I've spent way too much time monitoring the Patriots' film scandal today, when the league's greatest story is the miraculous progress Bills tight end Kevin Everett is making after his spinal cord injury Sunday against the Broncos.
Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, who performed surgery on Everett on Sunday, has emerged as a hero after using a revolutionary technique that may have preserved Everett's ability to walk again.
Dr. Barth Green, chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Miami school of medicine, said Cappuccino quickly ran an ice-cold saline throughout Everett's system to put him in a hypothermic state. Doctors at the famed Miami Project said the technique significantly decreases the damage to the spinal cord due to swelling and movement.
"We've been doing a protocol on humans and having similar experiences for many months now," Green said. "But this is the first time I'm aware of that the doctor was with the patient when he was injured and the hypothermia was started within minutes of the injury. We know the earlier it's started, the better."
I'm supposed to visit with Dr. Robert Watkins, a neck and spine specialist at the Centinela Freeman Marina Spine Institute in Marina Del Rey, later this afternoon. He's treated several NFL players, including Chiefs running back Priest Holmes. If you have questions for the good doctor, let me hear from you.
OK, I'm off to conduct a chat.
