Remember My Brother

[FrugalFloyd]

Very encouraging news. He's got a long way to go yet, but his progress is in the right direction.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

it is a long road ahead but the only way down it is one step at a time.

baby steps get you there.

[shatto]

About Chiropractic

A long time ago I went to a "Back Care Class" and learned the proper way to sit and stand, how to use a broom and how to lift things and a number of stretching exercises that have caused a chronic back problem to disappear; a problem that, a couple times in my Army career caused me to, without warning, collapse in a pile.
The class was at the YMCA ant taught by a Physical Therapist.

[Ford Man]

We just returned from the hospital about an hour ago and everything seems to be coming along much better that we were expecting. I was able to communicate with Terry tonight and he's able to open his left eye. He had a pretty bad cut that had to be sewn up at his right eye so it's probably going to take some healing before he'll be able to open it. He's not able to speak much, but he's writing us notes. Even in the condition he's in, first he thanked me for coming to see him and bringing my mom, since she doesn't drive. The next thing he said is "how is mom"? I assured him she was doing much better now that he was able to communicate with us and that she knew he was doing so much better. I asked him tonight if he remembered us being there Monday, and just as I suspected Monday he was aware we were there and remembered it. They were saying earlier today they were going to do surgery on his face Friday, but before we left tonight they had updated it to tomorrow saying he was strong enough to go through it, so mom and I are planning to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning to see him before they start the surgery and give him support during the surgery. Right after the accident they were saying he'd be facing multiple surgeries on his face, now the Dr.'s are saying this may be the only surgery he will need so the news just keeps getting better and better. They are estimating the surgery will be somewhere between 5 and 10 hours long (hopefully that will be good news too and only take 2-3 hours), so he'll have a long rough day to go through tomorrow, but hopefully after tomorrow he will be at a point where he can really get started with the healing process. Apparently he remembers everything leading up to the accident, because my sister in law said today one of his notes said "cow?". She said she just told him not to worry about the cow that it was gone now. I don't know whether he was asking if he hit the cow, what happened to the cow, or if he tried to avoid it and was trying to figure out if that's what caused the wreck.

I've talked to several other people who have family in the trauma unit and I'm sure they would all appreciate prayers for their family member and family also. I talked to one lady there tonight who's son in law has been there for 11 days I think she said and he hasn't come to yet. He's a law enforcement officer and an 18 wheeler turned over on top of the car he was in. She said they were flying him by helicopter to Atlanta tomorrow to have him checked out by brain surgeon there to try to find out what's going on with him. One lady who's dad is in the trauma unit surprised everyone tonight by bringing food into the waiting room and placing it on a cart for anyone who wanted something to eat. When we left I gave her $10. and told her if she decided to do this again to use it to help pay for the food and if she didn't just use the money for herself, either way is fine, because she probably brought in close to $100. worth of food tonight to help others. It's really nice to see someone in this type situation trying to do things to help comfort others in the same situation. When we first got there at about 5:00 PM, I heard her say her dad was running a temperature of 107, but when visiting hours rolled around at 8:30 and she went in to see her dad she came out very excited, so I knew she had got some good news. Her dad's temperature was back to normal. Maybe this was God's way of rewarding her for her good deed!

Please keep the prayers coming!!, not only for Terry, but for all the victims and their families.

[Ford Man]

Terry went into surgery today at about 1:15 PM today and was there until about 7:45 PM, so about 6 1/2 hours. I didn't see the surgeon, but my sister in law said he didn't share much information, just said everything went well then left. We're hoping this is the only surgery he has to go through and that now he can get well on his way to full recovery. Thanks for all the prayers and for keeping our family in mind and most of all keep praying!!

[Ford Man]

I haven't had the chance to update lately, because we have been away from home either at the hospital or at my mom's house since Friday afternoon. Yesterday my brother started communicating with us more again after having a couple days to start recovering from his surgery. They took him off the ventilator last night and was able to leave it off part of the night, but had to put it back on him sometime during the night. I think that's one of their main goals right now to get him so he can do all his breathing on his own. Very little if any of the swelling has gone down, but he is looking much better. I don't know what they are giving him for pain, but apparently it's doing a pretty good job, he said yesterday his pain level was a 2 on a 1-10 scale. Everyone just keep praying and have faith, everything will work out fine.

[FrugalFloyd]

That's a bit of a setback going back on the ventilator, but he's stable, responsive, and recovering.

[Ford Man]

We just returned from the hospital about a 1/2 hour ago. This morning he was running a fever of 103.5, but the fever has broke and all is well there. It's my understanding that they took him back off the ventilator this morning and he's been able to breath fully on his own today. I ask him this afternoon if he was feeling any better and he responded no by shaking his head. I think the swelling is starting to go down a little bit. Please continue the prayers.

[Ford Man]

[COLOR="Black"]

Originally Posted by BEEF

I couldn't imagine if that were to happen with an 800lb animal. definitely keep him in my prayers.

Someone that saw the cow told my sister in law that it probably weighed between 1200-1400 pounds and a friend of mine that saw it estimated 1000 pounds. Regardless of weight it was a huge animal.

I haven't updated the condition of my brother lately, partly because I've been sick for the last few days and wasn't going to go see him and possibly make him sick. I did go see him this afternoon which was the first time I'd seen him since last Saturday. When I went in they had him up sitting in a chair in his room and he said he'd been sitting up for about 3 hours and that this was the first day since his accident that he had felt good all day. He looked much better than he did a week ago, with nearly all the swelling on the left side of his face gone. He's now able to talk to us instead of having to write notes, he's able to fully open his left eye, partially open his right eye and they started feeding him soft foods and liquids today. If this isn't enough good news tomorrow he goes to rehab. He doesn't know yet how long he'll be in rehab, but they are saying probably not very long. He's hoping for a week and that might be about right. I think they are just going to have him in rehab to help him regain his strength from the accident and just lying around for the past 2 weeks.

[shatto]

OBL killed and your brother passed the bad spot on the same day.
Time for some celebrating!