Homecoming

Before going home, Melissa visited him at the hospital and I just had to put this up because I think she's so beautiful!!

Here's what greeted Dad when he arrived, Darrens handmade "Welcome Home" sign hanging on the ramp and some yellow bows and balloons.

The ambulance drove him almost right up to the ramp and wheeled him in.

Being pulled up the new ramp in the stretcher.

Darren is volunteering at the hospital this summer and has been in the physical therapy department a lot helping out. During this time, he's been picking up tricks he can use with Dad so here he is working his leg muscles. Doesn't he look like a professional in his scrubs???

I talked to Dad yesterday and he said that Melissa is really going above and beyond to help him and Mom. Here she is massaging and working Dad's leg muscles. She's been so helpful, making runs to get Dad what he needs and cooking breakfast. She's a worker bee, that's for sure.

Like father, like son. ;)

Welcome home Dad!!! (sign made by Melissa)

Finally... HOME!!!

Yesterday Dad and Mom got the break they've been looking for and they made their way home. Dad had to ride in an ambulance because of his legs, so Mom led the way in her car and the ambulance followed behind. My brother and sister had put up balloons and signs welcoming Dad home and he had a good meal last night for dinner. It's such a relief for everyone to have him home. And he got to use the new ramp for the first time built by the guys at Sanford Contractors. He loved it!!

I would like to take a quick moment to say that we really appreciate all the cards, phone calls and visits from everyone while Dad was at the hospital. It has done wonders for his spirits to know that he has so many folks cheering him on. Since he'll be home now, we know he will have even more friends and family visiting daily which is wonderful. At the same time, it would be helpful to everyone if these visits were kept brief since we want to make sure he has time to rest and recover.

Again, thank you all for everything, I promise I will put pictures up of his homecoming as soon as I get them from Mom!

Things are looking up...

I just talked to mom on the phone and she said that Dad is improving. He got rid of his IV, drainage tubes and oxygen this morning. He's sitting up at an incline now and is on a liquid diet. Mom said he had some jello this morning for breakfast and before we left last night, he had some jello and cherry italian ice.

The vascular team came in and removed the 14 staples in Dad's right leg (on the left side where they took the vein from). Now that the staples are gone, he doesn't have to wear the ace bandage wrapped around his right leg so that is one step closer to having his wounds heal!

Of course we're not getting too excited (yet) but the word is that he may be able to go home tomorrow. They did an x-ray on his back to see how well his surgery helped to create the natural curve in his spine and if that comes back well, then he will be home bound. Things are looking up so keep the prayers a coming!

Surgery is over, and here's some pics

Dad had a slew of visitors on Wednesday, the initial day he was supposed to have surgery. Here's some of them above.

Dad's coworkers from Sanford Contractors came by. From left to right, they are Richard, Randall, Mark and Brent. Thanks guys for coming by so much, it really helps his spirits!

Out of surgery: Surgery took about 6 hours. We waited and waited for the doctor to come out. Finally he came out said that they took a small piece of bone from his left hip and placed it in his vertebrae with cement and screws to make that natural curve in his spine. He will have to lay flat on his back for 48 hours and will have a scar about 4 inches long on his back. He's got an IV, back on oxygen and is resting quietly. He's halfway through but the next 24 hours will be long, I'm sure but so far he's been resting a lot which is good. Here's dad and I getting some rest...

We're not sure when he'll be coming home, but we're hoping it's soon. A big thank you to all of those who have sent cards in the last week... I bet we got over 25 in the past few days!

Surgery Update

It's 12:39 pm on Friday and Dad's still in surgery as far as we know. We arrived at 10:45 am and mom said that Dad had gone back for surgery at about 8 am. We're hanging around in the waiting room with a wheelchair full of stuff because we're not sure what room he'll be moved to next.

They had to put electrodes on his head to monitor his brain waves because they are going to be close to his spinal cord. I really hope to get a picture of this so that I can show it to him later on. He'll be so mad that they messed up his hair!

