Never Enough Fun

For the past two days, Larry has been taking short walks with some help. There has been little change with his memory and disorientation, but it’s nice that he’s able to get up and move around a bit. He also had some real food for breakfast this morning, which he really seemed to enjoy!

They’ve moved him out of intensive care, but he still has somebody assigned to him full time (in addition to Geri or one of his sons being with him). Due to possible negative side effects with the head trauma, they’re reluctant to give him much in the way of pain medication. So, the ol’ farm boy is battling the headache, bruises, and broken ribs with nothing more than some Tylenol.

Jed here, Larry’s youngest son. I’m going to be taking over for a little while.

On June 25, while riding his red beauty to Mirror Lake, Larry was in an accident. We don’t know much, except that he passed an SUV on the left, just as it was turning left. He clipped it, and he and the bike went down. We all know what a safe rider Larry is, so we have to assume that he was not anticipating the SUV’s turn.

He was flown to University Hospital where he has been ever since. Fortunately, his trusty chartreuse helmet held up pretty well:

Aside from about 6 broken ribs, it appears he has no other fractures. The biggest concern is the head trauma; he has both a subarachnoid hemorrhage and a subdural hematoma. He can recognize people he knows, but struggles with short term memory and consequently remains disoriented. At this point there is no reason to believe that he won’t fully recover, but it will be a long road.

It seems like people in these situations always express how overwhelmed they are by the love and kindness shown by friends, neighbors and relatives. But we really have been surprised. Geri says “it’s like we’re famous.” Thank you all so much for your continued prayers, thoughts, and offers to help. Once Larry is home and able to accept visitors (and hot meals! ), we’ll let you know.