Explanation of the absense...

powered by ODEO Sea Legs by The Shins

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting that much on here over the last few weeks. As I hinted at in my previous post, there was a lot of family drama going on down here and I'm ready to fill you all in now.

A few weeks ago my brother was involved in a pretty haneous car accident and was only released from the hospital yesterday. He was driving to the airport on I-95 to pick up some people from work when he was clipped from behind. He lost control of his explorer and hit the concrete wall. As a result, his car rolled and he was ejected because he was not wearing a seatbelt. After his car lost control and went into the other lane, the suv truck behind him swerved to miss him and also hit the wall and rolled, but this time the truck rolled over my brother. Yeah, this is usually where you would gasp right?!

He was thankfully taken to the best trauma hospital in the county and they were able to contain his injuries and keep him alive thanks to their rapid response and superior medical care. By some miracle of God, he has neither head/brain trauma or spinal cord injuries. He had a laceration on his face and some scratches, but his face was very much intact and he still has all his limbs. His lowest vertebrae have some small fractures, but they should heal in time. His pelvis didn't fare as well though and was fractured in five places and completely broken into two pieces. His left leg was also disclocated and as it broke out of place, crushed the side of the bone and joint that keeps it in place. He has had two surgeries so far and another minor procedure. He's going to need a skin graft on his left hip as the road rash and deteriorated tissue from where he was pinned became infected and they removed about an inch of the tissue (feel free to go and vomit now).

He is doing really, really well now and has a hopeful outlook on the future. After he has more time to heal, about ten weeks, he will begin a physical therapy program so that he can learn how to walk again and put weight on his pelvis. It's been pretty scary stuff and has been a huge strain on the family as my grandfather had heart surgery the week before Michael's accident. I was too preoccupied keeping my family from falling apart to keep up with the blogging, but I'm sure after reading this you'll all understand and cut me some slack. :)

Things are back on track down here with me now and I'm up to my eyes in final details for the cross country road trip with my friend, Sara. I just got back from AIGA's leadership retreat in Miami which was a total blast and I have several blog entries and totally awesome pictures to post from that, it's good stuff kids! I'm going to try to get those posts up in the next few days so that I'm back on schedule with the blogging.

There are just a few things that I challenge you all to do if you haven't already so that no one else finds themselves in such a horrible position as my brother:
1. Wear your seatbelt at all times. Seriously, if you don't and I catch wind of it you better run!
2. Make sure your cell phone has a listing as ICE (in case of emergency) as well as the name. I.e. ICE Kelly, or ICE Mom so that they know who to contact. My brother's phone didn't have that and didn't indicate any family members such as mom and dad, so the hospital didn't know who to contact.
3. Go to the following url and input the emergency contact information in. The information is saved in a database and linked directly to your license number. For those who live outside of Florida, check with your state DMV.
http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/
There's a link under Online Services that says "Emergency contact information". All you need is your license number and you'll be all set to enter the info.

Michael's wallet and ID were lost and no one can account for it. The only thing that arrived with him at the hospital were his cell phone, name and license number. He laid unconcious in ICU for two days before we found out. It wasn't until he woke up and they removed the breathing tube from his throat that he was able to utter our phone number. Apparently highway patrol doesn't contact the family unless someone has passed away, as f***ed up as that seems. So please do everything possible for your emergency contacts so that you and your loved ones don't end up in the same boat.

I hope this entry wasn't too much of a downer, I just wanted everyone to know what was up with me. After all, that is the point of this blog. Not to worry though, I'm in great spirits and super excited about my upcoming travels and everything is progressing nicely. I miss you all like crazy and am hoping to visit my J-ville crew either the end of July of the end of August.