I'll update this once he's out of surgery, but until then, we'll be sitting here waiting...

FRIDAY - Surgery Day

Tommorow, Dad will undergo surgery on his back to help fix his crushed L3 vertebrae. Dad explained it to me saying that a healthy back is curved and his back is currently straight. If his back isn't corrected by surgery, he will lean forward for the rest of his life and that will lead to arthritis and other problems. The doctors recommended taking care of this as soon as possible so tomorrow at 7:30 am, he will go in. The surgery will last 2 1/2 to 3 hours and then he will have a scar that's about four inches long. They said that he may be able to come home in 2-3 days so that's a positive. I'll update this as soon as I know the outcome of his surgery, but please think good thoughts and keep praying!!

Oh, and a big "THANK YOU" to the folks from Sanford Contractors that finished the ramp today. You guys are amazing and we can't wait to get home and put it to good use!!

UPDATE: Dad's surgery was postponed on Wednesday and we're told it will be FOR SURE Friday at 7:30 am. We're not sure why he got "bumped" but he's ready to get this surgery over!

The world's best nurses, hospital bed & ramp

Here's what's been going on lately in no particular order:

Nurses make the world go round: Meet Edgar, Dad's favorite day shift nurse. Ironically, Edgar is one of the nurses that took care of my aunt Emily when she was in the rehab wing at UNC hospital several years ago. Uncle Dale was visiting when Edgar came in one day and they instantly recognized each other. Small world. Edgar even asked for dad's telephone number and address so that when he takes his kids to the NC Zoo, he can stop in and check up on dad. How nice is that?!?

Kathy is Dad's favorite day shift nurse. From what I hear, she's very attentive.

Cards: Dad has received so many cards from so many people that mom decided it was time to show them off. Luckily, my cousin Carson came to the rescue. He and his grandpa Donny taped the cards to the door.

Here they are sharing a box of chocolates. The doors are full, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need more cards... when he goes home, he'll need even more cards to decorate with.


I think mom said that he had over 70 cards... wow!

Playing a tune: Dad's boss Randall came for a visit and found a baby grand piano on the rehab floor. So he entertained mom and dad for a while. At their wedding, they had the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" played. At our wedding, we had the pianist play it in honor of them and it's become a special song for us all. Randall played "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on the baby grand and mom called us so that we could enjoy.

It sounded wonderful, Randall!

Getting ready: Mom went home today to get the house ready for Dad's arrival. They delivered the hospital bed (seen here), the wheel chair, the bed table, and the triangular bar without the trapeze bar.

The bed he's been using at the hospital is an air mattress. It will periodically inflate and deflate itself to contour toward his body. This is great because it prevents bed sores. We were lucky enough to get an air mattress for the house so it is nice!

Men at Work: The men from Sanford Contractor's came out today to begin working on the ramp in the front of the house. Our Uncle Butch LOVED this and spent the day supervising and I'm sure swapping old car stories.

Above is Ken who has spearheaded the ramp project. Keep in mind, it was 94 degrees today and they were out in the hot sun and never once complained.

Uncle Butch is above in the blue. He and his wife have been such a blessing to us lately. They will go and stay with Dad when Mom goes home and allow her to take little breaks during the week that do her a lot of good. A big hats off to them!

We're still expecting Dad to go home on Wednesday so we'll update with more pictures then...

Lots of photos!

Here's pictures of Dad and what he's been up to. WARNING- at the bottom are pictures of his injuries that may be a little too much for some folks. Please use caution when viewing!

(above) Wes, the Physical Therapist, is teaching Dad some new moves to use on his good foot.

Dad is enjoying the massage therapy Wes gives him on his injured foot.

Here's his back brace that he has to wear when he's sitting up or moving around.

This is his first venture out of the 7th floor. Mom pushed him to the main entrance and then to the Children's Hospital entrance. This 2-story "maze" is pretty fascinating. There are about 10 balls moving around at a time and it makes noise and is just something neat to look at. Children love it.

