Things we know

Recently, we've gotten a couple questions more than once and I figure there might be more of you with the same questions on your minds, so here's a few clarifications, to the best of our understanding:

Brain damage is not currently a concern. The doctors and nurses have no reason to fear that Dad has any brain damage. He was able to talk a little to the paramedics and also to the attending doc when he was admitted to the ER. Since being under the sedative and the paralytic, he's given them no signs of loss of function when they've tested his reflexes.

While the burns on his back, shoulders, arm and hand are intense, our bigger worry is Dad's lungs. He had soot coating his nostrils, mouth and throat when he was admitted. He continues to cough up and they continue to suction out sooty goop from his lungs. That stuff is in there, and as a lifelong smoker, he's got a strike already against him. The staff have made sure they've said this to us more than once. Good news: His blood oxygen (that is, the level of available oxygen that his blood is able to absorb) was at 100% today. I thought that was pretty awesome, especially considering it had been down in the low 90s a couple of days ago.

Of the burns, the burn on his left shoulder seems to be the most troublesome. I haven't seen it myself, as it's always been dressed when we're in the room, but I'm told it's a deep burn. So, if anything's going to require a skin graft, it might be that area, but they're still crossing their fingers for no skin grafts. And so are we.

We won't know what may've started the fire until Dad can tell us what he remembers. We may not ever know. What we do know is that the firemen (thank you so much, gentlemen) found him asleep on the bed in one room, whereas the fire started in the adjacent room. We also know that the fire investigator said that three or four minutes longer, and we'd be dealing with a whole different situation.

Hope this helps. Love to all.