Please pray for my family....my dad probably won't make my wedding (Update 9/24)

So I know I don't post often, and a lot of the girls who have been around forever, do know me a lil better, but I really just need all the prayers I can get from anywhere we can get them right now.

My father was punched in the head on Sunday evening. He was knocked unconscious for about 8 minutes (and thank god he was knocked out, otherwise they would have never called an ambulance, he would have never went to the hospital, and he would be dead right now). When I went up to the bar to check on everything, help my mom talk to the cops, look at the video (which is the worst thing I have ever seen in my life...it's just my father literally getting hit and just going down. He's 270 and 6'4'). My mother and my brother went with him to the hospital, and I picked up his truck and went home. We all thought it would be a broken jaw and a severe concussion at the worst.

At the hospital they took an ekg and a catskan, and the catscan came back with blood clots and bleeding on the brain. My father at this point was up and talking, but making no sense. My mother and my brother were there with him. My Mom called me, said everything looks routine, and go to bed, they should be home later.

At 1:23am I received a phone call. My father had blood clots on his brain, internal bleeding, (he had no bleeding outside of his body), and he was going to be rushed in for surgery as soon as the surgeon got there. I threw on my clothes and went up there.

When I got there, he looked horrible. He was convulsing (from the medicine they say). They were draining blood from his mouth, and his whole head was swollen. I kissed him and rubbed his hand so his body would relax. It helped. The surgeon spoke to us, and told us that it did not look good. The surgery was going to be VERY dangerous due to the fact that my father is on plavix and takes 7 different heart medications. My father has had 4 stents put in his heart. Between the anestia, the alcohol, his heart, his brain, and everything else, the doctor honestly did not know if he would make it through the surgery, but knew he wouldn't make it without the surgery. Before they took my Dad, I went over and told him that we have 17 days until he is supposed to walk me down the aisle, so I can't lose him right now, and he needs to find a miracle way to pull through, because we have some celebrating to do.

Before they took him in for surgery, the doctor showed us the catscans and he was bleeding worse than he thought. He also said that where the most bruising is on his brain, it is in the worst spot. He said if he does make it through surgery, and through the swelling of his brain, then we have to worry about how he will be able to function, and if he will even know who he is. His brain shifted, bruises were already showing, and the clots were getting bigger faster than he thought.

They took him for surgery, and he made it through that. The doctor did not sound promising, and said the hardest part is yet too come. He said that over the next three days the brain will swell the most it is going to, and its all a matter of if his body can handle it, and hopefully his brain doesn't swell too much. They left the left part of his skull off in hopes that it would give the brain a little breathing room. They are draining three different things in hopes of keeping as little pressure on the brain. The doctor also said that it appears that there is damage to the brain.

He made it through yesterday, and they did another catscan later in the day after surgery. All the changes that happened were expected changes, and he has numerous bruises and legions on his brain. The doctor said that if he makes it through the next three days, (and boy does he keep stressing that if), he thinks he will be in the hospital for at least three weeks (which means he wont get out until after the wedding), and after that he will need intensive rehabilition. He thinks the part of the brain that was affected will affect his speech, his ability to comprehend anything, his motor abilities, and he said basically everything that makes him human.

I have now lost it. I had hoped that a miracle would happen. Right now I am hanging on to the fact that my father is alive. I don't have a doubt in my mind that he's going to live, but that scares me, because reality will then be a hard hit. I cannot phathom the fact, that some ******* hit my dad once, and because of that, he is going to miss one of the biggest events in my life. As of right now, he won't be walking me down the aisle, he won't be at my wedding, he won't be dancing with me, and he won't be there. However, I do keep focusing on the fact that he is still alive. He is still there. I think his personality is still there, because the nurses cant believe how fiesty he is (he doesn't want to lay still, he seems to hold his belly where they put his skull to keep it alive, he does open his eyes). He just wants to sit up and roll over, and that's what my dad would do.

So I am just asking for as many prayers in as many places as I can possibly get them right now. The prayers are that he is alive, gets better, knows who he is, and even if it's a long road, that I get my daddy back. The miracle is that he can make it to my wedding. That if nothing else, he can come in a wheelchair and at least be at the church. We'll see what happens as it gets closer, but right now I'm devestated and just need as many people praying for my dad as possible. His name is John, and everyone calls him Big Daddy!!!