Ok Randall, play this baby Grand! (Actually, it plays some songs on its own)

Kevin helps Dad strengthen his upper body. He pulls these rubber bands across his chest and gets a good workout!

Here's a good shot of the trapeze bars. You can't see his triangle bar that dangles over his head that well, but this allows him to pull himself up and move his back around. He finds this to be helpful because he can move around to get comfortable.

Dr. Ibazebo is his rehabilitation doctor and he has been wonderful! Here you can see his triangle above his head.

His rehab team: Dr. Atkinson, an intern doctor, Dr. Ibazebo, and Susan the nurse.

This is the nurse that welcomed us to the rehab department. She comes by almost daily to say hello and see how Dad's progressing.

Here's Mom helping to hold Dad up while he sits on the edge of his bed. Believe it or not, this is considered physical therapy because he's not lying in the bed, he's actually moving around. He says his is such a relief to be able to move around :)
WARNING- THESE PICTURES ARE A LITTLE GROSS... You've been warned.

Twice a day, Dad's dressing on his wounds must be changed. When his kidneys weren't functioning correctly, his body was so swollen that the fluid had nowhere to go. So it created little pockets like blisters just under his skin. This dark spot in the next picture is what happens when these blisters burst and the fluid leaks out. It then scabs over and starts to heal. It doesn't look pretty, but it's healing!

(above) This is where Dr. Brabham, the vascular surgeon, took the piece of vein out and then put it in on the other side (next picture).

This is where the by-pass graft was done. They placed the vein inside this wound and it is, essentially, what saved his leg. That's right folks, you're looking at a miracle! As the swelling goes down, they will be able to tighten these sutures and then it will be able to heal. They can't do the knee surgery until this wound is healed so we're hoping it will hurry up!

Thanks for looking folks, I'll have some more pictures soon.

Good News Update

The word on the street is that Dad will be heading home next Wednesday! Hooray! The teams of doctors working on him met yesterday with the physical therapist to give an over all evaluation of his healing and abilities. They all said that they think if he keeps healing and working the way he is now, he should be home on Wednesday. He slept really well last night and is feeling good today.

That leaves Mom and the rest of the family scrambling to get the house ready. Mom's heading home this afternoon to re-arrange the living room so that Dad can set up shop with his bed and wheelchair. The folks from Sanford Contractors are coming Monday to start working on the ramp and sidewalk to the front door. Brent said it would look like "Extreme Home Makeover" in the front yard for a while. Hopefully someone will be there to get some pictures for us!

Physical therapy is going really well. They have attached rubber band-type material to his trapeze bars on his hospital bed that hangs down within his reach so that he can pull himself up and strengthen his arms. He's going to have HUGE arm muscles soon. :)

Mom has taken pictures of Dad's doctors and nurses and is going to upload them and send them to me today. I can't wait to see them because with the improvements he's made, he's going to look even better than when I saw him last. Mom said that the Cox's from our church came by and brought a huge basket full of different snack foods and fruit. Thank you all so much! I think that's all the updates I have. Keep praying!

Getting there...

According to mom, last night was the best night dad's had since he's been at the hospital. He's had a hard time getting good, deep sleep because he either can't get comfortable with his legs or his medicine is off leaving him in pain. Thankfully, it seems as if they've finally figured out the appropriate level of pain medication he needs.

Good news! Mom seems to think Dad will be going home by next weekend! Can you believe that? It blows my mind to think he has come that far already.

One of the biggest concerns we've had is when he goes home, how's going to get around? They've constructed a wheel chair just for him that will keep his legs out in front of him while reclining his back. Another concern is a bathroom. We don't have handicapped accessible bathrooms and certainly a regular toilet isn't going to work considering he has to be reclined and have his legs straight in front of him. So today he got a wheelchair/toilet contraption that meets his needs and will allow him to use the bathroom with ease. It's so funny how we take the smallest things for granted but for some, they are the biggest of concerns. The folks at the occupational therapy department have been working on this problem for a while for dad so we are glad they could come up with something he will be able to use on his own. I am having a hard time imagining what exactly it will look like, but I imagine it just looks like a wheelchair.

