Surgery Update

Mikes surgery went fine today. It turned into an 8 hour proceedure, but it ended up fine. We got over to the OR floor at 10:00, waited until 1:15. The operation itself took 1 1/2 hours but he was in recovery for 4 hours.

Mike was a little ticked off because they told him he had to have a spinal rather than general anesthesia which made him really nervous and mad because the night before they said he would be asleep. The change was because of the potential for Autonomic Disreflexia which is a condition with Spinal Cord Injuries. Basically when your body has an injury below the level of the spinal cord injury it increases your heart rate, but the signals can't get to the brain to calm it down, so your blood pressure can go very high and out of control which could be very dangerous. He understood, but was still ticked, (you know Mike). Anyway, he had to stay in recovery twice as long as normal to be safe. He did fine.

He was back in his room, alert and hungry at 6:30. Kim and Dana came to visit so I left to get some food and rest. He should be back at rehab very quickley, but will need to wait at least until the stitches heal.

On the Foundation front, I should have the Tax Exempt ID early next week. The IRS has their own schedule. I will post when it comes in. In the meantime any donations offered should simply be made ot to Michael Gotzens Foundation, Inc. For previous checks that don't match, it will be fine with just his name and "Charitable Donation" Written on it. I am keeping track of everyone who donated to get them reciepts for tax deductions.

The Gotz Strength? Harley ride is being planned too. Bingo, the Manager of the Used Bike section of the Rockville Store has agreed to help pull it together. I'm sure we will have a very good turn out. The Biker Culture is a huge and very generous one when it comes to brother riders in need or trouble. The Rockville HD Dealership is well known for sponsoring benefit events and I am sure something really nice will be put together. More to follow on that.

I also received the architectural drawings from Mike'sUncle Tommy and have a meeting with the contractors who are donating all the work to renovate the house next Tuesday.

Thanks to Mike's other Aunt and Uncle, Nancy and Ray and Mike's Mom, along with the other generous donations we were able to order Mike's lift for the house to get him from floor to floor.

His Uncle Ray also hooked him up on MLB.COM so he can see the RedSox on the laptop all the time!!!

As they say, Onward and Upwards!! Thanks again for all the continued support.

I want to close out with something a little philosophical, which for all of you who know me well will find out of character, but......Mike and I saw a special on ESPN about a young boy fighting cancer and he coined the phrase "Courage + Belief = Life" It reminds me so much of him. After his catastrophic injury and 3 surgeries later he is still so mentally strong. His injury isn't life threatening but is permanently life altering and his strength, his courage and belief in recovery and a fullfilled life for his future has me in awe of him every second. I have learned so much from him these past seven weeks. Many of the boys freinds both adult and young cary the slogan with them, C+B=L and I do too now in my wallet. Evertime I get ovewhelmed I am going to look at that as an atitude adjustment.

Thanks again for being there for Mike.

Red