11/28/04 at 2:40 p.m.

Jess is feeling much better. He has finished the antibiotics and hopefully will stay well now. We have no plans until Jess can get accepted into a rehab facility. We have great therapists here working with him on a daily basis so we just keep waiting and praying.

It is basketball season and I heard the first game is this week. I know Jess would want to wish his coaches and team the best of luck. He loves the game and was excited to play this year. Maybe his teammates will play extra hard just for him this year. He will be with you in spirit and hopefully (as PK said) he will be able to come to a game before the season ends. Chris and I wish you all good luck, too. Play hard but most important...have fun!

11/24/04 9:45 p.m.

Well, Jess and I took our 10th ride in the ambulance on Sunday morning. He had not been feeling well for a couple of days. He was having a hard time breathing and moaning most of the night so we feared he had aspirated. With a lung exray, we found out he had contacted a bacteria that turned into pneumonia very quickly. We just got home yesterday afternoon and he is doing much better today. So, we have a good reason to celebrate Thanksgiving...we wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving too! Good night!

11/19/04 at 8:14 p.m.

We are still all seeing a lot of movement in Jess lately. He is trying to hold his head up and the speech therapist thought he almost said "mom". We stood him several times and he is probably 6'2" now. He only weighs about 130 lbs. We are going for a swallow evaluation at St. Luke's next Tuesday. I hope we can start giving him something besides ice chips. We are still waiting for word from the Primary Children's Hospital and are still considering the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. It was 5 months on the 17th of this month since the accident. A very long time...

Today is Jess' grandma's 85th birthday. When she blew out the candle on her cake she made a very important wish....one we all have been making every day. He held her hand and smiled with his eyes. We are still trying to find a way to communicate with Jess so we can ask him if he hurts or if he needs something.

I miss his voice, I miss his hugs, I miss his smile. Keep praying, please!

11/15/04 at 6:45 p.m.

I am amazed that five days have gone by already. As Tammy our physical therapist remarked today....Jess is sure making more purposeful movements since I saw him last week. It is nice when the therapist verifies the things we notice. He is moving his head from side to side, picking his left arm up off the bed and reaching up, tracking objects better with his eyes and moving his feet and legs with a lot of effort. We are praying that it means wires are being connected and signals are being sent. Any minor movement is wonderful.

Joey (Jess' brother) flew home from Minnesota on Saturday to help us make some decisions on our next endeavor. It has been a long 5 months for Chris and I. We needed a clear head and a different perspective to help us figure out if we are doing all we can right now for Jess. We are in such an uncharted territory with no real answers that it is hard to know just what to do next. Joey sees a lot of improvement.

We still hold a place in our hearts for all of you who are checking on Jess and thank you for being there with your prayers and support to keep us strong

11/10/04 at 7:06 p.m.

Jess seems to be different every day. We wonder so often what he is thinking or where he is at. We fear he knows what is going on and is frustrated because he cannot move his body or talk. And there is nothing we can do but help keep his body strong and flexible with therapies.

I have been researching Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. It is what they use for treating the bends in deep sea diving. It increases the oxygen to the brain to restore neurons damaged in the injury. Here is a website explaining it: http://hbotnm.com/about.html. Of course it is not covered by insurance for brain injuries (not enough double blind studies) and it would be very expensive for us to travel, find a place to stay, and still keep up on his therapies for 2 months. They recommend 1 hour a day ( an hour) for 40 days (Monday thru Friday) with a 4 week break and then again for 40 more days. There are two places I have looked at...one in New Mexico and one in Florida. If it would help...no time or money would matter. But, like everything else we are looking at...there are no guarantees. It is still up to God and Jess.

11/7/04 at 8:11 p.m.

Today was a very busy day for Jess. We decided to take him for a ride in his dad's truck. For the first time...we drove down to where the accident happened 4 1/2 months ago. It is only a couple miles from our house. Jess seemed very aware of where we were so I just tried to reassure him that the accident was over, everyone was ok and he was getting better everyday. It was very hard for us to actually see where they had driven off the road, hit one tree, slid down a fence line, rolled and flipped the car 10 feet in the air and hit another tree. I can't imagine what the boys went through in that car.

Anyway, we stopped at his friend Curtis' house and said hello to all of the family. Jess has spent a lot of time with them so we hoped it might trigger some good memories. We also went by our old house where Jess grew up, drove by his friend Dustin's house and by another friend Pat's house, then through the high school parking lots, downtown Hailey, by his friend Billy's house, to the middle school and back home. Jess stayed awake for most of our journey as we reminded him of different events in his life. Maybe something will help him put back the pieces and help him return to us. When we came home, we sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine and then had special visitors...his Uncle Jim, Kelsey and our wonderful friends Marlene & Earl.

Jess is asleep now and hopefully healing. Oh, can't forget, we also celebrated his grandpa's 87th birthday this week on the 4th. All dad wished for on his birthday was for Jess to wake up and say "Happy Birthday, Grandpa". He did squeeze his hand.

Jess had a good week of therapy and tomorrow we start another good week. We are very blessed to have such wonderful therapists, family and friends surrounding Jess with light and love. Thank you...

11/2/04 at 7:36 p.m.

Not many changes since Sunday. I am researching Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for brain injuries. If anyone has any experience with this therapy, please let me know. I also spoke with the Primary Children's Rehab in Salt Lake today. They need me to send more info before they can accept Jess into their program. We have been home for over 2 months now. We remain focused on knowing that Jess can come back to us. We have to keep the positive thoughts surrounding him. We need your help...keep the prayers coming...with love, Pam, Chris & Jess