Kyle Detomasi faces frustrating road to recovery

Fallon son Kyle Detomasi has returned home.

The tall, lanky 19-year-old was shot in the neck by a stranger Sept. 3 in Boise, Idaho, in an apparent robbery attempt.

Kyle, and two friends, were standing outside a home after midnight and talked to a young man walking by. That young man, Juan Manuel Rios, returned several minutes later with a mask and shot the three Northwest Lineman College students, forever changing their lives.

Kyle said the last thing he remembers the night of the shooting is playing guitar in the apartment. The next thing he vaguely recalled was being chased by dragons in his dreams.

"I was tripping on the drugs they gave me," Detomasi said Friday morning from his home in Fallon. "I was basically in a dream world."

Arlene Detomasi remembered being roused at 4 a.m. by a phone call from Stacey Frank, a family friend with whom Kyle was living with in Boise, telling her Kyle had been shot. Arlene said at first she couldn't understand the news because she had just spoken to him at 11:30 p.m. and knew where he was.

"You just bolt," Arlene said, remembering how she and Kyle's father, Garn, just threw clothes in a bag and drove to Boise, calling their daughter, Darby, and other family members along the way.

"It was a quiet trip," Arlene said. "We were just trying to let it all sink in."

During the drive, Arlene spoke with the hospital and cleared up Kyle's identity. Since his wallet was stolen, he was only known as "Unknown Mickey" for a short while. She also spoke with a police detective at the hospital.

"He started asking his questions but I said, 'Wait. Is my son alive?' When he said, 'Yes,' then I answered his questions."

Arlene said when she first saw Kyle, he was intubated and immobilized with a neck brace. When Arlene and Garn called his name, Kyle would open his eyes, but it took a couple days before his eyes tracked to the speaker - a small miracle in and of itself. The paramedics responding to the shooting said in court they didn't think Kyle would ever wake up, Arlene said.

Kyle has a C3 injury, referring to the position on the spinal cord where the injury occurred. While doctors didn't immediately say it, Arlene saw the label on his medical chart - quadriplegic. Usually a tragic diagnosis, Kyle, instead, took a turn for the better.

"My leg started waking up," he said, adding that he's now considered an incomplete quadriplegic.

"Even if everything heals, I will always be an incomplete quadriplegic," Kyle said matter of factly. For a young man who spent only one week in college before the shooting, Kyle's understanding of medical terminology and his health issues is impressive ... and necessary.

"New faces killed me," Kyle said about the nurses who cared for him. "I had to train four different nurses."

"He took charge of what was going on," Arlene said. "He knows his meds."

Kyle's taking 20 medications at this time.

"Life would be so much easier if I didn't have to stop every two hours to take my meds," Kyle said, suddenly remembering he missed a morning breathing treatment as he locked eyes with his mother.

Being in a Boise hospital and then a Denver rehabilitation hospital for a total of eight months, Kyle' has become somewhat of an expert on hospital care and the importance of good nurses and doctors.

He's battled pneumonia eight times since September, and went into respiratory failure in January. He felt it was due to lack of care, and looking back, he disagrees with the decisions the doctors made at certain points in his recovery.

"I get pissed when people half-ass your health care," Kyle said. "My life is in their hands. It's very disappointing."

While at Craig Hospital, which specializes in spinal cord injuries rehabilitation, Kyle talked regularly with five men his age, each dealing with his own injuries.

"It didn't help to talk," Kyle said, debunking the assumption that talking would be cathartic. "It's depressing all around."

He said his emotional state would change daily, depending on how his body felt.

"There's up and downs all the time. That's how it is with spinal cord injuries," he said.

A brief glimmer of hope danced across Kyle's face Friday morning as he spoke because he saw his ring finger on his right hand move, a first for him since the shooting.

"The worst thing in the world is being so weak and you can't do things for yourself," Kyle said.

The last major barrier Kyle must pass is to swallow again. He hasn't had food or water orally since Sept. 3 because the bullet tore through an area that controls his swallowing.

"There were nerves that were sheared," Arlene said, "and that's what's making ... "

"Life so difficult," Kyle finished.

On a more positive note, Kyle has been standing and walking more since he returned home Tuesday afternoon, and he's been playing Nintendo Wii video games to improve his arm muscles. He's also sleeping better, Arlene said.

Rios, whom Arlene said recently admitting to the shooting, will be sentenced May 2, and Kyle wants to attend to speak to the court.

Now that he's home, are visitors allowed?

"They're a great thing," Kyle said. "I've been bored for eight months."

Arlene said a friend recently summed up the situation, saying "This is a story of love, friendship and commitment of a community.

"This community support ... I can't even find the words to describe it," Arlene said.

The city of Fallon, Kyle's employer for the past two summers, hung a banner across Williams Avenue and Maine Street which read "Welcome back Kyle."

He said the most frustrating thing is the pace of his progress - slow. He said he'll make headway and see some improvement, but then nothing happens for two months.

"It's straight up depressing. I'd rather be out driving around listening to music."