The Extended Diagnosis

After the immediate triage and stabilization, specialists began searching for other damage. They found some.

Her Arm
Amacker’s left humorous (upper arm) is broken cleanly through just a few inches down from the shoulder near the bicep. There is also some evidence that she may have damaged her left hand or wrist, but they haven’t taken the time to fully diagnose that since blood flow and sensation seem to be fine (and since they have bigger fish to fry first – see below).

Her Head and Neck
Perhaps the most alarming damage found was at the base of Amacker’s head. Early x-rays showed some fracturing near the base of the skull, but detailed MRIs found the problem to be much more severe and extremely dangerous. This part is very scary, and to save you the angst, I’ll just say that things are stabilized now and the prognosis looks promising.

The spinal and brain specialists tell us that when you wear a helmet and have a high-speed collision, the helmet can protect the soft bits inside, but it can also provide extra momentum to the head itself, sometimes contributing to decapitation. Amacker still has her head, but barely. She has a very severe break in her neck right where it attaches to the skull. Her head was only held on by muscle and tendons. Frankly, the doctor (a specialist in this area) had never seen anyone sustain this type of injury and survive. In fact, he said he’d never seen someone have this injury without a full decapitation! Close your mouth, take a breath, and read on. Because it does get better.

Start working on your “losing your head” jokes now, because she’s going to be fine. Amacker, amazingly, has no apparent damage to her brain, her spinal cord, or her nervous system. She has been brought up from her deep sleep a few times and has been asked to wiggle her extremities, and on command she can move all of them. Amazing.

However, she is still a bit of a bobble-head, and could very easily do damage to her spinal cord. MRIs show a full centimeter of separation between the top bone in her spine and her skull. In you and me, they are connected by firm bone. Obviously, this is an area that needs to be shored up on Amacker, and the doctors are monitoring her progress closely.

Her Brain
Though she did have some light bleeding inside various parts of her head, the doctors are not concerned about this now. The areas seem to be repairing themselves and the damage does not seem extensive. We have every reason to believe that Amacker will be herself again after she completes a very long recovery.

Her Overall Condition
Amacker is in critical condition in Intensive Care. Thanks to the incredible work and diligence of her doctors (and the paramedics at the scene), she is stable, but the doctors remind us that she is in a very weak state. She has the best team of doctors (all the “Chiefs” you could say) working on her. They have shared their confidence that Amacker is going to get through this.