Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Slow, Steady Progress for Jessie Arbogast

Aired July 16, 2001 - 10:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More shark news now from the waters off the coast of Florida. Authorities say that two more people were bitten by sharks over the weekend, one of them just miles from where a shark mauled an 8-year-old boy, Jessie Arbogast, on July 6. Neither of the latest attacks resulted in serious injuries. The latest reports on Jessie say he is making slow, steady progress. Joining me now by phone from Pensacola, Florida is Dr. Ian Rogers, the surgeon who reattached Jessie's right arm, to give us the latest.

Doctor, good morning. Thanks for joining us.

DR. IAN ROGERS, SACRED HEART CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Good morning.

KAGAN: I understand Jessie faces some more surgery later today.

ROGERS: Yes, he does. We're going to start grafting the defect in his right side tonight. His arm continues to do good.

KAGAN: When you say do good, what does that mean, that he'll probably keep it, he'll be able to use it in the future?

ROGERS: Yes, it's so, you know, it shows no signs of vascular compromise at the present time. There's no sign of infection and the wounds all appear, you know, the wounds at the amputation site appear to be healing quite well.

KAGAN: When you did this first operation, what was the biggest challenge in reattaching this arm?

ROGERS: The greatest challenge was essentially making the decision to go ahead with it and the actual technicalities that went into the operation itself and doing it in a timely fashion, because you're somewhat limited by time with regard to the viability of the muscle in the arm.

KAGAN: You mentioned the problem or the question of doing the operation in the first place. A lot of people have questioned that. This was a very sick little boy. As I understand, he had been practically dead. His heart had been stopped for 30 to 35 minutes. Why have a little boy like that undergo an operation to reattach an arm?

ROGERS: We considered all that at the time and we felt he was stable hemodynamically at the time. The decision was made and we, you know, you only have essentially one hour to make that decision and that was the decision we made at the time and we stuck by that.

KAGAN: And given what you know now how he has been trying to survive, do you think that was the right decision to make?

ROGERS: I really do.

KAGAN: Why is that?

ROGERS: I think he is progressing neurologically. I don't think that the added anesthesia time was deleterious to him in any way, shape or form. I feel that, you know, the post-operative complications he had he would have had whether we had replanted the arm or not.

KAGAN: It seems like we've heard more about Jessie's brain function than we have heard about his arm. Can you tell us how he's doing on that front?

ROGERS: On his brain function?

KAGAN: Yes.

ROGERS: He's making slow but steady progress. Every day there's a little sign of improvement and it's something we're just going to have to take day by day. He's a lot better off neurologically than he was a week ago and so there's slow but steady progress.

KAGAN: I realize 8-year-old boys can be very resilient. What kind of future do you think Jessie Arbogast has in his future?

ROGERS: I think with regard to his arm we should certainly hope for maximal function, though, you know, I doubt we'll ever get maximal function. But we hope he returns to a, certainly to a functional level. I think with regard to his leg, he will have some problems walking and may need some assistive devices such as braces, etc.

KAGAN: And neurologically we'll still have to wait and see?

ROGERS: Neurologically, we're all going to have to wait and see. Yup.

KAGAN: Very good. Dr. Ian Rogers, thank you for that update on Jessie Arbogast. We appreciate it. Good luck with today's surgery.

ROGERS: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: Thank you for coming on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com