Yep, Life is Fragile

I had another post that I was working on, but the only thing I've got on my mind right now is my dad.

Tonight my dad, Don, was in a critical motorcycle accident. He was going to change water (flood irrigating) and a neighbors dog jumped out and it made my dad wreck pretty bad. My dad was not (and never does) wearing a helmet.

He was taken by ambulance to the ER and has been in surgery for about 4 hours. These are the injuries we know of so far from the CAT scans and MRI's.
~Broken right hand/fractured knuckles- they are placing rods in the right hand.
~Broken shoulder blade-they can't do anything for this, has to heal on its own.
~Broken nose and open wounds on nose
~Punctures and gashes in his head and face- he got extensive road rash. A plastic surgeon was called in and has been working on him. Will most likely have scarring. They were cleaning out all the gravel and other stuff out of wounds.
~Fluid on his lungs
~Punctured one lung
~Broken ribs- he broke every single rib on his left side, some ribs had several fractures
~Caused his whole left rib cage to collapse on the left side

Once he is done with surgery, he will be moved to the Intensive Care Unit and will be sedated for probably 4-5 days. He has a breathing tube (ventilator) inserted and they have to have him still for a few days to get the fluid off the lungs. They say that things could possibly get worse before they get better. He will have quite a bit of pain and it will be a long healing process- at least all summer. For a farmer in his busiest season, that's not going to be good news to him.

It's still early, so in these next few days we'll find out more on progress/complications and such. The Dr. did say that for a motorcycle accident and for not wearing a helmet it is a miracle that this is all that we're dealing with. There has been no brain trauma found at all- we are so grateful for that miracle. Why do we underestimate the miracles we receive? HUGE Blessing!

I tell you what- this just hasn't been our year. It's amazing how quickly things can happen. Life is definitely fragile. I know I've got a pretty good prayer circle surrounding this blog, so include my dad please. He is the rock of our family, the hardest worker I've ever know and has a can-do attitude. Please pray for a good recovery. My dad is not the type that enjoys sitting around-especially when there's work to do.

So far, it sounds like things are going to be okay, but these next few days are going to be up in the air a bit. They say the biggest risk he's facing right now is getting pneumonia. All things considered, we're once again grateful for what it is and what it wasn't.

Pray for Don!