Dear family and friends,
We have been in awe at the out pouring of love and concern for Dad.  It is humbling to see how respected and loved he is.  I have always admired my father's ability to make friends and help people feel loved and appreciated.  Going through this horrible experience has really shown me how many lives he has touched.  Thank you from all of us for your prayers, thoughts, and generous hearts.
We have tried to keep you all up to date with updates, but it is hard to really understand how serious his situation is without being here at the hospital.  I know first hand since I didn't arrive in town until Wednesday.  He is still considered to be in critical condition and is not out of the woods yet.  Our updates have been positive and our family feels a strong sense of peace that he will make it through this.  However, it is still very serious.  He is still in the ICU and has his own nurse assigned to him. He still has the ventilator and is not breathing completely on his own. Hopefully that will come out soon, but that will be only the first of many steps on his road to recovery.  When we say he has responded to our voices, that is a simple thumbs up, or a wiggle of his toes. Today when I told him I was there and that I loved him, he raised his eyebrow. This is what we mean when we say he is responsive.  Many times he doesn't even move when we talk to him.  He does not talk or communicate in any other way at this point.  His eyes are pretty much swollen shut and it take great effort to even get them to peak open.  In fact his whole face is so swollen he does not look like himself.
It is wonderful that they were able to get the wrist and ribs surgery completed.  He still has many fractures in his face, and that reconstructive surgery won't happen until sometime next week at the earliest. After that surgery his face will swell again, and may look worse that it does now for the first few days. The face, ribs, and wrist are fixable.  It is the brain injury that has him in the ICU.  It is his swollen brain that places him in critical condition.  The responsiveness is a great sign, but it is the only thing we have to tell us about his brain right now.  We don't know what the damage has done, or what his recovery will entail.  The first few days after the accident, the lights in his room were kept off, we were asked to whisper around him, and touch him as little as possible.  His brain needed as little stimulation as possible to prevent further injury while it continued to swell.  Since the injury has started to stabilize, we are able to talk to him more, and hold his hand or touch his arm, but he still needs reduced stimulation.  He is still in ICU and considered in critical condition.  For this reason we ask that you please wait to come visit him. This is for his protection.
As we have stated, this is going to be a long, hard, horrible road to recovery for my Dad.  We have faith that he will recover, but it won't be easy.  He will need so much love and support to get through this.  He will need friends and family to lift his spirits.  He will need visitor and phone calls to buoy him up and help him get through. My dad is a good and loyal friend, and he will need those friends in return.  We just ask that you please wait.  We will let you know when he is ready for those visitors.
Thanks again for all your support, prayers, and love.  Keep praying for him and my mom.  Prayer is what will get us all through this.
Kathie