thedrifter
10-02-06, 07:52 AM
Hurt Marine recovering in Bethesda
The Columbia lance corporal has made a miraculous recovery so far after being shot in the head
By SAMANTHA FRIEDMAN
October 2, 2006
When Connie and Carl McClellan of Columbia arrived at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Saturday, they didn’t know quite what to expect. Their son, Lance Cpl. John McClellan, 20, had survived a gunshot to the head just four days earlier while serving with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, Echo Company in Haditha, Iraq.
Because of his swollen vocal chords, McClellan needs a ventilator to help him breathe. He was heavily sedated when his family saw him for the first time since his return to the United States.
“He did not respond to our being there, which, of course, was disappointing,” said his mother, Connie McClellan. “But that was OK; he looked great. He didn’t have any bandages on the front side of his head. I haven’t seen the back side. In the front, he just has a little, half-inch in diameter hole right on the front of his ear. He’s not swollen.”
After undergoing surgery at a hospital in Balad, Iraq, McClellan was transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before being taken to Bethesda on Friday. He is now in intensive care, and his condition is improving.
Connie McClellan said a doctor at the medical center told the family that, in light of his injuries, McClellan is experiencing a miraculous recovery so far. On Saturday, she said, McClellan’s eyes were open and he was observing the activity around him.
Doctors are most concerned about the recovery of McClellan’s vision, speech and vocal chords, full mental functions and balance and hearing in the left ear. They will not be able to fully evaluate the condition of each until he is fully conscious.
“They are optimistic about his vision,” Connie McClellan said. “They did the testing on his brain to see if the blood was flowing appropriately, and it is. His face is not affected. He is still as beautiful as ever.”
Jane McClellan, 31, of Chicago, last saw her brother on Sept. 3, at her wedding in Fulton. He was wearing his dress blues.
She said she was excited and relieved to see that her brother looked mostly like his normal self when she arrived at the hospital.
“It was this kick in the gut of excitement, and I could see him, and he looked like John, and I was so excited all of a sudden,” she said.
The AK-47 round bullet that entered McClellan’s head over his left ear and exited the back of his neck perforated his left ear drum. However, Connie McClellan said, she and her family know he can hear because he is responding to vocal commands.
On Sunday, family members were able to “squeeze-talk” to McClellan: A person holds his hand and asks him questions, and if his answer is “yes,” he squeezes back. He also raised a finger to motion that he wanted his father to come over to him, Connie McClellan said.
“He responded beautifully; he understood everything we were saying,” she said.
The doctor told the McClellans that although there doesn’t seem to be significant vocal chord activity, it is too early to tell what the long-term effects will be. What is clear is that McClellan doesn’t enjoy breathing through a tube.
“He just wanted the ventilator out of his throat,” Jane McClellan said. “He kicked the nurse. We thought that’s good; that shows a little spirit. It’s not even the wound right now that’s really aggravating him; it’s all of the kind of extra medical conditions that come with it that are really bothering him.”
Connie McClellan explained that every time she and her family enter her son’s hospital room, they have to wear hospital gowns, gloves and masks to protect McClellan from bacteria because the chance for infection in open wounds is high.
“This is very frustrating because the first thing you want to do is give him a big kiss, and we can’t do that, but we can hold his hand,” Connie McClellan said.
Jane McClellan said she and her parents explained to McClellan what happened to him, that he is doing well and that he is no longer overseas. They want to make sure he understood where he is and why his family is with him. He does not seem to be confused, she said.
“It’s hard to know what’s going through his mind,” she said. “Is he confused? Is he scared?”
Since they arrived in Bethesda on Saturday afternoon, the McClellans have been shuttling between the hospital and the Navy Lodge across the street where the Marines arranged accommodations for them.
At the Lodge, the family has gotten to know other military families, most of whom are visiting sons, husbands or fathers injured in Iraq. Connie McClellan said that when they first arrived at the hospital, the military liaison assigned to the family encouraged them to talk with other parents in the waiting room because, she said, “nobody understands like people going through the same thing.”
She said the doctors expect McClellan will stay at Bethesda for at least two weeks. Once his ventilation tube is taken out, he will be moved from the ICU to another floor of the hospital. After that, the McClellans can choose a hospital that specializes in head trauma where he will go for further recovery.
