Cave drawings

I went in to say good night to Lars and he made a motion that he wanted to write a message. He wrote this twice (I think that is more writing than he did his whole junior year). To me it looks like I love you. I'll leave it at that.

Also, PEEP is down to 8, still at 50% oxygen.

We'll let him sleep for awhile.

Sanskrit writing

Lars is waking up more each hour. He decided to write a note to the nurse. We are unsure, but we think it was a love note. It looks kind of like sanskrit double secret code writing.

He continues to improve. The oxygen is still at 50%, but the PEEP (the positive pressure in the airway tube that 'puffs open' the lungs) is down to 10 (from 15). Fifteen is actually a very high number, so we are glad to see it decrease. We'll continue to monitor the oxygen % and the PEEP. Lower numbers for both are good.

Lars continues to have many visitors (or at least his parents do.) Unfortunately, only family can see him back in the ICU. We are having them write notes to Lars. We hope that soon he'll be able to use that Montana education and read each one of them.

A hero

I was speaking with Lars' uncle. He knows and was speaking to one of the young men who was in the car with Lars. After the accident, he rushed to the aid of another young man who had some serious and, as it turns out, lethal injuries. His sister and another young lady (both passengers) informed him that Lars was not responding, not breathing. He rushed over and noticed that Lars had no breath sounds. He turned him up on his side and firmly hit him in the middle of the back. Lars immediately coughed and vomited. He then sat up and vomited some more. Lars was acting a little funny. The young man asked him to tell him his name, his address and to identify him. He didn't. Lars would not calm down, despite this young man's urging. About this time the EMT showed up. He was able to alert the EMT that Lars was 'not right' (some of us have known that for years... but this time it was actually true.) He was then life-flighted out.
Thank you for saving my son's life. You are a hero.

Update: I just met the young man mentioned above. He corrected me a little on the story. Instead of slapping Lars on the back, he said he slapped him on the face (I can personally relate to wanting to do this on many occasions). I just wanted to make the story a little more accurate. I'm sure that someday, we may know exactly what happened. For now, I'm letting you know what we know.

Thumbs up!

Time for an update.  Lars is making really good progress today.  Thank you for the fasting and prayers.  We feel and appreciate them.

We are down to 50% on the oxygen.  This is quite remarkable.  Pretty fast progression.  This is a good thing.

Also, when you lightly touch Lars' forehead he responds by moving his arms and legs and opens his eyes.  The first time this happened in front of his sisters, they were startled.  I assured them that this was a good thing. 

Once after touching Lars forehead, he opened his eyes and I asked him to give me a 'thumbs up'.  He looked at me and recognized that it was his Dad, and gave me a thumbs up.  This is quite remarkable also, because he is still on a significant amount of drugs to keep him calm.

Lars had several visitors today.  Only family and clergy are allowed to see him in the ICU, but they came to visit us in the ICU waiting room.  Thanks to all the church members, family, friends, and swim team members.  We know that you all have learned to love Lars as much as we do.

In the great swimming pool of life...there's always going to be a little pee. HANG IN THERE.

This balloon will keep you busy until you feel better (please turn)

The Injuries

This is what we know.  Apparently Lars was up and walking around at the site of the accident.  Then he became disoriented and combative, not making sense.  He was life-flighted to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah.

Very quickly after his arrival in the ER, the ER physician said that he was not making sense, speaking about leaving on his mission and other things.  They intubated him (put a tube in his throat) to help him breathe and to allow him to be calm enough to get CAT scans and xrays, etc.

The most severe injuries are to his lungs.  He has very severe pulmonary contusions (banged up lungs) and he also aspirated (threw up) the contents of his stomach into his lungs.  Together this makes a bad combination.  In addition he had a small pneumothorax (punctured lung) and a small hemothorax (blood around the lungs).  As a result he has a chest tube in the right side of his chest to help re-inflate his lung and suction off a small amount of blood.

He also had a head injury, that appears to be 'minor'.  We all know that Lars is hard-headed, and in this case that was helpful.  There is a small laceration (tear) to his spleen, but not significant enough to warrant surgery.  He is hemodynamically stable (his heart and blood pressure are okay).  There does not appear to be any injury to his neck or spinal cord.  There is no internal bleeding. There are no broken bones.

The best guess is that he will be on the ventilator (breathing machine) 7-14 days. It will be slow progress as they gradually decrease the amount of oxygen that they are giving him (it started at 100% and is currently 60%--normal room air is 21%).

He has multiple abrasions (cuts and scrapes all over).  They are not severe. 

We'll try to keep you updated as time goes forward.  We thank you for all your prayers.

The Accident

Check out this link for the accident details. It's fairly accurate. He is the one mentioned in critical condition.