Day Three - Part Two. [A day late]

I had a plan to write two separate entries yesterday. One after Ammon and Isaac's conversation yesterday morning, and another at the end of the day, explaining the days events.

But after the events of yesterday, by the time I sat down to actually write anything my body gave out on me and I woke up with the computer on my lap and a bunch of random letters on the screen. ...so I gave up.

So now, after being informed that everyone is waiting for yesterday's update [thank you mom] I am trying to remember what even happened. I think we are now on day four, and after four days of this, your brain turns to mush because you're only thinking with your heart. ...I tried to have a normal 'meeting' type of conversation yesterday for about 15 minutes, but by the time I hung up I had no idea what had even come out of my mouth. I guess I really don't even care right now.

Moving on.

Ammon's second surgery lasted about 3 hours. They attached the tendons around his knee, to his knee so they wouldn't flop around [for lack of a better term...], they cleaned out his leg, but then found a fracture in his ankle so they fixed that, and then they took off two of the wound vacs, so now he only has one. Which is awesome! He is actually doing a lot better than the doctors expected. They plan to take him back in on Monday and have a nerve surgeon take a look at the damage and see if he can be of any help. There are a few tendons that were not damaged as much as they thought that are on the side of his ankle which they may be able to use on the top of his foot. But we will find out more about all of that on Monday.

[It is hard to say how much damage is actually done. We know there are certain things that will be difficult for him to do, but until he starts rehab and as the weeks go by we will learn more and more. And at the rate he is going, and with the determination that he has he might be heading home next week!] 

When Ammon woke up from the surgery he immediately asked for Rakai and Mom, the two people who weren't actually at the hospital yet. Once we were in the room he asked for Rakai again and dad said "I'm here." Ammon looked at him with one eye open and said "No, the new Rakai. You are the old Ra, and grandpa is the old, old Ra." ... There have been quite a few sly comments like that from him this week. I think those narcotics and all the meds bring out his true sarcasm. But we're just happy he is still able to make light of this entire situation.

Mom, Rakai, and Hamilton showed up right at noon yesterday. Emotions were high again as this was the first time since the accident that they have seen him, and it had been a week or two since Ammon has seen Rakai. Once we got over the initial hello of tears and accepting of our new adventure we have been thrown into, we gave Ammon some time to rest.

The city of Flagstaff is actually a really amazing place. Dad calls it 'hipster town'. [seriously]
We're afraid that if Ammon finds out just how outdoorsy and cool this city is he might bust out of the hospital. So we just won't tell him that there is an indoor rock climbing place a few blocks away, and a mountain biking shop down the road. But we plan to bring him back, so that he can see where he was.

We were able to hangout with him as a family last night for a few hours. The ICU has certain rules patients and their families have to follow. Like, 2 visitors at a time and blah blah blah. We've tried to follow that rule pretty closely, but seriously, there are eight of us. It's a good thing Isaac is in Germany otherwise all eight of us would be in that room. We did pretty good last night, keeping quiet and staying out of the nurses way. [If we are silent does it mean they can't see us?] ... After about an hour of the boys being quiet this happened:

And I think that is why as soon as we walked in this morning at 8:30 we were reminded of the '2 at a time' rule. Mom told her that if one goes, we all go but I don't think they really seemed to care. It's a bit rude to keep us separated at a time like this, but I guess we'll just have to deal with it.

Dad is setting up a Skype account for Ammon today. He has been using mine but with the list of people that want to talk with him it is better for him to have his own. Skype is about to become his best friend. Skype also turns his best friends into sheep:

Kaden could not figure out how to turn the background on his Skype off, so he had sheep horns the entire time he was talking to Ammon. When someone says 'We're praying for you" and they look like that, it's hard not to laugh. But we know he is serious and Ammon is so lucky to be surrounded by amazing people like that.

We took off around 11pm last night, and Rakai stayed the night with Ammon. He slept almost the entire night and is making so much progress that they might move him out of the ICU today!

We get to talk to Isaac today at 10am as a family which will be a great thing for all of us. Everyday Ammon is making progress, and there are multiple times throughout each day that I just stop and am in complete awe of how blessed we really are.

From the surgeons that saved Ammon's leg, to the amazing nurses he has each day, to the rest of the hospital staff, the Maverick cashier that is praying for Ammon, the boys at the Pita Pit down the road who offered to bring him a free pita, the posts on Facebook, the love and donations that have been given to him so far, the free homes that have been provided for our family to stay in while we are here, and so much more.

The universe works in mysterious ways. There are lessons to be learned and this is just the beginning of an amazing adventure for our family. An adventure that will only be made easy because of the people outside of our family cheering us on.

Know that we are sending the love and positive energy right back to all of you.

- Karamea