Hospital Stay - Day III

Another day has come and gone and almost all of it was spent in the hospital waiting rooms again. Today Bristol was moved out of ICU to a regular hospital room, which is a big blessing--large and with couches and a recliner! Mom has been staying overnight with him, accompanied by a friend, Linda Crespin, so Dad can be at home with the family overnight. The new room will be much more comfortable for her and quieter and more private for Bristol.

For a recap on the last few days, we've uploaded some pictures to share with you. You can see the hard road the little guy has traveled so far!

Tuesday all day and night, Bristol wore a C-collar and was on a ventilator and also had a feeding tube down his throat. You can see the massive amount of tubes and wires hooked up to countless machines! The most disturbing part about this phase was that he was so combative he had to be strapped to the bed because when he came even a little bit out of sedation he would try to rip the tubes from his throat and body. It was tear-jerking to watch him struggle and see the nurses continue to tighten his straps to protect him from himself. We're VERY thankful that is over!!

The first words out of Bristol's mouth on Wednesday were when they removed the tubes from his throat: "O my goodness!" He rested much more comfortably on Wednesday, and was awake for a few seconds at a time, although still very confused and dazed. We all cried when we heard his voice!

This morning Bristol was very brave and took a short walk around ICU. He was nauseous and dizzy and had a headache but he was a trooper. It was a relief to have him conscious and coordinated enough to walk...it's so easy to take these things for granted.

Bristol even forced down a few bites of breakfast this morning.

He slept most of the day away, as a splitting headache made him miserable when he was awake. He underwent many cognitive and speech/occupational therapy tests today and they say he's doing well considering the injury he had. The speech therapist recommended he doesn't start school immediately to give his brain time to rest. Bristol's short-term memory is poor right now, so he asks many times an hour if it's time to go home yet. After completing an extensive and very tiring speech test this afternoon he threw his feet over the bed and said, "Ok, let's go now." He was very disappointed that after enduring the hard work of the test it still wasn't time to go home.

Friends Robbie and Danny Crespin and Havilah were on the horseback ride with Bristol when he fell off. These three were terrified when they thought Bristol was dead because he was seizing and eventually became completely unresponsive. Havilah ran a horse back to the house because the cell phone didn't have service and Robbie and Danny stayed with Bristol. They did an amazing job making every right decision to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible. All three of them were extremely relieved to have him in the capable hands of the hospital staff and now are thrilled that he's recovering so well!

Once when Bristol woke up today he requested a chocolate milk and a white chocolate mocha from Starbucks! Some of the kids were running errands in town so they brought him his order. When Robbie and Danny delivered it Bristol said to them, "Dude, I wish I had my jeans. I mean this nightgown is like my great, great, great, great, great, great Grandma's."



I asked Bristol this afternoon if there was anything I could bring him; his quilt from home, his laptop, a movie, anything from town? His answer was: "Ashton. You could bring Ashton." So, directly after school his cousin Ashton came to spend the rest of the evening with him. For the first time Bristol had enough strength to have many people in his room at once. We had a regular party, telling him stories of the things that have been happening the last few days that he doesn't remember and showing him his black eye. It was wonderful to see him smile. L-R: cousin Ashton, Bristol, Sterling, Robbie, Danny and Lucas.

Although Bristol makes every effort to be happy and is constantly cracking jokes when he's awake, this picture is somewhat deceiving! He's still in a lot of pain and wants to go home very badly, and is sleeping most of the days away. But in contrast to the first picture in this post, he is looking 100% better and we're so happy to have him on the safe side!

We are so grateful for every prayer that has been said on our family's behalf this past week and continue to covet your prayers as all of us except Mom and Bristol prepare to leave tomorrow to sing over the weekend. We'll feel many holes in our music without two band members! Please continue to keep Bristol in your prayers as well as his body works hard to continue healing his brain.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Eph 3:20 -21)