A question for you medical people out there-With the injuries and surgery Carter went through what would he be experiencing at this point in his recovery? He had major surgery and the stab wounds to his back so I would imagine a lot of physical pain, but what kind of progress to expect and what else will he go through (repair the colostomy?)? Thanks.

-- Bev (bev.burris@eer-h.com), February 25, 2000

Answers

Carter's recovery is going to be a slow one. When he said that he will "be back to work in a couple of weeks," I think that might have been a little optimistic in real life. Consider the physical trauma, 2 stab wounds to the back puncturing his colon and hitting some renal structures (hence, the colostomy because his kidneys, et al need time to heal before he can regain proper urinary function), plus the frontal surgical intrusion to repair the damage. In order to operate on your kidneys, they practically have to cut you in half. Damage to the abdominal and back muscles from the attack and surgery will make it hard for him to walk, and i would imagine, even sit up. He is looking at a good 6 months to a year before he is completely back to normal. The body can do amazing things, but after all of that, plus the psychological trauma, which itself can hinder the healing progress, his road to recovery is going to be long.

-- Jenny (lazycomet4@yahoo.com), February 25, 2000.