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Update on Ralph Navarro

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RJ2

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Ralph Navarro was seriously injured in an accident on his bike August 27 outside of Jackson WY. He was on his way to the COG National in Idaho Falls ID and went down hard on the right side at approx 1AM enroute. He was taken to the Eastern Idaho Regional hospital in Idaho Falls, where myself and other COG rider up for the rally visited him. He was unconscious for over a week with a broken arm, leg, facial road rash and a severe concussion.

His condition has improved over the last couple of weeks and he was recently brought back to Dallas.

Here is the text on an email his wife sent me today:

"Ralph arrived at the care facility yesterday afternoon.. The care facility, unfortunately, was not the one we had selected at which Ralph’s nephew is the staff supervisor of the nurses. We were told by the Idaho Hospital that he had to be taken to a facility with a neurologist on staff. Upon arriving at the facility I asked the doctor in charge of Ralph’s care if we could meet the neurologist and was told by the doctor Ralph did not need a neurologist and the hospital had made that demand for liability purposes to protect the hospital. We were so disappointed and frustrated. We, Ralph’s brother, Reggie, daughter, Heather and I will have a meeting tomorrow with the case worker and others assigned to his case.



Yesterday was the first time I had seen Ralph in ten days and he was heavily sedated. Today when I saw him, there was a flicker of recognition in his eyes and I believe he smiled at me. This is the first time he has shown any recognition of me. Otherwise, no other response. He is moving in the bed a lot more and is obviously uncomfortable as he has been in bed since August 27. His face is much thinner and his head is shaved to the crown and bandaged from the draining of the fluid, but I still thought he looked good. We are hoping he will be able to participate in physical therapy.



Ralph is unable to have visitors. If you wish, you may send cards to 12427 Ruthdale Drive, Dallas, TX 75244 or e-mail messages and I will share them with him. I so appreciate all the cards and prayers we have received.



Kawasaki Riders – Any help you could give me in settling with the insurance company would be most appreciated. I know Ralph had a lot of “farkels” on his bike and he carried additional insurance to protect these items. They have valued the lights and horn at $200. I don’t know what he had added to his bike.



Thanks and love to all of you."

Ida and Rocky
 
If you hear when Ralph can have visitors, let us know. I will go visit him and I'm sure others will as well

Pat McDonald
 
Is this the Ralph that is also a TWT member, BlazerRalph?

Regardless, I'll be praying for a speedy and full recovery and strength for his wife to hang in there in the meantime.
 
The latest on Ralph - Rocky is his dog

"On Sept. 19 Reggie, Heather and I met with the head nurse and our caseworker. They presented a great sales pitch for the hospital. Ralph is such a new patient they have not done that much of an assessment. We will meet again next Weds. with more of Ralph’s caretaking team after they have had more time to assess him. Ralph seems a little more awake today. He will follow us with his eyes. We did agree to take feeding tube out of nose because it is causing sinus and other problems. They will put in a peg or port or something. Dr. Heather knows all the terminology and I left all the medical talk up to her during our discussion. Reggie and I kept asking – now what does that mean? It is so wonderful to have their support and that we are all in agreement on his care. Heather is the medical expert and Reggie handles insurance, etc.



I will just take the good feelings for today for I don’t know what is down the road. They asked what did we want for our patient and I said comfort. It is so good to feel halfway normal again and eat ½ of sandwich. I wake up (and get up about 4:30). Yesterday, after walking Rocky, taking care of paper work, I just wanted to go back to bed. I honestly did not have energy to put one foot in front of the other but I had to go to the hospital. After showering and getting dressed, I felt better.



The most exciting news is they are going to allow Rocky to visit. This is a first for the hospital. They have never allowed pets in the hospital. Rocky will be the trailblazer. He will get to go to Ralph’s room and perhaps to therapy room at some time with other patients. Rocky who bites people when they come to our house. I think I will get a little muzzle for him. I will have to look at all his bandanas and we will select what he will wear to visit his daddy. He needs a white one with a red cross on it and perhaps a keg of beer around his neck – oh, that is a St. Bernard, isn’t it. I will take him on Sat. for his first visit.


Medicare is crazy. Ralph takes a lot of prescriptions and has a bathroom full of prescriptions –– most for 90 days and now with his prescription plan since he has spent so much on prescriptions he pays nothing. I asked if I could bring his medicine. They said no since he is on Medicare his medicine has to be furnished by Medicare. No wonder we are in trouble. Also, he was crosswise in the bed last night with his legs hanging out. I asked for a bed which had side rails at the foot of the bed. That is a big NO, NO since it is restraining the patient. In other words, let the alarm go off, patient fall out of bed, jerk out all his tubes and then we will deal with it. It took an act of congress to get them to restrain his arms so he won’t jerk out feeding tube and catheter. Also, nurse was telling me the govt. has all these contracts with different companies. You have to order your bed from one company, commode from another company, and so on and so on.



Please pray that Ralph will be able to follow commands and be able to participate in physical therapy.



Love to everyone,

Ida"
 
I talked to his daughter yesterday.

Ralph passed away last Thursday.

At his request there was no service.

At HER request, she would prefer no further postings for privacy reasons.
 
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