From: John Brophy
Latest developments: We talked to Jen yesterday morning (1 Jan, around 10:30). Naomi had started having difficulties Monday night and Jen's pastor drove her to the hospital. The doctors inserted a tube into the sac around Naomi's heart to relieve pressure caused by air which had built up, causing elevated heart rate & blood pressure. The numbers improved while her pastor was reading the Bible to her. Jen also read to her, and she was declared stable early in the morning. Jen said they're no longer keeping her in a coma, but she is so heavily sedated that she doesn't open her eyes or move while you're talking to her, although she can hear you. Also, her body is still very swollen. Although the hospital says it's OK for the boys to see her, Jen thinks the sight might be too scary for them.
Jen was home resting when we talked, and Jason was being operated on that morning. Jason's sisters were there helping out, Jen still gets tired very quickly. Jonas is walking around, but Elijah is still so sore he's being carried between rooms.
We talked again at 8 PM: Jason's surgery was successful. He had shattered Lumbar vertebrae #2 & #3, so a bar was inserted from L1 to L4, basically holding the bottom 4 vertebrae rigid. He also shattered C7, but apparently that will heal itself while he wears a neck brace. He has a broken clavicle and a couple of broken ribs. They will be moving him to a rehabilitation facility, possibly next week.
Kathi, you have the correct address:
1594 River Rd.
Bowdoinham ME 04008-5621
Email: erinsbigsister@gmail.com we mostly use erinsbigsister@yahoo.com for email, but the gmail address is also good.
I called the hospital and found that you can't send things to patients in the Special Care Center, but Erin (much cleverer than I) went to the hospital web site (www.mmc.org) and discovered you can click on "Online Services" from the menu on the left, and select "Send a Patient Greeting" to type a message into a form, which will be printed out and read to the patient by a volunteer.
Erin also gleaned email addresses of Jen's friends from old emails Jen had sent her, and informed them of the accident. They responded by setting up a donations web site.
I'm trying not to deluge everyone with minute-by-minute updates; if anything significant happens I'll pass it on immediately, but while we're all just watching & praying I'll send an update every other day.
Love, John
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