Hello Girls.....I'm married and update on Dad

Hey girls...well I have officially been married for 29 days, and it has been a crazy 47 days!!!! This is my mini wedding review...and pics from that, then i'll update about dad at the end!!!!

My wedding day turned out to be the easiest hardest day of my life. The weather was perfect, the schedule ran so smoothly, and all of my vendors were awesome....it was easy marrying the man that i wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was so hard not having my Dad there with me.

My quick lil vendor raves:

Woodbury Country Club - awesome, phenomenal, I can't say enough. They were amazing.

FleurCreations - She made my programs and my menus. They were gorgeous, and had everything I wanted in them. She really pulled through in a crunch time, and I can't thank her enough!

Castle Entertainment - The dance floor was PACkED all night. I didn't give much of a must play or a do not play list, just told him what kind of music I wanted and they were awesome.

ADA - I love my pictures. I saw my proofs and I pick them up on Monday or Tuesday and I just love them.

Moriches Main Street Florist - I showed her pictures of what I liked, and I was blown away by my flowers

Denise from Angel Eyes - My original make up artist fell through. I booked her 3 days before my wedding and was thrilled I did. My make up was so light, gorgeous, and affordable!!!


Now the Dad update:

Dad is doing awesome. His recovery is going at speeds that we never expected. Once we passed the point of getting a miracle to have him at my wedding, I just hoped that he would take his time and get better. He stayed in ICU for about 3 weeks, and it was rough in there. He didn't know what he was doing, and he jus twanted to get out of bed. He ended up needing a one on one aide that sat with him 24 hours a day. Some positives in ICU were that he didn't need a trach or a feeding tube. He was able to swallow and breathe on his own once they took him off of the sedation and the breathing machine.

On Oct 22 he was moved to Southside Hospital to the their Traumatic Brain Injury Rehab Center. This place has been wonderful for him. They got him out of bed and off of restraints. At the other hospital his wrists were restrained and he was unable to sit up, move, get around, and pretty much do anything.

He's receiving speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. We honestly can't believe the progess he's made. When he arrived at the hospital the night it all happened they didn't think he would make it through surgery. He did. Then they didn't think he would make it through his brain swelling. He did. Then they thought when he woke up that he would have little speech, wouldn't be able to understand anything, and might have lost who he is. He woke up, he could make noises, he was slowly able to recall us more and more. He would have lucid moments where things made sense, and other moments where nothing made sense. His speech continued to flourish. He began speaking. We couldn't understand his speech, but he was talking, singing, joking, and we saw that my Dad was still in there.

Now he's set to be discharged on tues or weds. He will get his skull put back in on Thursday, and then he comes home with us. He's speaking. He has trouble with word recall, pronunciation, and as the day goes on his brain gets tired and it gets harder for him. He understands this though, and that is a good thing. He does have some trouble with his memory. He doesn't always remember what we talked about from one day to the next and sometimes he tells us things that people tell him, but they are made up things. These are things that should all improve. They may not, but they may also. The doctors originally told us that he would have to live in a rehab center for at least a year. He's going home after a few weeks in rehab. This is scary but amazing for us. Tuesday we are going to rehab all day with him. There we will find out if he needs care when he comes home, if he's safe to be alone (he's building strength, can he cook, does he undersand electric), when and how we go for therapy. So next week I will have more news.

My Dad is beginning to understand what he missed. He's blaming himself and he says he's an a-hole because of this. I just keep trying to explain that he's in there because someone did something stupid. That he didn't, and he's not in trouble. At first he thought we put him in there for his drinking. He is also beginning to understand what happened to him, and beginning to remember that night. It's hard watching him try to figure it out, but we answer his questions, and try to make him understand that this was not his fault. He understands that he missed the wedding, and its something that is really hard for him to deal with. He'll ask me about 3 questions at a time and then it gets too much to deal with, we both end up crying, and we move on to the next convo.

Girls, thank you so much for your thoughts, your prayers, your hope, and for being there. I will update again after I go to therapy and see what will happen when Dad comes home!!!

(I'll post non-pro pics in the posts right below this)