I've instructed Mom to take pictures of the ramp construction and of his wheelchair so that we can all have a better idea of what's going on. I'm planning on going home next week to welcome dad home, so I'll take lots of pictures then.

One more thing is that there's a rumor that Dad may be getting a laptop soon. Then maybe he can start his own blog to update everyone on his day to day activities! More to come on this, I'm sure.

Sanford & the ramp

Mom got a well deserved break yesterday, she went home for the first time since the accident happened. She met with some of the insurance folks and some of dad's coworkers to discuss building a new ramp for the house. We need to have a ramp that can accomodate dad in his wheelchair and that's no easy task. Because of his knees, he will have to keep his legs straight out in front of him and because of his back injury, he can't sit straight up, he must be reclined. So this means he has a specially designed wheelchair that won't take sharp turns well. So they plotted out the best design for a ramp and planned to come back and build it soon.

I would like to take a moment here to mention how wonderful dad's company, Sanford Contractors has been. Where do I begin? From the moment the accident happened, they have been looking out for all of us and making sure we are taken care of. The insurance company has been wonderful and they have assigned a rehabilitation worker to dad to make sure he has everything taken care of. It is such a blessing to know that he works for such a dedicated company. And it's very good to know that his coworkers respect him the way they do. They've already started talking about getting him "back to work" as soon as possible which is good for everyone.

And so many from the company have visited. Geez, I can't even name them all! Randall and Brent have been there numerous times, keeping dad in a good mood and they were there yesterday at our house helping mom with ramp ideas. The owner of Sanford Contractors, Donnie, came by as well a few days ago and told dad he can come back whenever he wants. What a relief to know that they want him to come back to work!

I have to run, but I'll write more and update everyone on his new wheelchair/toilet mechanism... I know you're all anxious to hear about this!

Rehab... not THAT kind of rehab!

So yesterday, we returned to DC and had to leave the family at home. It was hard to leave knowing that there's still so much left to do, but we'll be getting daily updates from mom so don't worry, you'll read it all here, I promise.

When we left yesterday, dad had just come back from his x-ray on his hip. He keeps on having sharp pains in his left hip that are just agonizing. He said it feels like knives just stabbing at his insides when he gets it agitated. And to make it worse, after he's in the pain "zone" he stays uncomfortable for about two hours. The worst is when he has to move from the hospital bed to the stretcher and back. The nurses, while they are wonderful, and they don't mean to, but they end up contorting his hip in the wrong way and he is in immense pain. It almost makes me pass out to see him like this. Trust me, it's not good.

Since they haven't really given us a reason for this pain, they did an x-ray to see if anything had been broken in the fall. Mom says it came back showing nothing unusual so they've decided it must just be the broken vertebraes in his back getting moved around, causing pain.

Before we left yesterday, they put the trapeze bars around his bed giving him a dangling bar overhead to hold on to and thus allowing him to pull his upper body up and move around. This helps him to adjust his back and get more comfortable in the bed.

The latest word is that he'll be in rehab for 2-3 weeks. I want to clarify here that this is not rehab on his legs. This is rehab on his upper body in order to teach him how to be more independent. They want to know that he can take care of himself for the most part so they've started showing him how to use his arm strength to get around. They move him from the hospital bed into a wheelchair, then he has to wheel himself down the hall to the gym. Then they give his arms a good work out and send him back to rest. It wears him out, but it's good for him. As mom said, it will get him functional and independently active for when he does come home.

When he does go home, he'll have the hospital bed, trapeze bars and wheelchair. He'll also be sporting the external fixators (the rods and pins in his legs) so his legs will be straight in front of him. The back brace will also be a must. They hope that his back injuries will heal in 6-8 weeks on their own, but only time will tell. He'll have to go back to Chapel Hill in 4-6 weeks to do the knee reconstruction surgery on both legs. This surgery won't happen til the vein graft wound has healed completely so in reality, we don't know when that will be. We assume that he will then return home in a cast or a brace of some sort, we really don't know.

