Two blankets are still fighting in the hospital: ‘One in a serious condition, the other at consciousness’

Two young men, teammates of Nikola Ugivaca at NK Vojnic, have been badly killed in a car accident near Karlovac, they are fighting for recovery.

One is in Karlovac hospital, the other at KB Dubrava in Zagreb, the first still sedated, without consciousness, the other is conscious, but he cannot yet communicate with doctors.

– It’s stable, but bad, as it was from day one. For now, his condition is not at least worse, but what kind of perspective will be on, it’s hard to say. These are serious brain injuries where recovery is long lasting. We don’t know in which direction we will go yet. The patient was unconscious, sedated, says Dr. Ivana Kovacic, director of Karlovac General Hospital, internal medicine specialist.

At KB Dubrava, we spoke with Dr. Stjepan Docuzovic, a specialist in orthopedics and traumatology who operated on the other young man on Sunday in the accident. On Saturday, the cardiac surgeons had already operated on a serious heart injury.

– The young man is now stable, he was no longer sitting, he spent a peaceful night and is conscious. This morning, when I visited him, he was conscious, but he was not yet able to communicate, he was intubated. There are no neurological outbursts, he moves spontaneously with his hands and feet, says Dr. Docuzovic.

– First, our cardiac surgeons operated on Saturday due to a heart injury that immediately threatened him, and I took over the young man yesterday morning. In two operations, which lasted an hour and a half or a little longer, we took care of the cervical spine and the fracture of the left upper arm, colleagues with jaw surgery and faces surgery on his lower jaw, according to a doctor.

When asked if the injuries would leave some lasting consequences, he states that, as far as the door and hand is concerned, there should be no lasting consequences, while the heart surgery went well. The young man may have to be on anticoagulants for the rest of his life, which may affect his opportunity to play sports, the doctor notes.

As previously pointed out by Dr. Josip Varvodic, a specialist in the Cardioracal Surgery of KB Dubrava, the very demanding heart surgery has passed successfully.

– The operation was very demanding. Maybe it’s the best layman to say, it’s like there was one explosion inside the chest, he explained.

The third injured participant in a car accident, also a covering teammate, was released for home care, luckily only minor injuries.