69 replies to this topic

[DionJ]

Glad to hear nurse Donna is on the job.

[Sean Allen]

Crazy news, hope for a full recovery!

[alangj]

Update on Dave P:
Still progressing, but slowly. Has more lucid moments, more verbal each day. still moderately confused sometimes and sleeps a lot. almost no short-term memory. Still quite fatigued. Dave and family continue to request no visitors as of yet. Will keep you posted when it's okay to visit.
Al

[Greg Cicatelli]

Thanks again for the update, Al. We all continue to pray for a quick and full recovery. Many are looking forward to visiting soon, so please let us know when it's appropriate.

[terry gibson]

Al,

Thanks for the updates. He is in our prayers.

[alangj]

update, 10/15:
unfortunately, i have been out of town since Monday, so have had to rely on others' observations and discussions with his treating doctor. david continues to make small improvements daily. he interacts, occasionally jokes, starting to remember things from day to day. still no recollection of the event (probably never). he is to be transferred to a rehab facility soon for rehab of the brain injury, as his medical/physical issues are all stabilized. family is still requesting limited access for visits. i do not, at present, know the visitation rules at the rehab facility. will post when i know.
al

[Viet-Tam Luu]

Thanks again for the update Alan.

[alangj]

update, 10/19:
david is now in vallejo kaiser for rehab on soreno ave. he is still suffering from the major effects of the head injury and his physical injuries. he is able to accept visitors with the caveat that he is still very weak and has a very intensive rehab schedule that goes thru the entire day until 4p, so visits should be kept as short as possible so he can regain his strength. i saw him tonight and he still has his good moments and his not so good moments, so please let him sleep if he napping when you visit. he does not do very well with phones, so i suggest avoiding calling him.
thanks.
al

[alangj]

addendum to above:
for those who do wish to visit: please no more than 2 people at one time and, just so nobody is left unprepared - David is probably much more debilitated than you might think and he has very limited memory and recall, so please do not be offended if he seems slow to recognize you. his family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.

[Viet-Tam Luu]

Thanks to Phillip Steve Holifield for providing stickers at the races today! We're all thinking of you, Dave!

[Charlie Hayes]

Awesome stickers!

[alangj]

Update, Sunday, 10/22:
I saw David last night when I was driving home from T'hill. He seemed much more animated and alert than when I last saw him, 3 days ago. He was very touched and appreciative of the signed flag from the race workers and the decal stickers and he was completely amazed by the inclusion of the green roof on the decal! He loves talking about racing and his most reliable memories at this point involve racing. I was impressed by the improvement I saw in him, but we have to be cautious, as he has does still have his good moments and his less good moments as he continues on his road to recovery. If you're planning a visit, it seems that he is pretty free of therapy sessions during the weekends and, I believe has his a lunchtime break, ?11a-1p, free and after 4p during the week. He cannot really read, so don't bring reading material at this point, although pictures and picture-books are okay. One or two persons at a time is best for him. He is eating avidly, so snacks are appreciated (pretzels, black licorice, healthy stuff - he never was much of a junk food type). He doesn't really need anything at this point. Get-well cards are fine.
I would like to thank everybody who came to me this weekend and conveyed their thoughts and best wishes to bring back to David. Also, I'd like to thank everybody for all the support you gave me personally during this last weekend as I initially had very mixed feelings about participating. thanks.
al

[Ron Alan]

Al,
You have know idea how your candor and professionalism has helped us all to cope and come to understand what David is going through. Trust me when i say you were not alone with your mixed feelings.

Steve H,
The stickers were a class act...huge kudos to you for this!! No doubt David was appreciative but they also gave us a sense of unity(In our concerns) in our large SM group and those outside in other classes who know Dave.

[Steve Holifield]

I have more stickers. If anybody wants one, PM me and I will mail it to you.

[Greg Cicatelli]

I went by to visit Dave today and was really enthused with all his progress on the road to recovery. He still has a ways to go, but definitely moving the right direction and significantly better than just this past weekend according to his family. He had his great sense of humor back and was making all sorts of jokes. He was really curious about the past weekend at TH and how everyone did. He showed me the sticker that Steve made and I assured him we all had them on our cars. In fact, I even let him know about Matt Rose's handy paint job on his bumper with "D Petruska" on it. His Mom and his sister were still there supporting him and Dave is definitely getting anxious to go home - they're hoping sometime within the next week or so. He was funny, essentially pacing back and forth in his wheel chair, but really happy to have the neck brace off and getting good mobility in his neck. He also said the pain is starting to subside, but still dealing with double-vision. He has a lot of physical and speech therapy sessions to build strength back up, but seems to be dealing with it ok.

Much like when Kim visited yesterday, he wanted to spend a lot of time talking about racing and was really appreciate of everyone stopping by as well as passing the well wishes on this forum. I gave him a set of fuzzy dice to hang from the new car rear-view mirror which he's also already talking about... gotta love the guy. I'll let Al fill in the more clinical prognosis and summary, but all I can say is how happy I was seeing him greatly improved.

Keep on fighting, Dave!

[Ron Alan]

Awesome news!!

[Viet-Tam Luu]

Thanks for the update Greg, I'm glad to hear Dave continues to improve!

[alangj]

update, Friday, 10/28:
visited david today after he returned from his physical therapy. he looks great. smiling a lot, joking. taking verbal abuse from larry oka and me and giving it back! remembering people who have visited and what they talked about, which is a major step forward over the last week. still having some vision problems, partially double vision, partially because he is wearing glasses with a 10 year old prescription (we're working on an update on that, too). plan at this time is that he will remain at vallejo until 11/15 for inpatient therapy, then would expect discharge to outpatient setting with continued therapy sessions. he's been watching top gear dvd's. has lots of magazines to read. still not stable on his feet (combination of balance problems and left leg injury) so mostly wheelchair bound at this time, but making headway there as well. very encouraging progress over the last week! keep the faith!
al

[Jim Drago]

Glad he is doing so well. This is the serious side of what we do. I don't think any of us feel this is a "real" possibility, this proves it can and does happen, even in SM. Hoping the recovery goes ahead of schedule.

[Juan Pineda]

Hey Alan, Thanks for the updates. Sounds like good progress! -Juan