The vascular surgeon visited yesterday and stood at the edge of dad's bed and proclaimed that he was "very pleased" at the way his leg was healing. When they did the vein graft, his leg was so swolen, they were not able to stitch him back up. So they left the wound open and as the swelling goes down, they will pull the soutures together letting his wound close and heal. Yesterday they were able to pull two soutures together and dad felt the pain which is a GOOD sign! Any feeling in that part of his leg is good because that means there is a chance he'll regain feeling in his right foot. The doctors think that the fluid in his right leg/foot is pressing on a nerve imparing his sensations and preventing him from feeling anything. We hope once the swelling goes down (and it's still pretty swolen) it will move from this nerve and his sense of touch in his foot will come back.

Today he visited the gym again for physical therapy for an hour, came back to the room for lunch and then went back for more. Then he had occupational therapy for an hour. He looks forward to this time becuase when he's doing therapy, he's not lying in the bed helpless, this gets him moving his upper body. He will do 3 hours of intense therapy a day until he goes home.

It is amazing to look at the pictures from last week and the ones now. He has come so far in just 11 days, it is nothing short of a miracle what the doctors can do these days. We all know that it is God at work and we are sending up prayers constantly. Thank you for helping us do that and for the many acts of kindness you have shown to our family. We are so blessed!

Moving on up

Today dad got to move up to the rehabilitation floor here at the hospital. As mentioned before, it's very nice and luxurious compared to the typical hospital room we were in on the fifth floor. He's had a good day for the most part. Here's a picture of him in his new "crib."

You'll notice he has noticably less stuff hanging around and attached to him. He's gotten rid of the oxygen and the ivs in the past few days so he's doing a lot better. The ultra sound of his artery went well. The vein graph was a sucess and the doctors are all pleased with the way it is healing. Prayer is working!

We got the word that the rehab wing was ready for us so we packed up and loaded him on a stretcher. They walked him up here and then when we were loading him back onto the bed, we got a little off in our timing and he was in intense pain for a few minutes. We had to stop what we were doing, put him back on the stretcher and figure out another option. Luckily, the staff here knew right what to do and grabbed a slick sheet to help him to slide onto the bed. It was much less painful the second time around, but he's been in pain for a while since then.

Mom's tired but of course she has yet to complain about anything. She's actually napping now as I type this. Her medical knowledge has been so helpful because she remembers their "lingo" and can repeat it when the next round of doctors come in to check up on him.

So I'm sure you're all dying to see the new room. HA! Here's some pics.


The best part is the window. We joke about being on people patrol because you can actually look out of the window and see the folks that are walking in from the parking deck. It's so interesting to be able to people watch from seven floors up! Here's the view

Since it's the weekend now, his physical therapy tomorrow won't be as intense as it is during the week. With the weekend staff, they only do about half of what the weekday staff can do. This will be good becuase it will let dad ease into the physical therapy. In total, they will do about three hours of physical therapy a day. It's not all at once, it's in shifts. They'll let him calm down and rest in between in order to keep him from tiring too badly.

They are thinking he'll be in physical therapy for 10-14 days. We're not sure when his reconstructive surgery will be, but if they had to guess, they said it would be several weeks away.

As you can tell from the picture above, he's come a long way in a week. We're just hopeful that he continues at this rate.

Thursday

Dad was able to watch fireworks on tv last night. Ironically, he saw the "National" fireworks show in DC. It was just two years ago at that time that we were all sitting in the Pentagon parking lot watching those same fireworks live. Let's hope that next year we can do that again.

This morning, dad was ready to move around. So he got mom and a couple nurses to help him move his legs around and sit on the edge of the bed. It's good for him to sit up to get acclimated to moving around. It's occassionally painful, of course, but we all know that this is a good step in the right direction. He sat this way for about an hour and fifteen minutes but then at the end, he was exhausted. They got him situated back in his bed and he napped for a while. It just takes so much out of him.

