Brandon...Update On His Condition

For those of you who know and for those of you who haven't heard yet...our son, Brandon was in a terrible car wreck Friday night...early Saturday morning in Atlanta, GA.

Roger and I had taken Tyler to meet up with the youth at our Fine Arts competition and spent the night before heading back home Saturday morning. We got up Saturday and was just about to leave the hotel coming home when I received a phone call from Georgia...I had assumed it was Brandon since I had left him two messages and sent him a text the night before with no reply. There was a tornado that hit downtown Atlanta on Friday night...I'm sure most of you have seen the coverage on television and he had moved back to Atlanta three weeks ago.

This is what happened: He had just gotten off work and his friend picked him up....it was after midnight when his shift ended. For some reason, Brandon was driving going back to where they were staying after the tornado had hit downtown...where he also works. There was another storm coming through with lots of rain and high winds...as they were driving down the interstate...the high winds hit the car and he hit standing water causing the car to hydroplane and go into multiple spins before slamming into the retaining wall and hitting the other wall on the other side. They say the car looks like a piece of tin that has been crumpled into a ball. His friend was conscious and able to get out of the car when the car caught fire...he was able to pull Brandon free of the car before it burned. I believe the prayers of this mother...pleading the blood of Jesus over him daily were heard. Satan would love nothing more than to end his life but God intervened and spared him.

I had a conversation on the drive to Atlanta (7 hours) alone Saturday night...I told him that what he intended to harm my son...God intervened and spared his life. I told Satan he was a LOSER in the name of Jesus...needless to say by this time...I was angry! People would have thought I had lost my mind if it had not been dark. I arrived in Atlanta to a hospital downtown and it took me an hour to find it because of power outages, debris and blocked streets.

He looked pretty bad when I finally made it to the ICU unit. He are the update, official list of his injuries:
(1) Two punctured lungs with chest tubes now in place - hope to removed in 2-3 days
(2) Broken ribs - nothing to be done except wait for it to heal itself
(3) Broken pelvis - nothing to be done except wait for it to heal itself
(3) Broken ankle in 3 places...now with pins and a metal plate in it
(4) Internal injury to his bladder rather than the puncture they had originally thought. - catheter x 3 weeks, rescan and it not healed then catheter x 2 more weeks
(5) Perforated small intestines...found when they did surgery thinking it was a bladder problem - surgically fixed on Saturday night
(6) 3 small lacerations to his liver...other cause of abdominal bloating and drop in blood count. - nothing to be done except wait for it to heal itself
(7) Incision now from surgery that starts at breast bone and extends to groin - very painful without all the other injuries! They left his stomach open and it is just bandaged to help prevent infection or if they had to go back into surgery...pray for immediate healing
(8) NG tube...up nose that goes down to his stomach to help prevent vomiting and aspiration if he did vomit. -hope to be removed in 1-2 days
(9) Nothing to eat or drink...not even water...want intestines to have time to mend before making them work again. - hope he can when NG tube is removed.

Needless to say...he is in a huge amount of pain. They did figure that his nausea was not caused by the Morphine but by the internal bleeding and not allergic to the pain medicine. PTL! This ICU here allows family to stay with their loved one 24 hours a day except for 6:30 AM - 8:30 AM and the same time at night as well. That I am thankful for. It has been a long two days but it will be even a longer road to recovery.

Please pray that he will get moved to the step down unit, get his NG tube removed so he is able to have at least water, chest tubes removed in the next day or 2 and pain management. He is extremely frustrated and agitated right now. It hurts terribly to cough, hiccups or even talk much and now he is itching all over...asked doctor for Benedryl at 6:15 AM this morning.

I am at the hotel to get some sleep while his friend comes to stay with him. The friend who was in the car with him went to surgery yesterday looking for internal injuries but they did not find any. He is having severe back pain and will be kept for another day or two.

I am so thankful that he was not knocked unconscious too or they would have both burned to death. God is ALWAYS in control regardless of how it looks, how it feels or what anyone ever tell you. He promises to NEVER leave you nor forsake you.

Please pray that God will minister to Brandon, his friends and the staff in a very powerful way and they all will see the love of Christ in a very tired mom...who loves her son so very, very much. I would change places with him in a minute if I could take his pain away. Please also pray for a speedy recovery...faster than anyone expects...he is already surpassing where the doctors predicted he would be at this point.

Please, please pray against ANY infection, pneumonia or blood clots...dangers he is facing right now. Please keep us all in your prayers and I will update when I can...don't have access to internet except at the hotel for right now.

Love you guys!