Update On My Dad

We're going to be going up to see my dad this weekend. I was going to fly up, spend some time and fly back but Dakota thought it would be good for her and the kids to go up as well so we'll head out Friday morning and come back on Sunday. It's a long drive and flying sounded kind of nice but it will be good to have them all there with me. The kids and Dakota will probably spend most of their time hanging out at my sister's house since hospital rooms aren't that accommodating for children with short attention spans and the need for space. Her house is closer to where my dad is so the kids can go in, say hello and give him the cute stuffed animals and card they bought for him as get better presents and then go somewhere to be kids while I hang out and visit.

Bad news for today though...as it turns out, my dad also fractured C2. We aren't sure how it was missed the day of the accident but yesterday he complained greatly about his neck hurting. Still complaining of pain today, they decided to x-ray his neck but didn't get good films. Off for a scan he went and the news came back of the fracture.

So - he's now up to a broken left tibia (broken clean through - not just fractured), a laceration in his head requiring 5 staples and a fractured C2. Poor guy!!!

Tomorrow we hope to have a game plan for what the docs are thinking. Clearly he can't go home and care for himself at this point. And there is the question of a possible surgery for his neck (though given that I have had spine surgery before I am advocating hard for at least one other opinion - maybe two. It doesn't sound like it's unstable (since they are waiting until tomorrow to talk with the attending) and I say why go through a surgery unless it is absolutely necessary.

The guy who hit him was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian and all the witnesses state clearly that my dad was crossing with the light and in the crosswalk. Of course - being in the right sure doesn't fix his broken body.