Fortunately, his left leg and foot are looking like normal. The swelling is almost completely gone. However, the right leg is still very swollen and marshmellow-ish. They are going to do an ultrasound tomorrow morning on his right leg to check the vein that they had to replace and see how well it is doing.

The doctors came in this afternoon and said that he was anemic and therefore a blood transfusion was needed. So this afternoon, they gave him two pints of blood. Instantly, he started to feel better, look better and it's a noticable difference. Because of his need for blood, they weren't able to move him to the rehab wing so we've got one more day before we are in the lap of luxury.

Mom and I got to "tour" the rehabilitation wing last night and it is like staying at the Ritz. Hardwood floors, nickel light fixtures, awesome decoration. The rooms there are bigger, the bathrooms are handicapped accessible and there's even a laundry room for them to do their own laundry. It's such a nice environment for him, more positive, upbeat, etc. They also want to make him more independant so mom can go home and he will be able to take care of himself.

Dad got another huge flower arrangement today from Sanford Contractors and it is gorgeous! Thank y'all so much for all of your love and support. He appreciates it all (as do we, the family). Jason says that the pictures of his legs on Webshots have been viewed 957 times!! That takes my breath away. I cannot believe that many people have an interest in this but it's amazing. If we've got at least half those folks praying, then the Lord has to oblige us all, right? :)

Hopefully we'll have more pictures tomorrow of his new "crib."

More updates

Today has been a good day. Daddy's taken his first ride around in a wheelchair so that was exciting. They got him up in the wheelchair and drove him around the hallway for his physical therapy and he got to see a bit of new scenery. His "specialty" wheelchair is designed so that his legs will lie straight in front of him and his torso is able to lay back. At this point, he is unable to sit straight up so with this reclining wheelchair, it's the only way for him to get around. It's a big step for him to be mobile!

Since today's the fourth of July, the mass of doctors hasn't been so bad. He had the trauma team in first thing this morning, then the physical therapy folks but it really hasn't been that bad. Supposedly they are having fireworks at Keenan Stadium tonight at 9:30 pm so maybe we'll be able to see those.

We're still unclear on when he will have surgery and move to the rehabilitation wing. The latest update was that he'd go to rehab tomorrow and then have surgery in 7-10 days. We're hoping to go up to the rehab wing on the 7th floor sometime to walk around and check things out. When he does get to rehab, they will teach him how to be more independent. Right now, we are moving his legs and placing pillows around his body in order to make him more comfortable. Rehab will help him to learn how to do all of this on his own.

Some good news, still no pneumonia! He's still hot all the time but fortunately, his breathing exercises seem to be doing their job. We've got the a/c in his room set at about 60 degrees so we are all freezing but he is sweating away. Melissa's fanning him right now trying to get him cooled off. We said we were going to buy big palm leaves to fan him with and feed him grapes... ha!

Today he was able to get rid of the oxygen and the iv in his arm. These are the last two steps he had to conquer in order to get him to rehab so he's doing well! He's eating well and we keep getting more and more home cooked food from visitors so thank you all so much.

Keep the prayers a coming, he is already so much better than he was yesterday!

Daddy update again

WARNING- PICTURE BELOW may be too much for some folks to handle. Just skip over it if you can't take it.

Today they came in and let us know that he will undergo surgery for the orthopeadic part of reconstructing his knees in 7-10 days. They are hoping to take him to the rehabilitation wing tomorrow.

The must frustrating part of all of this is the different "teams" of doctors here that seem to talk a lot, but never really talk to each other. There's the vascular team, the ortho team, the rehab team and the trama team. And none of them give us the same information. One will say he will be in rehab next week, one will say tomorrow, one will say 7-10 days so we take what they have to say in stride and wait to hear the next "update." We all understand what it means to be a teaching hospital and we are all glad that they can have this hands on experience, but when a mass of 10 people come into his room every few hours, it's exhausting. Enough about that...

