Rick and Kendra: Update

Kendra's just posted an update on her blog (I brought her my laptop to connect to the world momentarily), and here's the update she posted:

Some of you know this by now, but I wanted to update everyone on our current situation. Rick was in a serious motorcycle accident last night. He was careflighted to Baylor Medical in Dallas. As of the moment, he is stable and doing well. He will need surgery pretty quickly but we have to find out how extensive the damage is. He has a fractured vertebrae in his neck, a fracture on the lower part of his skull near his neck, a serious fracture on his face (from the bridge of his nose to the outside of his eye socket) on one side, and his jaw is broken in multiple places. The rest of his body seems to be ok, just some road rash and bruising. He is still in sedation for the most part, although he really wants the intubation tubing out. I am just waiting to hear what the next step is. We are waiting on getting his MRI so that will probably be later tonight. As I know something, I will post. Thanks for praying. He will get through this.

Her strength and hope amaze me.

I just went back with Kendra to see Rick, and there was no exaggeration when she warned me that his head looked like a grape. His face and head is far more swollen than I ever imagined a face could be. His jaw is wired shut, clamped tightly around the tube in his mouth. He's bloodied and bruised.

Despite all that, he looks much better than I anticipated. He's scraped up, but not as scraped up as I expected. Kendra commented that it was quite fortunate that he still had a face, and seeing the level and type of injuries he sustained, she's quite right. The fact that his skin remained in place is a blessing indeed.

When we saw Rick, he was moving around alot. It was hard to tell if he was moving in pain or in frustration from being restrained, but he would settle every time Kendra would talk to him. It was amazing to watch his response. Apparently, he's able to follow simple commands (like squeezing hands, holding up fingers, etc.), and I think that's indicated to the doctors that the brain bleed is not as bad as once thought, though they're still not totally clear.

As for the present plan, they're waiting for the oral maxillofacial surgeon to do an assessment. They're very concerned about the broken jaw and the swelling associated with that, and worried that once the neck brace is removed, the swelling may jeopardize his airway. Once the surgeon does his assessment and the doctors are confident that his airway is secure, they'll remove his neck brace and breathing tube and send him for an MRI. That will determine the extent of his brain injury. Once that determination is made, and once the swelling is reduced a bit more, Rick will be taken back to begin surgery on his face and jaw.

At this point, I think the prayer for Rick would be good reports and quick healing. Already, he seems much better than I think anyone thought he would be. The swelling seems to be reducing faster than expected, and his very obvious responses are amazing. Continue to pray that he would heal rapidly and completely, and that the doctors would be keen to everything going on. For Kendra, pray for continued peace. Though she has friends and family rallied around her, I know it's quite stressful to parent from afar while your husband’s well-being hangs on a wire.