friday update..

well, as you know, the trach was put in successfully last night. they have already started weening dad of the vent. they are guessing that he could be off of it in a few days. in case you didn't know, the trach is just another airway to connect the ventilator to; instead of connecting it to the tube that was in his mouth, they now hook it to a small tube that is in his neck.

it looks pretty likely that they will be putting the halo on dad's head next week to fix his broken neck. once this is done, we will be able to move dad around, try to have him sit up, etc.

please pray for the following: first and foremost that dad will start "moving with purpose" consistently. it is important that he is able to participate in the rehabilitation process, and until he is more responsive, he cannot. second, please pray that as time moves on, God grants us wisdom as we have to make constant decisions.

thanks again for lifting us up in prayer. we have been blessed with the world's best support group.

Waiting for the doc...

We don't have much new to post this morning. I was trying to wait to post until the doctor came in, but he has not been in yet. They dropped the vent machine from 10 to 6. This means that dad is doing a lot of the breathing on his own. They are trying to ween him off of the vent machine. I spent a little time with dad this morning and his eyes are wide open. I don't think he is "always" there....but will look as if he recognizes us for moments. We will take the moments! I told him that his strength was still good in his arm but that i could beat him in arm wrestling now....he disagreed. As i was holding his hand in the air, he pushed my hand down to the bed! Its still dad alright. He still telling me that he will win! I'm OK with that!

Thanks for the continued comments on this blog. We look forward everyday to the support we get from all of you. You all have been such a blessing to us! Thanks again for your friendship and your care. Mom or Jason will update you once the doctors come in.

One last thing, if you scroll down to the middle of all of the posts, you will find one that says "Notes for dad.." , if you haven't had a chance to write dad a note, and want to...this is a great chance to do so. As dad starts to come to more, we will begin to read these to him and hope to give him some encouragement. Thanks for taking the time to do this.