or to the owner of such property so damaged, or to the operator of such other vehicle, or to any bystander who shall request such information on behalf of the injured person, or, if such owner or operator is not present, then he shall report the information above required to a police station or to any police officer within the District immediately. In all cases of accidents resulting in injury to any person, the operator of the vehicle causing such injury shall also report the same to any police station or police officer within the District immediately.

(2) Any operator whose vehicle causes personal injury to an individual and who fails to conform to the above requirements shall, upon conviction of the 1st offense, be fined not more than $500, or shall be imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both; and upon the conviction of his 2nd or subsequent offense, shall be fined not more than $1,000, or shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.


Oh! So if a guy hits you in DC, he’s required by law to identify himself to you and provide his contact information? Or, if he gives it to the police instead, the police are required to give it to you? And otherwise, it’s considered fleeing the scene of the accident?

Gee, sorry for calling it a hit-and-run. State Department security agent Mike McGuinn hit me, and then he walked.

(snip)
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Texas Mom

Thanks for posting this. I can't seem to get my browser (Safari) to open the Dailycaller site! (Suggestions anyone?) It's the only site I can't seem to access- I get an error message every time.
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Quasimodo

Texas Mom
Feb 11 2010, 09:40 AM
Thanks for posting this. I can't seem to get my browser (Safari) to open the Dailycaller site! (Suggestions anyone?) It's the only site I can't seem to access- I get an error message every time.
This sounds like it might need some help from the DC prosecutor in orchestrating a Cynthia-McKinney/Patrick-Kennedy style cover-up.

The Daily Caller itself didn't have an update; but the Daily TRAWLER does (along with Twitter from Treacher).
Edited by Quasimodo, Feb 11 2010, 09:55 AM.
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Mason
Member Avatar
Parts unknown
I would love to see this independently investigated.

A thorough investigation.

.
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kbp

Mason
Feb 11 2010, 10:15 AM
I would love to see this independently investigated.

A thorough investigation.

.
Not a really big deal that would harm any politically, not that I can see anyway. It just looks like some are above the law so far and it prolly has nothing to do with Dem's or Rep's, just the system in place.
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Quasimodo

X-ray of Treacher's knee (with bolt pins)

http://dctrawler.dailycaller.com/2010/02/16/the-last-thing-im-going-to-say-about-it-for-a-while/#more-4533
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kbp

I'm guessing those are staples showing how long the cut was to open his lag up in surgery.
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Quasimodo

http://dctrawler.dailycaller.com/

Feb. 26, 2010

If you’re new to the blog, here’s the short version: A few weeks ago I was hit by an SUV while crossing the street. In the crosswalk. With the light. I had to have reconstructive surgery on my knee, and I’m currently recovering at home. If you want to know more, go back into the archives and you’ll find more than you probably want to know on the subject.

Physically, I seem to be recovering well. I’ve been doing exercises for the knee every day, and physical therapy twice a week. My therapist Peter is pleased with my progress. Yesterday I was able to bend my knee about 80-85 degrees. (Without screaming. That’s the important part.) The exercises aren’t much fun while I’m doing them, but they really do speed up the healing process. And if I don’t do them, I could have all sorts of problems down the line. I’m determined to heal up as quickly and completely as possible. None of this is my fault, but I’m still responsible for getting better.

I’m also on two different blood thinners for a pulmonary embolism as a result of the surgery, so I’m getting blood drawn twice a week. (Hi, Abdul!) It’s kind of a delicate process, getting the blood to the exact thickness they want, and it’s taking longer than I expected. But again, it’s what needs to be done. If you’ve never needed to stick a needle into your own stomach, count your blessings.

Starting to be able to get around better on crutches. I’ve got a walker and a wheelchair, but the crutches are a lot faster. I was worried about losing my balance at first, but it’s getting easier the more I use them.

Oh, and I’m all moved into my new place. I was in the middle of moving when I got hit, but that got scrapped because the apartment wasn’t wheelchair-accessible. So in addition to recovering from surgery and everything else, I was staying in a hotel room with my parents, who drove in from Indianapolis, while I tried to find a new place ASAP. But now it’s all good. It worked out better than I’d hoped. It’s kind of weird, moving 600 miles away just to go back to blogging from home. But I can think of worse jobs.

Thanks to everybody who’s called and e-mailed and tweeted and sent cards and letters and goodies. It helps more than you know.

As for what’s next… we’ll see.
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