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| 6/9/10 Dear Friends of Dave, We are no longer screening Dave's email. He's moved back to Boulder where he's recovering quite nicely. Calls and visitors are welcome. To contact Dave, write to dave.bidle.reed@gmail.com. Thanks!
Dave Reed Status Report or "Half an inch shorter but one foot taller." or "Dave's Most-Not-So-Excellent-Adventure" (Buck Sanford) or "Holy Shit!" (Susie Kester)
6/13/2010: Read Dave's version of this incredible story on the Backcountry Club website.
6/1/2010: 11:00 AM: Destapling Yet another milestone has been reached; The staples have been removed from Dave's back. 
Staple Remover: This is a pretty slick (and painless) device; the center of the scissors-looking gizmo bends the center of the staple downward thereby causing the ends of the staple to bend perpendicular to the skin. (Photo by Holly Bidle) An x-ray of Dave's spine showed that he's progressing perfectly! No weirdness. 
Profile of Dave's spine. Note staples on far left. Also note that there are two screws in the T2,3,4,7,8 vertebrae, one screw in the T6 (the compressed vertebrae), and no screws in the T5 (the burst vertebrae). (Image courtesy of Panorama Orthopedics.) 
Dual rods highlighted showing exact positions of screws. (Image courtesy of Panorama Orthopedics.) 
Dave's new stapleless look. The incision is healing perfectly without any signs of infection. We'll all miss changing his bandages, and the associated pleasure of removing his back hair in the process of pealing off the adhesives.
5/25/2010: 9:30 PM: Elvis Has Left The Building! A major milestone has been achieved. Dave has left the hospital behind and walked up the long steps to Holly's house without any problems. Yippie! 
Dave and Julia Departing Hospital (We don't need no stinkin wheelchair.) 
Dave, Julia, & Terra Enjoying a Normal Dinner (Dyan & Holly celebrating in background.)
5/24/2010: 9:30 PM: Real Progress! Fantastic News Flash: David decided to take a serious walk (1,030 feet) around the orthopedic wing. To top it off, he successfully navigated four steep steps in the physical therapy gym. This may not sound like much, but try walking up and down some steps while looking straight ahead (i.e. not looking down at the steps). The trick is to "feel" the steps with your feet. Note the relative progress shown within the following graph. 
To get a sense of this progress, consider the following graph in which a linear regression has been used to predict Dave's walking distance by July 1st. 
All-in-all, a great day and cause for celebration.
5/22/2010: 5:30 PM: That's "Frankensteen" ... 
Despite the grizzly image above, it's been a great day! Dave's first shower (since last Friday). A big meal (great appetite). A long walk around the orthopedic wing. A wheelchair ride to Sloan's Lake.
5/21/2010: 5:30 PM: A Giant Walks Among Us! 
5/20/2010: 12:23 AM: Dave found his "inner animal spirit" tonight. He had to blast his way through some extremely intense pain (the absolute worst yet). It was very interesting (and inspiring) to watch. He was truly on the verge of passing out from excruciating pain. I watched in amazement as Dave willed his mind into a serenity that was scary. To look at his calm expression, knowing that his entire body was seized by unbelievable pain was both scary and awesome. With the exception of Kryptonite, I don't think anything can take him out.
5/19/2010: 3:00 PM: Dave took a few steps today and sat in a chair. As he stood up, holding on to a walker, he looked like a giant. As is the case with many overly kind, tall people, Dave had become accustomed to bending over to put his head at the same level as mere mortals. As a consequence, his posture was less than perfect. Now, with the assistance of some titanium, he has a regal bearing that's incredible. I swear, he seems to have grown another foot and he looks like a king.
5/18/2010 10:48 pm: At 4:30 am on Saturday, May 15th, 2010, David Reed, Johnny Cromwell, and Daan Stevenson drove from Boulder, Colorado to the Wild Basin trailhead located in the southeastern corner of Rocky Mountain National Park. By approximately, 12:00 pm, they had summitted 13,173' Copeland Mountain (see Figure 1). The snow conditions and weather were perfect. 
Figure 1. Rocky Mountain National Park At approximately, 12:30 pm, while descending a couloir on the northern flank of the mountain (see Figure 2), David hit a snow-covered rock and tumbled head-first into another rock. This accident took place at approximately 12,541' elevation. 
