Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994 TAG: 9409070090
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
Ernie Irvan's long road to recovery has become shorter.
Describing Irvan's progress as ``amazing,'' his doctors said Saturday the injured Winston Cup star's condition has been upgraded from serious to fair and that he has been taken off the ventilator.
``We are pleased to say he is improving in all areas,'' Dr. Errol Erlandson said. ``Specifically, he is stronger, he is more alert [and] he has been able to get up out of bed and sit in a chair. The spirit of his recovery is certainly evident.''
Erlandson and his partner, Dr. Walter Whitehouse, spoke to reporters at Darlington Raceway through a telephone hookup from St. Joseph Mercy Hospital outside Ann Arbor, Mich.
Irvan has been recuperating there, in an intensive care room surrounded by racing memorabilia, since he received life-threatening lung and head injuries in a crash during practice on Aug. 20 at Michigan International Speedway.
Irvan ``shows intense responsiveness to his environment and is certainly aware of all goings on in regards to his care at the present time,'' Erlandson said. ``I must say, however, that the speed and completeness of his recovery cannot be predicted at this time.''
Saturday's news conference was the first the doctors had held since the weekend Irvan was injured, and they were clearly excited by his progress.
That excitement was also evident among the members of Irvan's team.
``I tell you, if his recovery continues as well in the next two weeks as it has in the last two weeks, by the time we get to Dover [for the Sept.18 race], Kenny Wallace will run the first 250 miles and Ernie will run the last 250 miles,'' crew chief Larry McReynolds said.
McReynolds wasn't serious, of course, but his exaggeration was an indication of his optimism.
``At least we feel he's out of the woods,'' McReynolds said. ``But I want to stress that for us, a complete recovery is for him to be able to sit with us in the back of the truck and talk with us and cut up.''
Erlandson said the swelling of Irvan's brain has decreased to the point that it was ``no longer necessary to continue continuous brain pressure monitoring.''
Erlandson repeated an earlier statement that CAT scans have shown no areas of irreversible brain injury.
Asked if there could be irreversible injury that doesn't appear on a CAT scan, he said the appearance of the brain structures shown by the CAT scans look to be normal, but admitted that the scans don't always ``look at the functions of those structures.''
He added: ``Certainly the appearance of the structures and the CAT-scan evaluation of Mr. Irvan, combined with what he is able to do, would suggest that there is no irreversible injury to even the small axonal structures of the brain or the nervous system.''
Whitehouse said Irvan is still unable to speak because the tracheostomy tube prevents him from forcing air through his vocal cords. But he ``has mouthed words to use in response to questions,'' he said. And it is clear that when the tube is removed or plugged, ``he will be able to vocalize,'' Whitehouse added.
The doctors said they expect to plug the tube to allow Irvan to talk in the next couple of days.
Irvan so far has chosen not to respond very much by writing, the doctors said, but they believe that he can and think he may do that more during the next few days.
``Ernie has a real spirit - a real strength - and he is involved in his recovery,'' Erlandson said. ``Dr. Whitehouse and I were able to observe this morning even his sense of humor.
``There is no question in my mind that he knows where he is and knows that he has been in an accident.''
Erlandson said he believes Irvan is able to recall events from day to day.
``I think the most important event of [Friday] was probably the visit from his daughter, Jordan, and I know that he recalls that he visited Jordan and is looking forward to visiting her again,'' Erlandson said.
Irvan was gradually removed from the ventilator over the last three or four days and it was finally removed altogether Friday in the early afternoon.
``About five o'clock [Friday] he was sitting up in a chair with an oxygen mask over his tracheostomy site,'' Whitehouse said. ``And he's done exceedingly well without that support since that time.''
The doctors declined to predict whether Irvan could someday return to driving a race car. They also declined to say whether they thought he could make a 100 percent recovery from his brain injury.
``Statistics really have no meaning for the individual patient,'' Whitehouse said. ``Certainly we've seen people make full recoveries,'' he said, but repeated that the speed and completeness of his recovery cannot be predicted at this point.
Erlandson and Whitehouse said no plans have yet been made for his discharge from the Michigan hospital or post-hospital care.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB