Day 4 Update (revised)

Hi everybody,

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments on the blog- over 84 and counting in less than a day!!!

Can we hit 100 by tonight? (Post prayer and encouragement comments here.)

We know you are eager to see how he is doing for yourself, so we have included several pictures for everyone to see.

Carol giving Andy a kiss!

Andy is even better today! He was very coherent this morning, and is asking questions- which is new in his recovery as he has previously only been able to answer questions. His eyes were both open, making eye-contact and looking around the room. He offered several smiles, and even cracked a few jokes! He is also sitting up which is just one more good thing! He was drinking juice as seen below, and was even telling us he wanted to walk around!

Andy sitting up and having a sip of water.

Bob Allen was telling Andy that the visitors would leave if it made him feel better, to which Andy replied: "Your first, Bob." and then (Andy) smiled. Andy was even trying to figure out how to make the Red Sox game he and Phil where supposed to go to tonight! (Sorry Andy, I think you will probably miss this one).

Looks like the humor is back!

In other good news, they have moved up his arm surgery for tomorrow instead of Thursday. This is good for 2 reasons; it means that the doctors feel that his brain is stable enough for surgery, as well as the fact that they really need to fix his arm and hand.

A close up of his left hand and arm (the red is mostly iodine)

The surgery should be straightforward, and it sounds like the doctors are going to have to put a permanent plate in his arm as well as some pins in his finger. They are also going to decide (once they are in) if he might need a special elbow joint. After the surgery, Andy will be back in ICU just to recover his arm, and then they feel that Andy should be ready to downgrade out of ICU- meaning that his condition is improving and requiring less intensive monitoring and support!

The swelling in his head seems to be completely gone from outward appearances- such a miracle from what we all remember it looking like right after the wreck! The CAT scans are not showing any difference which also seems to be a good thing... its not getting worse and he visibly seems to be doing better.

We are also amazed to hear that he is not on any pain medications. We weren't sure what to think about that but the nurses say that is good news regarding his ability to process information and relate to us. She did note something to the effect that his body is essentially in shock, and his brain isnt really "telling his body there is pain yet". This probably means there will be some discomfort to come, but like we keep saying- we are taking the good news day to day.

The nurses did tell us to be prepared for the possibility that this could be a 2 steps forward and 1 step back process. He might not be as coherent tomorrow as he was today. Either way we are thankful for the day to day healing and blessings we are experiencing- Thank you God for protecting and healing Andy day by day!!!

We know many of you are eager to come visit Andy. This will be much easier to coordinate after he has had his surgery and is transferred to a much more visitor friendly non-ICU unit.

(Contact Taylor if you have any questions about this.)

On behalf of Andy, Carol, and the kids, thank you so much for your continued prayer and support.

And keep the comments coming!!!