Ellie
The Columbia lance corporal has made a miraculous recovery so far after being shot in the head
By SAMANTHA FRIEDMAN
October 2, 2006
When Connie and Carl McClellan of Columbia arrived at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Saturday, they didn’t know quite what to expect. Their son, Lance Cpl. John McClellan, 20, had survived a gunshot to the head just four days earlier while serving with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, Echo Company in Haditha, Iraq.
Because of his swollen vocal chords, McClellan needs a ventilator to help him breathe. He was heavily sedated when his family saw him for the first time since his return to the United States.
“He did not respond to our being there, which, of course, was disappointing,” said his mother, Connie McClellan. “But that was OK; he looked great. He didn’t have any bandages on the front side of his head. I haven’t seen the back side. In the front, he just has a little, half-inch in diameter hole right on the front of his ear. He’s not swollen.”
After undergoing surgery at a hospital in Balad, Iraq, McClellan was transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before being taken to Bethesda on Friday. He is now in intensive care, and his condition is improving.
Connie McClellan said a doctor at the medical center told the family that, in light of his injuries, McClellan is experiencing a miraculous recovery so far. On Saturday, she said, McClellan’s eyes were open and he was observing the activity around him.
Doctors are most concerned about the recovery of McClellan’s vision, speech and vocal chords, full mental functions and balance and hearing in the left ear. They will not be able to fully evaluate the condition of each until he is fully conscious.
“They are optimistic about his vision,” Connie McClellan said. “They did the testing on his brain to see if the blood was flowing appropriately, and it is. His face is not affected. He is still as beautiful as ever.”
Jane McClellan, 31, of Chicago, last saw her brother on Sept. 3, at her wedding in Fulton. He was wearing his dress blues.
She said she was excited and relieved to see that her brother looked mostly like his normal self when she arrived at the hospital.
“It was this kick in the gut of excitement, and I could see him, and he looked like John, and I was so excited all of a sudden,” she said.
The AK-47 round bullet that entered McClellan’s head over his left ear and exited the back of his neck perforated his left ear drum. However, Connie McClellan said, she and her family know he can hear because he is responding to vocal commands.
On Sunday, family members were able to “squeeze-talk” to McClellan: A person holds his hand and asks him questions, and if his answer is “yes,” he squeezes back. He also raised a finger to motion that he wanted his father to come over to him, Connie McClellan said.
“He responded beautifully; he understood everything we were saying,” she said.
The doctor told the McClellans that although there doesn’t seem to be significant vocal chord activity, it is too early to tell what the long-term effects will be. What is clear is that McClellan doesn’t enjoy breathing through a tube.
“He just wanted the ventilator out of his throat,” Jane McClellan said. “He kicked the nurse. We thought that’s good; that shows a little spirit. It’s not even the wound right now that’s really aggravating him; it’s all of the kind of extra medical conditions that come with it that are really bothering him.”
Connie McClellan explained that every time she and her family enter her son’s hospital room, they have to wear hospital gowns, gloves and masks to protect McClellan from bacteria because the chance for infection in open wounds is high.
“This is very frustrating because the first thing you want to do is give him a big kiss, and we can’t do that, but we can hold his hand,” Connie McClellan said.
Jane McClellan said she and her parents explained to McClellan what happened to him, that he is doing well and that he is no longer overseas. They want to make sure he understood where he is and why his family is with him. He does not seem to be confused, she said.
“It’s hard to know what’s going through his mind,” she said. “Is he confused? Is he scared?”
Since they arrived in Bethesda on Saturday afternoon, the McClellans have been shuttling between the hospital and the Navy Lodge across the street where the Marines arranged accommodations for them.
At the Lodge, the family has gotten to know other military families, most of whom are visiting sons, husbands or fathers injured in Iraq. Connie McClellan said that when they first arrived at the hospital, the military liaison assigned to the family encouraged them to talk with other parents in the waiting room because, she said, “nobody understands like people going through the same thing.”
She said the doctors expect McClellan will stay at Bethesda for at least two weeks. Once his ventilation tube is taken out, he will be moved from the ICU to another floor of the hospital. After that, the McClellans can choose a hospital that specializes in head trauma where he will go for further recovery.
Ellie