Dad's recovery continues to go well. He is doing some standing and walking exercises and was able to walk approximately 30 feet today. As usual he is very chatty both with us and the nursing staff. We showed him pictures from the vacation and read his mail with him. He was able to read the cards with large print, and we read him the rest.

Dad sends the following message to all who have been thinking and praying for, and writing to, him:

"The accident was a great surprise during our vacation this summer. There was great physical damage to us and to myself in particular. Recovery looks like it will be a long haul but significant aspects of the recovery are well under way thanks to the efforts of a number of people who have been very helpful. I am very humbled by those who have reached out to me - it has touched me deeply. There will be challenges up ahead, but every day will bring small victories, especially in terms of mobility. In a few weeks I expect to be close to normal. These times are as bad as I ever expect to ever see."

Thanks again for all of your continued thoughts and prayers.

Dad ate three square meals of solid food today. He looks better every night.

Some of you have noticed the neck collar in the pictures. Dad has slight fractures in the outside part of his C6 and C7 vertebrae. The doctors are not concerned, but want him to wear the neck collar until they can run more scans on it. They could not run the scans until he was able to follow their commands (lean forward, lean back, etc). He will likely be wearing a soft collar after the scans.

Dad asked to have his picture taken this morning so that he could show everyone how well his recovery is going! He continues to be very thankful for all the prayer support and well-wishes and he wanted this picture to show his thanks. The picture is in the Photos section.

He ate his entire breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and juice, leaving only the protein drink. He was very lucid today, the most since the operations. As usual he is making friends with the nursing staff. He's starting to talk about leaving Maine and we will be glad to do that!

Dad's three hour eye surgery was another smashing success. The surgeon first repaired Dad's torn lower eyelid, by moving some tissue around and reconnecting it. He also put in a resorbant plate and screw to supplant the ceiling of the eye socket, which had broken and sunken into the space below. The plastic surgeon finished up by removing extra glass from the wounds.

It is still early to speculate on permanent vision damage. Dad took two eye tests this week and improved from the first to second test. He is currently around 20/120 but is likely to continue improving.

To get a sense of the eye socket damage, please see this link regarding an orbital fracture: http://www.medcohealth.com/medco/consumer/ehealth/ehsarticle.jsp?articleID=CRS_art.eye.fracture.

We had so many good visits today with Dad. He is making lots of friends among the nurses and is quickly becoming a favorite patient due to his optimism, friendliness, and demeanor. He was overjoyed to speak on the phone with Amy, Josh, and Cassidy this evening.

His eye surgery is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, approximately 1pm. He was very thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers regarding his first surgery and would appreciate more of the same tomorrow.