Recovering Well, Ike moves closer

Here is Braden in the hospital
Braden is recovering well, everyone from therapists to nurses to doctors just keep commenting on how great he looks, and I have to agree. He has good color (he's not flushed like last week), and he seems to be handling the pain pretty well, but we give tylenol and additional sedatives when needed, as his seizure movements are NOT helpful to his recovery process. They still want to keep him midline to allow that trach hole to heal up really well. You know our Braden, he has very few movements that he does well, and one of them is moving his head side-to-side, which is a no-no for his healing process. So that part is keeping us on our toes to keep the balance between sedation and stillness. He is totally off the muscle blockers to keep him totally still, so right now it's a little tricky, but nothing to be too concerned about. You can see we've also given him some earplugs, because he still startles to loud noises, and it was causing those bad seizure movements - it seems to be helping him rest more easily and reduce the startle-seizures.



This house had a HUGE TREE (cut up in the foreground) that crushed it.


This Tree is on the same street as the house - these are common scenes all around the city.

This is a view of the same street the house and tree are on - a regular photo pre-storm would look like a normal little neighborhood... can't you see how it looks like some overgrown country road with piles of vegetation as tall as the house? The scenes like this seem so "third world" to me.



The city still hasn't restored full power, so many are still cranky about the lack of power and having to entertain children, go to work, and find a way to feed the family and wash clothes without power. It's the drastic change to their normal routine that is difficult, imagine losing your refrigerator and all it's contents, not having a stove/oven, washer/dryer, air conditioning, sleeping 6 to a room, and no electricity. Change like this is tough for children who don't understand, and our college students who have never faced adversity before. I've attached a few more pictures - you can see how some homes are totally destroyed, and those that weren't totally demolished by a tree but suffered roof damage, are now suffering from the awful stench that is becoming bad mold, making dangerous and questionable living situations for those who DO have power... it's still not "normal" here by any account, but we are all trying to make the best of a bad situation. If you want a humorous take on our situation, I can e-mail you the "Guide to Surviving Gustav" that has brought many still in this situation a good laugh. E-mail me at klwilson@lsu.edu and I will send it to you.

Thanks for the continued prayers in the coming weeks as Braden recovers. We will also be praying that Ike will miss us altogether, but given the size of the storm, we will likely see high winds from outer bands starting tomorrow evening. Thanks to all who check on us here or elsewhere!
Kodi