A Miracle (with some gross pictures--Warning!)

Hi everyone,

I am writing early this evening to update you on the young man I wrote about in the post last night. Amazingly, when I walked into the hospital this morning, I found the young man sitting up in bed talking to his mother and the staff. Yes, he was talking and completely mentally intact. I walked over and talked to him and he had a brief conversation with me in English, thanking me for working on him last night. His only problem this morning was pain, and as I mentioned earlier, he likely has a fractured arm which we will address in the next day or so. X-rays were scheduled for sometime today. i have to say I am impressed and pleased with the way he looks today.

His neurologic status was intact, his vision is normal, he could talk and swallow, and he was moving all of his extremities. He could remember some parts of the accident. After he and his mother repeatedly thanked me for working so hard on their son, I obviously told them they were welcome, but that the thanks should be to God because he is very lucky to be a live and it really is a miracle he survived. I emphasized to them again how close to death he was. To my surprise, he did not have to get blood last night, despite the large amount he had lost because his level was still in the low-safe range.

Below are some pictures of him today. Sorry, I didn't have my camera with me last night when it all happened because I didn't take it to the hospital with me in the rain.

As for his friend, he did well overnight and was discharged home today with some minor bumps, bruises, and a few stitches.

More pictures and stories from the week to come later this evening as I get them loaded onto the computer.

Thanks for the comments and prayers,
Steve

Sitting up in bed. Where there is a bandage there are a LOT of sutures!

Face shot.

Lip and Nose. Left side is where all the work was done. You can see only a couple of the many sutures. Also has sutures below the eye and on the chin.