As we have made contact with many new people, I do not know who has received which information. If you would like old information, just ask, & I'll send it. ~ Val

As we write, Tom is on the phone with Leslie, tonight's nurse. Mom is doing good. They have taken her off the paralytic. Although are still very sick, she is breathing well with the higher-tech ventilator. They are going to try reducing her to a standard ventilator. The reason they have taken her off the paralytic, is so they can check to see if she can follow commands. She is basically on what Leslie called a sedation vacation. We assume she would be much like when we originally arrived in Tulsa.

Thank you to our cousin, Mary Alice, for visiting Mom today. As we've said, it helps us to feel less like we've left her alone. The staff at St. Francis has gone above and beyond in Mom's case, and we know Mom is in the best possible place in all the world. But we are left with the knowledge that when she wakes up, the staff around her are still people she has never met before.

Tom & I attended Mass this morning. Father John came to us afterwards to see how we were doing. Sister Catherine Marie gave us hand-made rosaries, for both of us, and for our children. She made us promise as we left, to eat & sleep. Please don't tell her we ate a few chips for breakfast! We stopped for lunch, & now will be forced to eat dinner in order to send this email. More about that later.

We checked with the cashier's office, to give them information we had collected from Mom's purse. We are checking into all options for insurance, to help pay Mom's medical bill.

Today has come with challenges for Tom & I more than for Mom. Tom's cell phone must have fallen out of his sweatshirt pocket, as he was getting back in the truck at a rest stop. I'll see if I can't talk him into a phone tomorrow after we get home.

Which leads us to the tomorrow story. We planned to be home by midnight, but just past Odessa, we blew a steer tire on the passenger side. We actually only lost the outer cap, but we will have to file another insurance claim, as it took out both running boards, the mirrors, and the door (as the mirror was ripped off). Dad's sure gonna be mad! We are in a motel, and we will go back to the truck stop to eat & use their internet.

Yes, Sister Catherine, we are now eating! And we are checking our email before sending this out. We have had requests about flowers. Mom will be in ICU for weeks, if not months, and as you know, they don't let flowers in ICU (we couldn't even take a cup of water in). But we have thought to get in touch with the Fire Departments in the small towns of Atoka & Lane Oklahoma, to see if we might set up donations for those volunteer departments that worked so valiently to save our Mother, & who brought Dad from the wreckage, to the gentle care of the Atoka Memorial Hospital. Flowers are nice, & the thoughts are greatly appreciated, but they are often lost in the hospital, & last such a short time.

We have also had inquires about the driver of the other vehicle. We feel it would be inappropriate to speculate or suggest what fate might await her. We know that she will face her own private hell. Dad & TJ weren't the only ones to die in the accident. We know she will grieve the loss of her own family member, but she will also have to accept responsibility for our loss. That is a heavy burden.

Jill brought alligator tears to my red eyes, when she wrote to tell me that the 2006 Light Tours on the Cheyenne Street Railway have been dedicated to Dad. For those of you unfamiliar with our Dad, there was an article in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Tragic end for local historian, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle Online: Local News.

For those wishing to send a message to Mom, she will receive your words. What we are doing is reading to mom. If we are not there when a family member goes to see her they will take up the job, and the nursing staff is more than willing to read to her when they are not otherwise occupied. Mom will hear your words. The only thing we ask, is that you do not mention the loss of Dad and TJ. Good memories include our loved ones. We do not know when she will be able to under stand this news but we do not want her to hear this in an unconscious state. Saint Francis Hospital - Patient Greeting, Room #5502 ICU.

Through all of our trials, it is good to know that Mom has had a better day than we have. We love her. We miss Dad.

Christmas 2003

Tiredly ~ Tom & Val