When Rick Jarvis was wheeled through the emergency department doors at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, his prognosis was grim.
“I’ve been doing trauma for 10 years or so,” said Dr. Shad Pharaon, the trauma surgeon on duty that October morning. “I can pretty well tell if someone is going to make it. I thought he was dead.”
But on Thursday morning, Jarvis walked into an auditorium at PeaceHealth Southwest, with only the help of a cane, to personally thank the dozens of people involved in his care and recovery. Personnel from emergency medical services, the emergency department, intensive care unit, imaging and rehabilitation applauded as Rick Jarvis and his wife, Charlotte, made their way to the front of the room. The 75 or so providers had spent the previous hour reviewing Rick’s trauma case.
“I appreciate the effort and the skill,” Rick Jarvis told the firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, therapists and others in the room. “I don’t understand why one person makes it and another person doesn’t.”
A vehicle collision left Jarvis with 27 bone breaks, including 14 ribs and two vertebra. The rib fractures alone come with a high mortality rate, Pharaon said. But in addition to the breaks, Jarvis had bleeding in his brain, a torn aorta, collapsed lungs, a ruptured spleen and several small fractures in his face, as well as deep bruising. He was intubated at the scene, had no blood pressure and required a transfusion of 12 units of blood.
“He died en route. He died when he got here,” Charlotte Jarvis said during the Thursday visit.
“That he’s here, and that he’s not paralyzed — that he’s recovered from the traumatic brain injury — it’s such a miracle,” she said.
A ‘miracle’
The Jarvises own an ink cartridge company called Cartridge World. Rick was heading to a Portland store on the morning of Oct. 27 when the wreck occurred. Rick was stopped in traffic on state Highway 14, waiting to funnel onto Interstate 5, when he was struck from behind by another vehicle traveling 60 to 70 mph, Charlotte Jarvis said.
The force of the impact propelled Jarvis’ Scion into the rear end of the Toyota Prius stopped in front of him. Jarvis, who recently turned 52, was the only person injured.
“The last thing I remember thinking was, ‘You know, the cars are backed up. If you didn’t slow down and notice this, it could be a pretty horrific accident,’ ” Jarvis said.
Several weeks passed before Jarvis was awake and alert enough to comprehend what was happening on a day-to-day basis.
Jarvis spent a total of six weeks in the hospital. For three weeks, he was in the intensive care unit and recovery ward. Then, he spent three weeks in inpatient rehab.
Since leaving the hospital, Jarvis has continued physical, occupational and speech therapy.
About two weeks ago, Jarvis was able to swap his walker for a cane. His mobility is improving, but after a couple of hours of activity, Jarvis has to sit in his recliner or lie down. He recently learned he may have a spinal injury, as well.
“The good news is it’s not going to get any worse,” he said of the spinal issue. “It may not get better, but this is better than the alternative, when you’re dead.”
Before the wreck, Jarvis always was on the go. He logged 60 to 70 hours a week at work and volunteered another 25 hours a week. He enjoyed skiing, hiking and going to the beach.
Now, the days are much slower. If he pushes it too much, he pays for it with pain and soreness later.
“That’s frustrating,” Jarvis said. “It’s pretty hard to not have something to do.”
Jarvis doesn’t always see the progression he’s made in the 4 1/2 months since the crash. He only sees that he’s not healed, not back to where he was before the wreck.
“You’ve got dead on one end, and where you used to be on the other end,” Jarvis said. “And (I’m) somewhere in between.”
But when he looks at photos of the mangled car he was driving, or reads the medical report from the hospital, he realizes how far he’s come.
“Hundreds of people have said ‘miracle’ to me,” Jarvis said. “That probably means different things to different people. But I have to just call it that.”
