ryno4ever
Feb 12th 2008, 3:19 pm
I saw this story on Comcast today at noon, and it really made my stomach turn, but it does look like he is going to make it....
Richard Zednik was critically injured Sunday night in the third period of the game at Buffalo. Teammate Olli Jokinen was upended and his razor-sharp skate blade pierced Zednik's neck, opening a deep gash that stopped just shy of the 32-year-old's jugular vein.
A significant amount of blood immediately began pouring from the 1 1/2 -inch wound, leaving a wide, ghastly red trail on the ice as Zednik skated to the Panthers' bench, desperate for help. His carotid artery -- which pumps blood to the brain -- was cut, and emergency surgery that night at Buffalo General Hospital probably saved his life.
Zednik remained hospitalized 1,350 miles away in Buffalo, where his condition was upgraded to good on Tuesday and doctors planned to take him out of an intensive-care unit.
Zednik isn't believed to have suffered any long-term brain or nerve damage, and one surgeon described him as "very lucky."
"It's a sign of how good medicine can be and how good medical people can be," Panthers coach Jacques Martin said Tuesday as the team skated for the first time since the accident, which became the NHL's dominant topic.
By the time he reached the hospital, Zednik needed five units (roughly five pints) of blood, a figure that suggests one-third of the blood in his body gushed from the wound before bleeding could be controlled.
And by all accounts, his recovery was going as well as could be expected.
Shortly after Dr. Sonya Noor checked in on Zednik one day after stitching him back together, the Panthers' forward already had a question.
"He actually asked me when he could go back to training?" the vascular surgeon said with a smile. "And I said, 'Next season."'
Richard Zednik was critically injured Sunday night in the third period of the game at Buffalo. Teammate Olli Jokinen was upended and his razor-sharp skate blade pierced Zednik's neck, opening a deep gash that stopped just shy of the 32-year-old's jugular vein.
A significant amount of blood immediately began pouring from the 1 1/2 -inch wound, leaving a wide, ghastly red trail on the ice as Zednik skated to the Panthers' bench, desperate for help. His carotid artery -- which pumps blood to the brain -- was cut, and emergency surgery that night at Buffalo General Hospital probably saved his life.
Zednik remained hospitalized 1,350 miles away in Buffalo, where his condition was upgraded to good on Tuesday and doctors planned to take him out of an intensive-care unit.
Zednik isn't believed to have suffered any long-term brain or nerve damage, and one surgeon described him as "very lucky."
"It's a sign of how good medicine can be and how good medical people can be," Panthers coach Jacques Martin said Tuesday as the team skated for the first time since the accident, which became the NHL's dominant topic.
By the time he reached the hospital, Zednik needed five units (roughly five pints) of blood, a figure that suggests one-third of the blood in his body gushed from the wound before bleeding could be controlled.
And by all accounts, his recovery was going as well as could be expected.
Shortly after Dr. Sonya Noor checked in on Zednik one day after stitching him back together, the Panthers' forward already had a question.
"He actually asked me when he could go back to training?" the vascular surgeon said with a smile. "And I said, 'Next season."'