Dad's Update II - 9/4/09

Dearest friends and family

Thank you for all your emails, calls, prayers, and support.  Please forgive me for the general response again.  For those we missed before, sorry, we are continually expanding distribution.  Free time remains limited here and we would like to follow through with specific suggestions that many of you have offered.  The week has been exhausting, emotional, and very busy with lots of discussions, visits with Bryce, figuring out insurance coverage, finding longer term living facilities, and trying to use computers that not only have different keyboards, but are slow and crash prone.  We are also exploring a personal blog (or two). Longer term needs remain opaque.  More to come on that later.  I get my laptop tomorrow so I should get much more efficient. 

Bryce

Bryce's surgery was successful. The neck is stabilized and we await bleeding and swelling reduction which will hopefully result in more movement.  Bryce remains in the ICU and is undergoing daily physical therapy to prove breathing skills with fewer muscles. He has been in a wheelchair for a short time for each of the last three days.  Tough process to get there, but big win and smiles each time.  As he prepared for his first wheelchair facility tour yesterday, he said, "We're going BIG!" while flirting with Sibille, the pretty blond physical therapist. While we were waiting down in the main atrium, he came wheeling up with a big smile and helped himself to his first Coke sip.  That look from commercials of long ago emerged with a slight nod of the head, then "ahhh, so good!".  The beer is down the road!  Last night he got his first good night's sleep and was much happier and stronger today.  He has a very positive attitude under the circumstances and is hanging tough.  Some positive new experiences, but we are only at the beginning of a long hard road.

Communications

Please do not try to call the facility here unless very important.  Visitation should open up once he gets out of the ICU in a week or two, hopefully less.  For snail mail, the address is:

Centre Suisse Des Paraplegiques

Guido A. Zach Strasse 1

CH-6207, Nottwil, Switzerland 

Bryce's email address is braff68@gmail.com and he is on Facebook. We are almost ready with a blogspot. 

Finance and other

Preliminary news suggests full insurance coverage for his Swiss care needs. What a blessing based on minimum insurance coverage required under Swiss healthcare laws.  Bryce could be here for up to 9 months of physical and mental therapy to train him holistically for independent ADL.  Hopefully, that time will be shorter.  Jennifer will be staying here for months while I will probably be here until next Wednesday.  We still need to explore many issues surrounding getting him back to the US and what his long term physical and financial needs will be.  We will also rest easier when he is out of the ICU. 

That's it for now. This center is absolutely a blessing from above and Bryce is receiving unbelievably good care.  He is being really tough and has been a trooper through it all.  We are very proud of his grit, determination, and positive attitude. 

Please continue to pray for spinal cord healing, increased use of his arms, biceps, triceps, and fingers, use of his torso and rib muscles, and miraculous movement and feeling in his legs. 

In Him,

John