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“He recognized everybody that was talking to him," Smith said. "He would acknowledge he understood by squeezing his left or squeezing right hand. He had ways of gesturing that he wanted more information from you on a topic. Through gestures, Jack was asking for a story on what happened. He didn’t know.”
The leg surgery began late Saturday afternoon, after Roush had progressed sufficiently enough to assure doctors he was ready to receive proper anesthetic. A compound fracture of his left femur, as well as a break of his shin and two fractures of his ankle were successfully repaired, Smith said.
A steel rod was inserted in the femur to stabilize the break there. The open leg wound is healing from the inside out for fear of infection, which Smith said he understood to be standard practice.
Smith said that doctors also repaired damage to Roush’s left knee, and that a standard setting was used to stabilize his broken shin. Pins and plates were inserted into both sides of Roush’s ankle.
Roush suffered no fractures of his right leg, as Smith said Saturday.
“There was a little confusion with the way we stated that both ankle bones were broken,” Smith said. “It was both sides of the left ankle. Not both ankles. To our knowledge, there’s minor bumps and bruises, but nothing broken over on the right side.”
Smith said Roush’s closed head injury involved no swelling, and that it had progressed quite a bit. He said that the doctors’ decision to utilize the antisthetic was evidence thereof.
“That was a very clear signal to us that concern over the head injury as a life-threatening situation was substantially diminished,” Smith said.
Smith said Roush suffered no skull fractures.
“He didn’t fracture anything,” Smith said. “He hit his head but they didn’t know how much of the injury might be from hitting his head, and how much might be from fact that he was under water for period of time without oxygen.
“The fact that he didn’t have brain swelling was a big indicator that the underwater period -- they expected if there was serious injury coming from that there would be swelling. That hasn’t occurred.
“He ingested a lot of murky lake water, so we have to watch him pretty closely. They’re going to keep him on a respirator for a period of time out of possible concerns. We are all greatly encouraged by the news of the day."
Roush is still in the intensive care unit and is not accepting visitors, phone calls or deliveries.
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