Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan, injured in a 40-foot bluff fall May 1, has returned to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he will undergo unexpected new back surgery today.
After attempts to work earlier this week, the 52-year-old Sullivan returned to Harborview on Tuesday where he received X-rays to his lower lumbar (L-1) vertebra, which was damaged along with the right ankle he broke in the fall near his Cape George home.
“An X-ray found the plate put in was slipping,” Sullivan’s wife, Connie Ross, said Wednesday.
“They put the plate in to hold the spine while (the bone) graft fuses.”
The plate was placed through the front of his spine, and a second plate will be implanted through his back, she said.
“They figure he will be in four to five hours of surgery” today at Harborview, she said, figuring he could be in the hospital until at least Tuesday.
Pulling Scotch broom
Sullivan was rescued May 1 by emergency and sheriff’s personnel from the bluff ledge on which he landed after the earth fell out from under his feet while he was pulling Scotch broom.
A rope and basket lifted him down to the shore of Discovery Bay where a sheriff’s boat took him to a waiting ambulance.
That Sunday, he was later airlifted to Harborview from Jefferson Healthcare hospital in Port Townsend.
He returned home after about a week in the hospital and was using a walker until he gets a walking cast for his ankle.
He made short appearances at various county commissioners-related meetings but tired easily, his wife and friends said.
“He really is discouraged,” said Ross, upon learning of the new surgery.
“The first thing he said was, ‘Oh, that puts me back to Day 1 of my recovery.’
“We’re just going to take it a day at a time to see how it pans out.”
