Support My Brother Glenn In His Recovery

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I’m fundraising for my brother Glenn. Glenn was in a terrible motorcycle accident on January 15th 2023. He was saved by a courageous woman who kept him alive while the paramedics rushed to the scene. He was taken to the hospital, where he was assessed for all medical trauma. Glenn’s injuries were extensive and contained a long list of injuries. The biggest ones being a fractured pelvis front and back (open book pelvis fracture), laceration of his liver, fracture of right arm, internal bleeding, fractures in his right and left hand, contusion of bladder, acute respiratory failure, nasal bone fracture, intracranial hemorrhaging, deep laceration on his left knee, fractured wrist, and many more injuries. He was on a ventilator for 6 days and he spent a total of 8 days in the ICU, where he had 4 surgeries at that time. The biggest surgery being an external fixator placed into his hips prohibiting all weight bearing. He also had a metal plate placed in his right forearm and pins placed in his right wrist.

On January 23rd 2023, Glenn was moved to the Trauma unit on the 5th floor of the hospital. At this point he was in and out of consciousness. Due to head trauma, it took awhile for him to remember where he was and what had happened. My family spent all of our time trying to tell him stories to help jog his memory. We noticed at this time he had not once moved his left shoulder, arm or hand. When Glenn was asked to try to move these areas he couldn’t and also could not feel if someone where to touch him either. The doctors wanted to do an MRI but couldn’t due to the metal bar in his hips. They suggested that we wait until the bar comes out to do further testing if there was still no movement or feeling.

Glenn stayed in the trauma unit until February 4th 2023 and was then moved to an inpatient rehab facility. During this time, his memory was starting to come back and he was more coherent. The rehab facility helped Glenn as much as they could. Glenn would practice writing and moving his good arm (right). At this time, my family were taught how to be caretakers for Glenn. We were trained on how to transfer Glenn from his bed to his wheelchair and how to help him with his hygiene routine. My brother needed 24/7 care and this is where my family learned everything. We wanted him to be able to go outside every day so when Glenn was feeling up to it we did. We wanted Glenn to feel as normal as possible so we even had a Super Bowl party for him at the facility.

Glenn was released to go home on February 26th 2023. We were able to have a hospital bed delivered to my dads house so Glenn would be as comfortable as possible. Due to Glenn still having the metal bar in his hips, he was still unable to weight bear. My dad stayed home from work to be Glenns full time care taker. The times that I wasn’t working I was with them helping were I could. We worked on giving Glenn the best care and during his time in the facility we learned how to clean around his bar. The cleaning of the bar needed to be done everyday and we also needed to check that there were no signs of infection. During this time, he stayed home to rest and we went to doctor appointments regularly. He had another surgery to remove the pins that were placed in his right wrist. It was a successful and simple surgery.

On April 13th 2023, I noticed some green discharge around Glenn’s bar and we decided to take Glenn straight to the ER. They admitted him and said the bar was infected and needed to come out. On April 14th 2023, Glenn had his 6th surgery and the metal bar was removed. Due to the infection, Glenn had another surgery the next day. They wanted to further clean out the left hip. He was given a portable machine that was inserted into his left hip to continue draining the infection on his left side. That machine stayed in his hip until he left the hospital. Glenn referred to this little machine as his game boy. At this point, Glenn’s left arm still wasn’t moving and the tests to figure out what was going on finally started. He had an MRI done and the doctor said Glenn had 2 nerve root avulsions. Which means that two nerve roots were ripped from the spinal cord. The doctors at the hospital recommended us to multiple neurologists that might be able to help him. On April 16th, 2023 Glenn took his first steps since January 15th. He was so excited to have the bar gone he immediately got right up and started walking.

After being in the hospital for a week, Glenn’s “game boy” was removed and was replaced with a pic line. He was discharged from the hospital on April 21st 2023. My family was taught how to clean and give Glenn his medications through the pic line. We had a nurse that would come out every week to check on him. He also had a physical therapist come out twice a week to the house. During this time, Glenn started walking regularly and was able to do things for himself. About two weeks after leaving the hospital, we noticed Glenn’s pic line looked infected and his nurse encouraged us to go back to the hospital. Glenn was admitted back into the hospital where he stayed for 3 more days. They removed the pic line and started an oral medication for the infection. During the next couple of months, we focused on seeing different neurologist in the country that could help Glenn with his left arm. We decided to go with a neurologist in Gainesville that believed he could get more movement in his arm. After multiple tests with his arm, we learned Glenn has 5 nerve root avulsions. We had originally been told it was 2. Glenn will never be 100% able to move his left arm or hand again but the neurologist believed he could get Glenn to flex his elbow. Flexing of the elbow doesn’t sound like a lot but it truly is an important movement that would help Glenn preform many day to day functions. Glenn’s neurologist wanted to achieve this elbow movement by transferring nerves and muscles from his right thigh to his left shoulder.

On October 12th, Glenn was admitted to Shands hospital to have his 8th and longest surgery. Glenn was in the OR for about 9 long hours. The surgery was very successful and Glenn was later moved to the ICU. He would stay in the ICU for 1 week to make sure there was no complications after surgery.

Glenn was discharged from the hospital on October 19th. He is doing very well and all of his scars look great. His arm is currently in a sling and has to stay in the sling for 6 weeks. Glenn isn’t able to move his arm at all and it must stay in a certain position to make sure that the muscles that were moved don’t rip. It’s crucial, if Glenn’s left arm were to extend it could set us back and the surgery would be for nothing. Glenn has had two check up appointments in Gainesville since the 19th and will have another one on the 28th. On the 28th we will learn what the next steps are in Glenn’s journey. Intense rehab for his arm will soon start. Glenn will have to relearn how to move his arm. It can take 6 months to a 1 year for Glenn to be able to preform this elbow movement. We will keep everyone updated on Glenn and thank you for taking the time to read about his journey. Glenn has come a long way since January and he will continue to get better and stronger every day.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Routzahn