Thanks girls!!!


Update (09/23....1:39 p.m)
I just wanted to thank all of you girls for your thoughts and prayers. We have been reaching out everywhere and everyway we can. He still looks good today, much more swollen, but it is as expected. So our motto at the moment is still no news is good news. They put him on a much stronger sedation medicine in order to keep him from moving so much, but even through that his body still responds to pain, he can move his arms and legs, wiggle his toes, and all of that. So we just wait.

A lot of you have asked what happened if we know who or anything. It is on video from the surveillance at the bar. However, it is a very grainy video so we cannot see the faces or even id the license plate because of how they parked. The detective on the case said they only enhance videos like this for cases of homicide and rape, and we are hoping that we don't have to go down that route. There was one sober eyewitness, but we do not know who these guys are. They had never been to the bar before, and no one recognized them. I'm just praying that my brothers or any of our friends and family don't find out who it is first.

As far as what the altercation was about or anything of that sort, because of the way they were parked, because of how my dad moved (and knowing him), adn the fact that they never went in the bar......we assume he walked over to them and said something along the lines of you have to move your car, or something along the lines of get out of here if you aren't going to come in and drink. What was said after that I don't know, and I haven't had a chance to talk to the one person who was standing there listening to them argue yet.

We had a bad morning this morning, a lot of tears, but we are trying not to focus on the why of everything and rather the positive and the moving forward. One doctor came in and he was telling us how we can expect to move forward at the time. He was then comparing how we need to take care of ourselves to a bride and groom needing to make sure they eat at a wedding not just the guests. Well I lost it. Then my mom and my aunt too. They said oh, she's getting married in two weeks. So I was like oh 17 days, so just help us find a miracle because I really need my Daddy there with me. He's supposed to be the one keeping me calm, he's supposed to be hodling my hand, he's supposed to be the host, and well all the supposed to's are killing me.

One a positive note, other than the miracle to get him there, if he can't my FH and I already talked and we will have a second ceremony when my dad is better and can do everything. We can't afford to do another reception, but then he can walk me down, give me away, and well the whole shabang.


Update (09/24 .... 9:37p.m.)

We are still just status quo....the doctor hasn't seen any changes from yesterday to today, so they didn't do a catscan today. We'll havfe one tomorrow.

Today was just a fiesty day. They tried to take him off of some of the sedation medicine and use morphine instead, but that didn't keep him very still. They also removed one of the drains from his head and that left him pretty agitated all day. On one end, it is almost kind of funny because my dad just keeps trying to get out of bed. He wants to get up, or he wants to lay flat. Apparently he can't get out of bed, and he can't lay flat and stretch out because the bed is too short (he's 6'4'), and his head also has to stay elevated. As soon as the nurses slide him up in the bed, he slides himself back down. Like I said, it's almost humorous how he's driving them crazy. He has had the most awesome nurses too, we couldn't ask for better!!!!

He did open his eye today and I got to look at him. He looked at me, and I don't know if he saw me, but he looked at me. When he did he was holding my hand and he took it and threw it away. Then he started banging the bed, so it's a response I'm just not sure what he means. My heart tells me that he knows it's me, but he's a prisoner inside his own body. Like he's there, but he's frustrated because he can't move (he's restrained), he can't talk, he can't do anything, and he can't even lay comfortably.

I had a really rough day today. I got angry, I got upset. I actually had my first dress fitting today. It's the first wedding thing I've really done since this happened. I actually thought I was going to puke on the way over to the place. And then when they brought my dress out I just broke down. Phyllis was awesome though. She made sure the dress fits beautifully, and when I left she gave me a huge hug and said she'll keep us in her thoughts and prayers. I also love my bustle. So once I got the dress on and got the appointment going, it was better, just rough to start.

But we're still in the waiting game. We're still just waiting to see, and the doctor said come this weekend, they should be making more decisions about the next steps that they'll be taking.

Thank you girls for all of your wishes and prayers!!!! We honestly couldn't ask for more!!!!