After wreck, couple grateful for care at Atrium Health Floyd
Andy was doing what he loved — racing dirt bikes in a motocross event — when something went horribly wrong.
One second Andy was navigating the Yorkville course with the skill that a lifetime of riding afforded him. The next, he inexplicably was veering towards the woods, striking a tree at full speed.
Andy and his wife, Kaci, still don’t know what caused him to wreck that April day, although Andy believes he may have had a ministroke. He has no memory of the wreck or of the next three months of his life.
He was taken by ambulance to Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, the nearest trauma center. Kaci said she waited for four hours before learning the extent of her husband’s condition. The reason? Her husband was fighting for his life. His injuries required constant and urgent attention. Andy had a head injury, 12 broken ribs, six broken vertebrae and a broken scapula. He had a collapsed lung and a lacerated liver. His heart was bruised, and his kidneys were damaged.
Andy and Kaci attribute their faith and the care team at Floyd with his recovery. His caregivers at first thought he would need a kidney transplant. He didn’t. Kaci was told to expect her husband to have to be on dialysis for six months. He didn’t. He remained unconscious for much of his hospital stay, and doctors couldn’t assure Kaci that her husband’s cognitive abilities would return. They did.
The most lasting side effect of the wreck is that Andy has yet to regain the use of his right arm. A blood clot in that right arm resulted in compartment syndrome and multiple surgeries, but the Turners aren’t bitter. They are thankful.
“It was a horrible situation, but we were treated so wonderfully,” Kaci said.
Kaci said while she does not remember the names of every caregiver, she does remember the care they provided — particularly the nurses in the intensive care unit, where her husband was hospitalized for well over a month. There was Matt King, the nurse who played her husband’s favorite music for him whenever Andy, still unconscious, became agitated or fidgety. There was Dustin
Rogers, the nurse who offered to explain to Kaci the often-complicated information provided to her by Andy’s doctors. There was Halle Hanks, the nurse who checked on Kaci regularly and took the time to hand make her a card, and John Dockery, who was a constant presence many evenings.
Throughout Andy’s recovery, Kaci said she has remembered and relied on the advice that Dr. Mac McKemie gave her not long after Andy was admitted.
“He said, ‘It’s very simple. This is a marathon, not a sprint,’” Kaci remembers. Dr. McKemie’s second piece of advice was equally helpful, “Forget the bad days. Remember the good days.”
“Those two things helped me get through so many days,” she said.
Kaci and Andy are effusive in their praise for the care they received.
“I feel like I have new family members at Floyd,” Kaci said. “There were so many situations where we felt so comforted. Every nurse, doctor, hospitalist and physical therapist was just phenomenal. From the nurses to the occupational therapist, and the people who cleaned the floors every day to the technician who gave Andy dialysis, they were all genuinely concerned for his welfare. They just seemed to go out of their way to make us feel comfortable and safe. They were just great.”
“They know their jobs matter, and that is kind of cool,” Andy said.
While Dr. McKemie is the only name she now remembers, Kaci was equally complimentary of the care Andy received in Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center’s Trauma Center.