The Michael Schumacher Career/Injury/Recovery Thread

VIDEO. Michael Schumacher "reste dans une situation critique" - L'Express

The official bulletin five minutes ago:

"it's impossible to foresee anything at this time, his state of health is still critical"

 

A quick translation of the short communiqué:


REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

A health bulletin about Michael Schumacher has been given in Grenoble, at about 11:00, in the presence of numerous French and Foreign medias.
The Ex-Formula One champion “is still in a critical state of health”, has declared the Director of the CHU of Grenoble (CHU = Centre Hospitalier Universitaire) in the opening of this press conference.

Michael Schumacher has been operated on Sunday only once, and not twice as incorrectly stated by some medias.
“We cannot state anything about his future” has added the chief of the anesthesic-reanimation department; “we are working hour by hour” he added, refusing to say anything about “sequels”

Michael Schumacher was wearing a helmet during his ski accident ; « someone who would have such an accident without a helmet would not have arrived here », think the doctors.

That the vital pronostic of the ex-Formula One champion is engaged has been confimed by the chiefs of the Grenoble CHU.

(Note here : “Le pronostic vital est engagé” is a french expression meaning that there could be a danger of death, not that this risk is certain)

 

Following updates on the BBC. According to Professor Payen:-

"We are in constant contact with his family that are by his bedside. At this moment we don't see he is going to need a second operation."

His condition is critical as has been well reported and he is in an hour by hour situation, but with my 'positive' gear engaged, I interpret the point about not expecting to need a second operation to be a glimmer of hope.

 

Some more detailed reports here.

Michael Schumacher in coma after skiing accident: live - Telegraph

 

This concerns me...

Implies "coup contrecoup" pattern and suggests multiple sites of direct brain injury.

 

What does/can that mean, Simon?

 

Awful news - I wasn't online last night and only heard the news a few hours ago.

I cant imagine what his family are going through. Amazing how often these head injuries seem less severe when they initially occur, as mentioned by many others here.

Get well, Schumi! You have so much still to enjoy in life.

 

come on Schumi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sorry,... heading to work so limited time to reply.

It basically means when the head comes to a sudden stop the brain impacts the skull and results in a "coup" injury. The brain then rebounds (180 degrees, much like a ball bouncing off a wall), and strikes the opposite side of the skull creating the "contrecoup" injury.

Google will give more info...

 

Gotcha. Quite frequent in boxing. Can understand why you're saying not good as this is the #1 COD of boxers. Do want to add that most boxers that die of a similar injury, even IF they go to hospital, normally don't stay there for long and found dead 1-3 days later at home.

I'm trying to remain positive about the outcome, he has the best surgeons on his side currently.

 

Damn autocorrect!

 

As I suspected, the news was basically that the situation is still pretty much the same.

There are people on here who are far more qualified than I am to understand Schuey's situation, but as I see it:

The fact that they are now saying he's in an artificial coma is of some comfort to Me (albeit a very slight comfort!), because it is far more controllable than a natural coma.

It's far too early to try to make any sort of prognosis about the various brain contusions and lesions suffered as we do not know their severity or location. As I previously posted, the Human brain is a remarkable organ that is still pretty much an enigma to the medical science!

The next 48 hours are going to be quite critical as it's this time period that changes can occur rapidly. It'll take a while for his body to deal with the immediate traumas and settle down.

To his benefit is the fact that the medical World is far more aware of the need for extreme, constant close monitoring of his condition and the requirement to act immediately in the event of any sudden change these days, and the equipment used to monitor the situation is far more advanced than it used to be.



I'm not trying to raise any false hopes here, the truth is this situation could still go either way, but I refuse to be a doom monger with posts of "Brace for the worst any time now!". I'll be blunt here: TBH, rightly or wrongly, I'm finding these sort of posts a bit disrespectful to both Schuey and his family! Maybe I'm not facing reality, but I for one will not give up on Schuey that easily!

Tragic as other cases have been, they are not this case!

I for one remember how we all feared in a similar manner to this for Filipe after his Hungarian GP accident. Yes it's not the same accident and Schuey's is possibly far more severe, but Massa showed us the sort of determination that these drivers have!

They never give up and nor should we!



(With apologies to anyone who may be offended by My emotional rant - But I felt it needed saying!)

 

For everyone reading this thread, please go to the F1 thread where there is already a lot of information and discussion taking place: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/f1/433202-schumacher-had-bad-ski-accident.html

 

So he is in artificial coma?

 

Excellently put. At this time, positivity is what's needed from all of us.

 

Lot's of Prayers!

 

Yes.

As Dr. Hartstein wrote, the most likely procedure would have been to put him in an artificial coma in Albertville to facilitate artificial respiration. That was necessary as to not put him into trouble during the heli transport, as those measures would have been very difficult to carry out in the air. He was then flown to Grenoble, and I suppose that's where the "he was in coma when he arrived" reports came from.

 

Michael in everyone?s thoughts at Ferrari | Scuderia Ferrari

 

Sorry to bring contradiction Florian, but according to the french press: no, the coma is not artificial, at least initially.
See the "le Monde" article here under; sorry it is in French, but "Le Monde" is the last serious newspaper we still have, and it is written:
"il est tombé dans le coma après son arrivée au CHU de Grenoble"
which literally translate into "He fell into Coma...",
which is the usual way to say in French that it happened to him, it is not artificial, at least initially.

Michael Schumacher est « toujours dans un état critique »

Rgds

 

this is how we have understood it.

 

Managed to sleep until now. I've never dreaded logging in to Fchat before.

As I said a few hours back, if anyone can get thru this, he can.

Forza Michael!

Ian

 

Yes, it appears that the accident caused the initial coma, then following (during) surgery, a coma was artificially induced (maintained) --- in which he still remains.

As many have noted, keeping someone in a coma until everything can be repaired / stabilized is not uncommon. However, it certainly seems to indicate that the extent of his injuries / damage are likely very severe and / or managing his condition is difficult at present .

 

Agree 100%

 

I am up too. got up initially at 2:00 am PST to check in...went back to bed but got up again at 4:00 am. just looking for a good sign.