My Hubby - Ducmarc

[tug296]

Get back quick.

[alexm]

my three girls all now have an interest in medicine the oldest is in nursing school and the middle one is going into raiology. hoping the youngest and the brightest will be the doctor

Wow that has to be one of the coolest side effects of racing ever...turns family members into doctors :-)

Best wishes to you Marc!

[ProudWife]

alexm....LOL!  I never looked at it that way and you're right, that is one cool side effect. 

I would like to thank all of you for your encouraging words, I will update you after the surgery next Wednesday. 

[ProudWife]

Update on Marc's condition.

First, I would like to thank all of you for your words of encouragement. 

I know the hubby doesn't like to be in the lime light, but I told him tough.  I feel once you're into racing, you're part of an awesome family and he will have to deal with it, because family is family...lol.  Even though the weather was bad this past weekend, at least Marc, I, and the family were able to attend the Homestead, Fl. races.  I will write a post on the events of that later as it was really exciting. But to remain in this topic, during the weekend Marc was questioning whether he should have the procedure done or not.  He was getting extremely nervous, up to the point of wanting to back out.  But thank God he didn't.

June 30, Tuesday, the pre-op testing took all day to go through and in doing so, Marc and I realized, this procedure was going to be a little more technical than what we were anticipating.  Now, even I was having second thoughts for my hubby, but knowing he had to have it done, I kept my thoughts to myself.

July 1st, Wed, the family woke up to accompany Marc to begin the road we now were both dreading. First came the radiation to stop all future bone growth from forming in his hip after the surgery.  The radiation was not bad at all, it was equivalent to having 70 x-rays all at one time. Then we accompanied Marc to an area to where it was decided that he should have a Nerve Block done prior to the surgery.  This would apparently help Marc with recovery and pain after the surgery. While in the pre-surgical holding area, Marc was in good form, I suppose the meds from the Nerve Block were kicking in, but at least he was having fun.  The Nerve Block allowed Marc to move his legs up and down, but he was amazed on how he could not move his toes back and forth..lol.... the littlest things to keep him amused and upbeat was the most important thing.  After being in this area for almost two hours, they came and took him away to surgery, as hard as I tried, I could not stop a tear from escaping down the side of my eye as they gave him a sedative at the same time they came to take him, I did not want him to see me cry at any time.  But how does any spouse not do that when they see their loved one being taken away - knowing in a couple of hours all hell will break loose when the pain comes to life after surgery...? The reason for the sedative so early, my hubby did not want to see the operating room.  And if any of you have ever seen the inside of an Orthopaedic operating room, I truly believe you would understand. 

The rest of us had to go to the waiting lobby. Even though we kept ourselves busy playing cards, reading, pulling jokes on each other in the lobby, it seemed time stood still for the time he was surgery.  The surgery started at 1:30 pm and he was rolled into recovery around 5:45 pm.  I spoke with the doctor at 6 pm and even though I was so happy he made it through the surgery, I had to frown at the news of what was found during surgery and I had to frown because I could not see my baby for another 3 hours, I was told he had to be in recovery for 3 hours due to some unforeseen problems that caused him to loose a lot of blood and need a transfusion during and right after surgery.  After I spoke with the doctor, I realized, how lucky Marc has really been. 

First of all, I am not sure if I mentioned above, he had 8 broken areas in the hip (one area where the leg went through the socket and 37 fractures). The one major fracture being very severe is near where the leg went through the socket and where all of the pins and plates are, and this fracture never healed, and in the middle of that fracture was a very large blood vessel - kind of like a ticking time bomb - because I was told if he would have moved the wrong way at anytime, that vessel could have burst causing him to likely bleed out. Needless to say, when I heard this, I was shocked and so thankful to God at the same time, that neither of us backed out of his surgery. 

In the initial injury, Marc lost a great deal of blood in his left hip area.  When this happened, over time, all of the blood sitting in the muscle turned to bone, every where this happened, it caused the muscle to die, and this is something that cannot come back.  All of the bone was removed, however what will replace these open areas are dead muscle with a great deal of scar tissue.  Now Marc will be left with about 50% of muscle he can use on his left side in his hip area.  One thing the doctor did state, if ever anyone is in an accident, consult with your doctor first before you begin a regimen of supplements that affect growth of the bone, sometimes it can end up being a bad thing.  Because apparently in your body, if you bleed out somewhere, and then take "bone" enhancement supplements, it could cause an adverse affect and turn several areas of where you might have bled out into, into bone causing more of a problem in the future.  But regardless, with Marc, taking the supplements or not, due to the hip injury, the blood would have turned into bone over time no matter if he took them or not.

