August 28 12 pm

The update for today is positive, Payton was awake quite a bit last night and actually was his humorous self. That was very nice to see and it is a relief to Angie and I to see that his ability to think and communicate are going to be fully returned to normal. All of the signs they are watching for infection are positive, in fact they did not do a CT scan today because the signs all indicate things are clean. Temperature, blood pressure and cranial pressure all indicate things are on track to heal well. The neurosurgeon outlined the game plan for the next few days barring any sudden changes with Payton. Payton will stay in the ICU unit until at least Friday, he is healthy enough to move to the normal floor but with drains in his skull and the constant monitoring that has to be done right now he has to have a nurse that only attends to him. Angie and I actually feel really good about this, it is protective instead of a necessity to be in the ICU.

The Surgeon was amazed at the progress that Payton has made the past 24 hours, yesterday when he visited Payton was at one of the lowest points and it was obvious there was great concern about the infection and if there had been damage done that would have long term effects. As I mentioned yesterday we feel so blessed that with all of the thoughts and prayers and faith of so many people and know it has created a miracle in our lives. He still has quite a ways to go but the progress right now is fast, and it appears that all will return to normal after the brain has finished this trauma. It might require some work on Payton's part to get everything back to normal but I am sure he will rise to the occasion if that challenge is in his future.

Friday the plan is to take Payton back into surgery, remove the drains and re-attach his bone flap. This sounds pretty alarming but they talk about it like it is no big deal. they use some material like a bees wax to attach it and then basically bondo the fracture with the wax. then they will stretch the skin back and do a sew job that will be a bit better for the long term cosmetic. In fact, as Payton's hair grows back it it should hide any scar that is there. His haircut for the first month will be a little rough but he will be able to do hid Dumb and Dumber imitations to perfection. His sense of humor and confidence will support him well as he gets to those final phases.

Angie was able to spend the night at home, I stayed in the hospital with Payton and stayed in his room. It was nice to have him call out to me and talk a bit during the night. Angie came up early this morning and will stay with Payton today, I needed a break, I came straight from the bike race to the hospital and though I had a change of clothing with me I am in need of a reset and some fresh air. I also needed to do some things at work and where Payton is so stable now I took a few hours break. We thank everyone again for the thoughts, prayers and kind thoughts and messages. It makes it so much easier to deal with this knowing all the support we have and the many blessing we receive from above.