Local Marine takes turn for worse
TWIN FALLS -- The Marine seemed to be doing so well Friday night.
Then on Saturday morning, Marine Cpl. Travis Greene took a turn for the worse.
His parents, Terry and Sue Greene, were in their motel room near the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Saturday when their cell phone rang a little after 7.
"He's had a real turn for the worse," Terry Greene said Sunday in a phone interview from Bethesda. "He's got acute respiratory distress syndrome and he's back on the ventilator."
He said everything seemed to be looking up when they left their son's bedside Friday night.
"On Friday night, we chatted about him coming home and what his plans for the future were. On Saturday morning, it just fell apart," Terry Greene said.
Greene, 24, a 1999 Twin Falls High School graduate and a star on the Bruin track and field team, lost both of his legs in an explosion Dec. 7 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, just west of Baghdad. One Marine was killed and three other Marines and one Navy corpsman were badly injured and are recovering at the same hospital as Greene.
According to the American Lung Association, acute respiratory distress syndrome is the rapid onset of respiratory failure due to an inability to oxygenate the blood. Several things can trigger acute respiratory distress syndrome, including extensive lung inflammation and infections. It can also be associated with multiple blood transfusions. Greene has been fighting infections and he's required well over 100 blood transfusions since he was injured.
"He's had bad reactions to the antibiotics and they suspect the respiratory distress syndrome is a result of the antibiotics," Terry Greene said.
Greene said they took his son off the antibiotics Friday morning and all the infection seemed to be gone.
"On Saturday morning, they retested and the preliminary results showed all kinds of stuff going on," Terry Greene said.
He said his son had at least two bacterial infections and is now back on the antibiotics.
"However, these really aren't strong enough to get this bug that he's got," he said. "The infectious disease people are working on his cultures to see what's best going to treat that."
He said doctors also put his son on steroids to help with the fluid around his lungs, swelling and skin redness, "but the steroids suppress his immune system and he's very vulnerable. The toughness of these bugs -- it's a very touchy situation."
Terry Greene was in the hospital's waiting room Sunday afternoon watching the football game between the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said his son would be expecting a full report.
"With him on the respirator, he's sedated," Terry Greene said. "We're staying away because we don't want to agitate him. When we're in the room, he wants to communicate with us and it's so frustrating. But he needs his rest."
The Marine is still able to communicate, his father said.
"He's able to nod and, through hand signals, communicate. But the problem is that I was never good at charades," Terry Greene said, as if in desperate need of a chuckle during this difficult time.
Needless to say, Terry and Sue Greene's lives have been turned upside down since that day in December.
"We're trying to rest because when he comes off his ventilator in a day or two, he's really going to need us," Terry Greene said. "It's amazing how much it takes beyond the nursing staff -- his mental wellness, getting food down him that he likes. I go get it. If he says he wants pizza, I'll go get it. If he says he wants a smoothie, I'm going to go find him a smoothie. It takes a lot of energy. We're very tired. Sue is the one who gets up early in the morning and stays until 8 or 10 at night. I come in at 10 and stay until midnight. We have someone with him most of the time."
The Marine is expected to be on the ventilator for a few days.
"He's responding to the treatments," his father said. "This is very critical right now. He needs his rest."
He said seeing how well the other Marines and Navy Corpsman are doing gives him hope.
"I'm really happy for those boys for doing as well as they are," Terry Greene said. "They come over to see Travis and it's great therapy for him. It's great therapy for me, too. They're doing extremely well. They tease me and I have fun teasing them. We need that encouragement. Travis needs that encouragement. We're doing the team effort trying to get this boy through it."
The Greenes also get a lot of support from the other parents.
"When we talk with the other parents, we have that connection," Terry Greene said. "When they say, 'It hurts so bad,' we know how bad it hurts. Before this, we never would have had a clue."
Once Greene is out of the woods, he'll head off to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., or Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to begin physical therapy and to learn to walk again on prostheses. Terry Greene toured Walter Reed Army Medical Center a week or so ago.
"I saw some spectacular things," he said. "I saw lots and lots of amputees doing therapy. That in itself -- seeing how well those people are doing and to see how well their attitudes are doing -- is just inspiring."
Greene could take a month of convalescent leave before heading off for therapy. But his father said his son will probably save that for later.
"If I know him, he'll want to get his legs and get moving," he said.
So what does the Greene family need from everyone back home?
"That's the hundred dollar question," Terry Greene said. "We don't need anything right now. When he comes home, that's when we'll need the community's support. Right now, there's nothing people can physically do but pray for him."
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2006/01/23/news_topstory/news_topstory.1.txt