Figure 2. Mount Copland as viewed from the North. Fortunately, David was wearing a good helmet. The impact, however "telescoped" his fifth thoracic vertebrae (Figure 3) to less than 50% of it's normal height. In addition, the Th6 vertebrae was moderately compressed to approximately 60% of it's normal height. A small fragment of the Th5 was wedged against his spinal cord thereby threatening cord damage (i.e. paralysis).
Figure 3. Vertebral column. Shortly afterwards, David, knowing that he was seriously injured, activated his Spot satellite locator beacon. A Spot technician in Texas then contacted David's father in Golden, to report that an SOS signal had been received. Unfortunately, for unknown reasons the unit was not transmitting the associated coordinates. Daan and Johnny assisted David in a slow and painful descent down the couloir. At some point during this descent, the young men decided that Johnny would ski ahead to seek assistance. Johnny left his extra clothing with David and Daan in the event that they were forced to spend the night on the flank of the mountain. David then began a grueling descent, accompanied by Daan, to Bluebird Lake (Figures 4 and 5) where David attempted to unsuccessfully rest for approximately one hour. At this point, David had descended 1,558 vertical feet of extremely steep (+45-degree) terrain with a broken back.
Figure 4. Descent route from crash site to Bluebird Lake. During their rest at Bluebird Lake, the Spot unit began to transmit coordinates. These coordinates were then provided to the Rocky Mountain National Park officials who began to organize a rescue effort. A two-man, quick-response team was dispatched to travel, via snowshoe, to Bluebird Lake. 
Figure 5. Bluebird Lake (Photo by Chris Falcon). Johnny, having traveled at a hurried pace, was intercepted within a half-mile from the trailhead by the quick-response team. He was able to brief the two men in regards to David's condition. In the meantime, David and Daan had decided to slowly make their way towards the trailhead rather than spending the night at Bluebird Lake. Daan strapped David's backback to his chest and together they began the ardous journey down the main drainage from Bluebird Lake. The quick-response team, not knowing that David and Daan were mobile, followed the main trail to Bluebird Lake thereby missing David and Daan as they traveled down the drainage. After reaching Bluebird Lake, they realized what had happened and followed David and Daan's tracks downgradient. At approximately 8:00 pm, David and Daan arrived at the trailhead, surprising the 15-member search and rescue team who were preparing for an overnight stay at Bluebird Lake. At this point, David had traveled approximately seven miles (Figure 6) and descended 4,000 vertical feet with a broken back The Park Service referred to this as a "self rescue". I call this feat "incredible". This man is my hero. 
Figure 6. Seven mile route from crash site to trailhead.
David was then transported via ambulance to the Estes Park hospital where he underwent x-ray imaging. These images revealed the extent of damage to his spinal column. The doctor on duty quickly decided to transfer David via ambulance to the Level-1 trauma facility at Saint Anthony's Hospital in Denver for subsequent diagnosis. On Monday evening, Douglas Wong, MD and Todd Vanderheiden, MD, gifted orthopedic surgeons from Panorama Orthopedics & Spine Center affixed (via woodscrews) two titanium rods to the Th2,3,4 and Th6,7,8 vertebrae (skipping the Th5). Over time, the T3 through T8 vertebrae will fuse into a single bone at which point the rods and screws (Figure 7) will be superflous. Obviously, David will have less flexibility (e.g. bending over while bike riding), but hey, it's a great outcome given the alternatives. 
Figure 7. Position of new rods and pins.
At about 3:00 am on Tuesday morning, David was transferred to a recovery room where he was able to easily wiggle his toes when asked. Life is good. At approximately, 10:00 am on Tuesday morning, David was "forced" to stand up so that he could be fitted with a collar/back brace. This was somewhat unpleasant (gross understatement). At 2:00 pm on Tuesday, David voluntarily stood up, and sat in a chair for a few minutes. Things are progressing rapidly. At 5:00 pm on Tuesday, David ate an entire bowl of chowder and every piece of a fruit plate. He hadn't eaten anything since a half-sandwich on Saturday morning. His appetite is great! At this stage, we (David's parents) need to limit the number of visitors and callers. Trust me, David is well aware that a lot of people are trying to contact him, but he needs a few days to heal. I promise to keep everybody in the loop with this web page. With love; Holly, Julia, Terra, Dyan, & Jim.
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