The physical therapists came in this morning and let him sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes and had his feet almost touching the ground. This, they say, will be good for when he is able to get in a wheel chair because his body will be used to sitting up again.

They did an x-ray of his chest today to rule out pneumonia and the aides weren't really gentle so that caused a lot of pain for him. They decided that there is some fluid hanging out in his lungs, but no pneumonia. He has a contraption that he has to blow into slowly 10 times every hour that is supposed to help prevent pneumonia and help him to use all of his lung capacity. He's been dilligent with it so that's good.

His medicine is making him really hot so he's been sweating a lot. We put him in some t-shirts to help keep him cool but it doesn't seem to be working that much.

They fitted him with some specialty "boots" today that will help his feet to stay straight. They had started to droop a bit, just naturally going toward the bed. These will also help to keep the muscles active.

You can also see the wonderful red rubber bands that we have to leave on for two hours, then take off for two hours. They had to customize these to his feet so they took 2 1/2 hours to make using 160 degree water to mold the material to fit his foot.

The best thing that he has received so far is this brace that fits around his torso.
He has said that this will be the "secret" to moving around because it takes the pressure off of his back and allows him to keep his hip, back and legs in line and out of pain. He really dreaded putting it on in the beginning, but once they had it fitted on his body, he said it releaved a lot of the back pain so that's a blessing!

I forgot to mention yesterday that it was mom and dad's 29th wedding anniversary! What a way to spend it in the hospital, right? :) I think at this point, they are just thankful that they can spend it together.

We've received some beautiful flowers the past couple of days. Here's some pictures:
Cut flowers from Melissa & Darren for their anniversary, a dish garden from the Quality Management Team at Randolph Hospital.

The flower arrangement is from mom's boss Sherry for their anniversary and the lily is from Barbara Bennett. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity!

Thank you to everyone that has called, written, visited. It has all been good for his moral and good to keep us occupied. We are doing good and couldn't do this without y'all! Keep coming back for more updates and have a Happy Fourth of July!

Good news...

This morning the rehabilitation doctors came in and gave us an update. They recommend that he go upstairs to the 7th floor which is a totally different part of the hospital in a few days. It is all physical therapy/rehabilitation on the 7th floor which will help him to learn how to be independent when he returns home. We think he will be on the rehab floor for 2-3 weeks, but that is just a guess-timate from the doctors at this point. A lot of that depends on his ability to kick the oxygen and the morphine.

A physical therapist did come in today and helped to fit him with his hard plastic brace that he will have to wear in order to keep his back from moving. This will allow his fractured vertebrae to heal. They put on the brace and then she wanted him to sit up. We all had to help move his legs around and he used a the orange bar above his head to pull himself up. We moved him so that he sat up in the bed and we rotated his body so that his back was 90 degrees. He got a little light headed (as did some of us) and so we laid him back down. The physical therapist says this will help him to get used to sitting up again and to use his upper body strength. He did wonderful. She was impressed with his agility and dedication and we all think that he did better than expected. He even commented that it was a lot less painful than he thought it would be.

Many people have been asking what they can do to help. For now, we have been trying to think of things that would help us out now and in the long run. The best thing we can come up with is either gas cards or Wal-Mart gift cards. We know that when he comes home, he will need things that we can't even begin to think of and we're sure those trips to Wal-Mart will be needed. We also know that between us kids and mom, we've already made several trips home and back so gas cards would be nice. Of course we're not asking for anything. Please don't go out of your way. I'm just posting it here because so many of you have asked what you can do to help and this is what we've come up with.

That's all for now, he's taking a nap and we're expecting visitors soon so I'll go. But do keep looking on here for updates! And keep praying... lots of prayers!

Pictures

Warning- if you click on these pictures, it will take you to Webshots where there are other, more graphic pictures of dad's legs. Again, they are graphic. Please only click on the photo if you want to see the others. Otherwise, just don't click on it.

Here's Dad in his fashionable gown. Yes folks, he still looks great even after all this. ;)

Here's Mom & Dad, they are both hanging in there so please keep them in your prayers!