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!