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Palic ‘home’ in time for holidays

Staff writer

Jackie Palic of Marion believes a guardian angel intervened to save her 17-year-old son Adam’s life after he suffered serious injuries Nov. 13 in a car accident.

“I don’t know what guardian angels look like when they take the place of an airbag but that’s definitely what happened,” Palic said.

In the spirit of the Christmas season, the next gift the Palics received — divine intervention not required — was the ability to transfer Adam from Meadowbrook Hospital in Gardner to St. Luke Hospital in Marion.

After weeks of waiting, everything fell into place, Jackie and Joe Palic drove Adam home Monday night to Marion.

Adam crashed his Honda while driving home at 3:15 a.m. Nov. 13. He veered off the road, going into a ditch and striking a tree. Among his injuries were a fractured skull, four breaks in his left tibia, multiple broken facial bones, and a separated left shoulder. Surgeons operated on Adam’s left leg multiple times to ensure that circulation returned to the limb.

Although doctors concluded from magnetic resonance images that Adam had only sustained minor brain injuries, Adam was not himself after he was taken off ventilator assistance at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. The Palics transferred Adam from Wesley Medical Center to Meadowbrook because the facility specializes in rehabilitating patients with brain injuries.

Adam suffered from hallucinations; often he would wake from a dream and not be able to differentiate the dream world from reality.

In one instance, Adam awoke and asked for a life. He believed he was in a videogame where a first-aid kit could return him to health.

“I told him those videogames were not good for him,” Palic said.

“I know from my stand point that hit me the hardest, the effects of the head injury,” Adam’s father Joe Palic said. “You see people in casts all the time and you know they’re going to heal.”

Adam suffered some frontal lobe damage; the frontal lobe is the filter for language. Early in his treatment, Adam was asked simple questions as part of speech therapy. Joe said he could see Adam’s brain register the answer that Adam, for some reason, could not communicate. The teen grew increasingly frustrated with himself and his surroundings.

“He’s normally a pretty calm kid. He doesn’t get upset,” Joe Palic said. “There was definitely a Mr. Hyde personality. The doctors told us that was normal.”

As Adam started to heal, the sharp pain in his leg became less intense. Soon, he was downgraded from the serious pain medication he was taking. The Palics believe the combination of the injuries and the medication caused Adam’s cognitive symptoms.

Adam said he remembers driving and waking up in the hospital. The first two weeks in medical facilities are also fuzzy for Adam.

“Doctors are saying part of head trauma is memory loss,” Adam said. “For the most part, I was pretty much out of it.”

Adam has also noticed a difference in medication.

“Since I’ve been off the medication, I’ve been sleeping a lot better,” he said.

Over the past two weeks, Adam has communicated easily — texting and talking on the phone often — and has passed all of his speech therapy tests. The need for speech therapy was eliminated this past week; the therapist explaining that Adam was 100 percent recovered.

“It’s good to watch his progress,” Jackie Palic said. “It’s fun to get back to my Adam.”

With speech therapy completed, Jackie Palic started the process to move Adam from Gardner to the Marion hospital.

She talked to the physical therapy department at Meadowbrook and urged them to communicate Adam’s needs with the physical therapy department at St. Luke. Palic talked with St. Luke officials and learned that the Marion hospital would only have four rooms available while construction is underway on the hospital renovation.

“If they were completely done it wouldn’t be a problem,” Palic said.

Part of the complication of moving Adam was that he cannot put any weight on his left leg. He said his leg might support weight in two to three weeks.

The fact that this discussion was taking place was a small miracle.

“Considering what has happened to him, he’s very lucky,” Joe Palic said. “You couldn’t ask for a better outcome.”

The hard work is not over for Adam; he must endure months of physical and occupational therapy. Thus far, Adam has participated in leg lifts and other flexibility exercises. The pain he experienced early on, while more subdued, has not been completely relieved. He said his left foot and thigh constantly feel like they are on pins and needles — like the shock when a limb wakes from a slumber.

In the realm of occupational therapy — normal activities Adam is learning to do without the use of his left arm or legs — Adam has made strides. He is moving from his bed to his wheelchair on his own.

“When I was at Wesley, it took four or five people,” Adam said. “It’s definitely nice to have more mobility. I’m able to move my legs a lot more.”

The Palics said the support they have received from the Marion community has been invaluable. Classmates and family have visited him every weekend while he has been hospitalized, the Marion High School senior said.

After three weeks with Adam and Jackie at the hospital, Joe Palic returned to work Dec. 6 at Kansas Department of Transportation. Before that, the Palics’ middle school-aged son, Kyle, had returned to attend classes in Marion. The Palics’ two youngest sons — Todd and Tyler —have been homeschooled by Melissa Stuchlik during the last month.

“We just knew we needed to get back home, to get back to a normal life,” Jackie Palic said.

The Palics will truly return to normalcy when Adam is well enough that Joe Palic can scold his teenage son regarding the circumstances of the accident.

“One of these days I’m going to get upset at him,” Joe Palic said. “Sometimes you feel a little guilty. It’s so much easier because he’s alive and recovering. We’re definitely to the point of rehabbing, past the critical stage.”

At least the next step in Adam’s rehab was realized for the Palics, getting Adam home — or as close as they can manage — for the holidays.

Last modified Dec. 23, 2010

 

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