Now we move to the sciatica nerve, apparently, unknown to us, he had damaged that nerve and there was scar tissue found all around and on the nerve in several places, I forget the procedure that it was called, but the doctor worked on it and stated it will be 6 months to a year before they will know the extent of the final outcome of that injury. 

Marc did a good job on his injury, he has always believed, "if you're gonna do something, make it good, and give it your all."  Well all I can say is that he lives by his motto...LOL.  He will hopefully get to come home Monday of next week. From there...if I know his determination, he will work hard and prove the doctors how wrong they are for telling him that he will not be able to do what he has been doing before the accident.  But for now, just one step at a time.  Thanks again for all of your encouragement and I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July.

[ProudWife]

And...oh yeah... I forgot to mention along with the other procedures, he also had a complete hip replacement... How can I forget that one...lol.

[Gino230]

Wow, I'm sorry it took so long for me to find this thread, but Robin, you are a great writer and storyteller! I find myself holding my breath because although I know Marc pretty well, I didn't realize he was going back in for more surgery so soon and he has been so modest about his injuries that I didn't realize how serious this all is. Of course as racers, nobody wants to think about how seriously or quickly we could be injured in this sport that we all love so much, but I am glad that Marc is overcoming these injuries and I know he will come back to racing.

I remember the weekend before Marc's crash, He got his first win...against me! I was working really hard for the Thunderbike championship and although I was better at Moroso and Homestead, Marc was pretty quick at Jennings and getting quicker on that 748 seemingly by the lap. We had a great last lap battle, Marc using the power of the 748 to gap me on the back straight, and me catching and passing him on the brakes and into turn 5.... He was determined to win, though and dove under me into the double left (turn 11)...I did my best to get a run on him into 13, but he got a good drive and I just couldn't get to the line before him....Robin, I remember you and Lori cheering from the start/finish and I remember thinking that if one has to lose a race, this had to be the best way to go.

Marc is a great sportsman- most of us would have given up on the sport after being bitten so hard by the racing gods, but Marc is right back out there, putting Mark Tenn to work on that beast of a 748, and I'm sure he'll be back on the bike soon enough.

Get well soon Marc, we're all pulling for you.

Oh yeah, and keep those posts coming, especially when you are on the funny pills.....makes it very entertaining!

[roadracer162]

The 748 may be the "Beast", but the 900 is a "Monster".  The "Monster" needs a rider.

[ProudWife]

You're right Mark, if you're talking about the red beast.... it does need a rider... It's ole' reliable and it's really impressive on the track.  I still look back to the day when you brought it from the back of the field to 3rd overall and that was your first time on that bike and that bike just sat there for two years, no work done to it, nor was it taken out for any racing before that.  I know the 748 can kick a**, but I'd still really like to see what the other bike can do as well.  Poor thing, it's just sitting in the corner begging to be taken out for a day..lol. 

Gino, thanks for the compliments on the writing.  I do remember those last two race weekends well.  I don't know if you knew it or not, but you Gino, were Marc's inspiration on "picking up the pace."  He would tell me, damn Gino's an awesome rider, but I'm going to kick his a** this weekend. I remember race 13, that should have been the unlucky number...lol not 16, but anyway, I wished I had a video that day.  Every rider in that race was awesome.  I was so amazed at how Marc just went for it and pulled in a victory. If but for a moment, I could some how go back in time and show Marc what I saw, which was some really incredible racing, I know he would be proud of himself, just like I was that day.  All of the riders, and I must admit, especially Marc that day, seemed to be on top of their game making that race look better than any AMA Race I have ever seen.  The other thing to admit, that was the most expensive trophy Marc has ever won..lol, so far it tops out at $ 525,000.00 after this round of surgery.  I wonder if they give out trophies for that...LOL.

Anyway Gino it's great to see you back out there racing, if you keep at it, maybe I can remind Marc about your inspiration to him and we can get him back on the track soon again.