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Here's a link to the story.

http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=13202

I can't read the link because I don't have a log in at gassavers. Did he pass away? :(

Sory I didn't realize you'd have to log in, I don't know a lot about computers, but did manage to figure out how to copy and paste it from the other site.


I'm asking for everyone to remember my brother in prayer, he was involved in an auto accident last night and is in the trauma unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. There was a cow in the middle of the road and it was already dark, so apparently he didn't see it until it was too late. They had to life flight him from the accident scene in KY to Nashville, TN (about 80-85 miles away). He was able to talk to them at the accident scene last last night and told them his name. His wife's brother was one of the first ones to come up on the accident after it happened and even after seeing him, he didn't know who it was until my brother was able to tell them his name. The doctors are saying either every bone or nearly every bone in his face is broken and they currently have him on a ventilator to help him breath. I've been over to see him today and just from the looks of his head and face I have to say he's lucky to be alive. He's still got the neck brace on that they put on him at the scene of the accident, because they can't do an MRI on his neck until they can get some of the medical equipment removed from him. They have him heavily sedated, but the nurses have ask him a couple times to give them a thumbs up and he has responded. I think he realizes we are there even though he can't talk to us, because a couple times while I was in to see him the nurses were working with him and he started fighting it, but I told him everything was alright and he would stop fighting with them and let them do whatever they were doing. My mom also said while she was back to see him, his wife mentioned their grand daughters name to him and he moved his eye brows as if he were responding. The doctors have already told us it's going to be a long drawn out process and that he would have to have multiple surgeries on his face. At least he's at the best trauma hospital in this area and probably one of the best in the nation. Everyone just please remember him and pray that everything works out good for him.

Hi Ford Man:

I pray for his recovery with a minimal amount of pain and suffering :(

Good Luck to him

Wayne

He is in my prayers!

If I was going to be in a hospital, Vanderbilt is one of the best. A very good friend of mine had a heart attack a few months ago while in Nashville. He was attended to by several dr's as soon as he got there. With the type of care that he received, he kept the same cardiac dr. and drives 170 miles for the follow-up visits.

Count me in on prayers for your brother.

Oh man... that's rough. :( At least he is stable and fighting his way back through recovery!

I'll definitely keep him in my prayers.

Praying for him for sure! Sorry to hear! :(

I went to the link you posted (I do have a gassavers account), but I think you posted the wrong thread? That isn't mentioned anywhere in the link.

And I will pray for his recovery as well.

Praying for him for sure! Sorry to hear! :(

I went to the link you posted (I do have a gassavers account), but I think you posted the wrong thread? That isn't mentioned anywhere in the link.


I did somehow manage to post the wrong linK, but I figured out how to copy and paste the same thing on this forum so I contains the same information I have above. I'm getting ready to go back to the hospital and will post updates later tonight. Thanks for everyones prayers.

You and your family are in my Prayers

Latest update,

We just got back from the hospital about an hour ago, he still looks about the same, but my niece (his daughter) said she ask him to squeeze her hand last night and he did and the nurses said he was still responding to them and their commands. They were able to put in a feeding tube and do the MRI on his neck this afternoon, but of course we don't know the results of it yet, we're hoping to know something tomorrow. Yesterday the doctors said the ventilator was doing most of his breathing for him, but today he was doing the largerst percent of the breathing on his own, so God is hearing the prayers and answering, so keep it up.

My niece had pictures of the car on her cell phone that her uncle sent her. It appears that the cow rolled up onto the hood then onto the top mashing the top down and possibly tearing the roof part of the way off on the drivers side and is probably what had hit his head/face.

Glad to hear of a little bit of good news. Praying still for a speedy and merciful recovery, and for you and your family!

Also, please especially remember my mom, she's having a pretty tough time with this since my dad just passed away about 10 months ago after them being married nearly 60 years. She went to the hospital with me this afternoon and she made the statement it's too soon for another tragedy in the family.

Great News!!! My sister in law called my mom from the hospital this morning after the Dr. was in to see my brother, then mom called me to give me an update. She told my mom that my brother tried to talk to them this morning, saying they could understand part of what he was saying and not understand part of it, but I'm sure his speach would be slurred from all the swelling, broken bones, possible inner mouth injuries, and medications, but the good thing is that he's talking and seems to know everything. They said he had ask if he was at home. I'm not sure whether he meant was he at home when the accident happened or whether he was asking if he was at home now. She said the Dr. didn't say anything about the MRI they done on his neck, but apparently everything was OK, because my sister in law said they had removed the neck brace. He hasn't opened his eyes, but I'm pretty sure he can't, because of the swelling in his face, my guess is that his head is approximatley 1 1/2 times it's normal size with broken bones, cuts, abraisions, and bruising. Everyone keep praying and hopefully this will be a speedy and full recovery.

I'll mirror my post from GS... Awesome news! :) Keeping the prayers going though!

More good news came in this morning when my sister in law called my mom. My brother is out of the most critical portion of the trauma unit and in a private room within the trauma unit. We are going back to the hospital tonight and I'll update either later tonight or tomorrow. Keep praying it's definitely working.

Great news FM! Will do!

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.

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!!

Fantastic news! I will keep you all in my prayers as well as giving thanks that you will be able to spend a blessed Easter with each other.

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.

I'm currently in the waiting room of the trauma unit waiting to see Terry in the next few minutes. We got here just shortly before the last visiting hours ended at 6:00 PM, so I did get a chance to see him for a few minutes earlier. 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 full 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.

We'll keep praying for a rapid and full recovery!

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.

This is wonderful news, Ford Man!! I'm very happy and relieved for all of you. :)

My sister in law called my mom last night after they got Terry into the rehab center and told her they were talking like he might be there 3-4 weeks. She said Terry told them he didn't think he could stand more than another week. I think he's getting tired of laying around doing nothing, because several days ago he told his wife he was ready to get busy doing something.

The best news yet came today. Tomorrow he gets to go home. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers, and also keep remembering him in prayer, he still has a long ways to go. I'll continue to keep everyone posted as he passes other milestones along the way.

Wonderful wonderful wonderful!! :) Just in time for Mother's Day!

That's great!