[Mulv]

All

I spoke with Pete's wife last night and I have the latest details on Lew:

He is on a ventilator which is why he is unable to communicate. Between that and the number of appliances he is wearing for his neck and back, etc. , he is unable to move. That is in addition to the large amount of morphine he is on for pain. This completely explains why he is unable to understand what the cards were for. I was quite concerned by that statement.
Two days ago he communicated with his brother by writing on a piece of paper. He is lucid and now is aware of where he is and how long it has been. It was apparently a bit of concern to him when he found out how long it had been. He has a viral infection that the doctors are helping him fight with antibiotics and his familly has to wear sterile gowns to get in to see him. There is no point in sending him any food or perishable items as he cannot eat. He has really appreciated the cards that everyone has sent as has his familly. They had no idea there were so many of us....

Lew's brother Frank was at the track watching him go around when the crash occured and went with Lew to the hospital. His brother Pete and Mary Ann (his sister in law) arrived after the incident and found out about it by seeing the car all smashed. As you can well imagine they are pretty shaken up still by this. Mary Ann told me they had said to Lew that using a convertible at the track was dangerous. It would be a good idea for us to have them in our thoughts as well...

To update the incident, the car rolled three times and Lew's helmet came off on the second roll which is why he has damage to his ear. They life-flighted Lew to Chico, but the facillity was unprepared for this kind of trauma and thus they went to Sacramento. Something to think about when using Thunderhill which I had not known. Sacto is 80 miles from the track...

They will be transferring Lew to Vallejo in about two weeks, so we can go visit him there. As I look at my calender, I realize what day that is likely to be, so I think it would be really great if we went to the hospital as a big group and did some carolling or something....

As before, let's counter on the other threads or open a new one for the Christmas cheer plan..

Thanks

Steve