My Dear Mudcatters, I am Pat Wyatt, Karen's mother and Catspaw's Mother-in-law. (Something Freudian there, do you think?) Pat, I think, is better today. The morning started with Karen arriving at the hospital just in time to see them intubating Pat, which was frightening to say the least. However, this made his breathing less labored and seemed to give him some comfort. He cannot speak because of the vent. At some point today, they were concerned about neurological function and were doing eeg's. We all know that Catspaw with 50% function would still be our "over the top" guy. Then they did a dye catheritization (can't remember the right name, it is, after all l in the morning after a very long day) to ascertain if there was a spread of the damage to the aoertic arch which would have required immediate transport to Mount Carmel West and Surgery. The odds were against us but the news on this test was good. No damage to the arch and no surgery. Pat's breathing is so much less labored now that he is on the vent. His lungs are not doing well and this is our main concern right now. We are not out of the woods but we are possibly not right in line for the axe at the moment.

Please know that at 2 am yesterday, Karen and I were reading your messages and I cannot ever begin to tell you how much it meant to both of us. It is such a comfort to me to know that my beloved daughter is being comforted by the prayers and good wishes of so many good people. As we read we cried and were comforted at the same time. You are truly a deeply caring group. We will be printing out all of your messages to read to Pat. I live in Atlanta and I am flying back up next weekend and will bring my laptop so that Pat, if able, can get on line from the hospital. Trust me, if they don't allow it, Pat will find a way.

Karen is spending the night tonight at the hospital and I just talked with her and she said that she did not object to my signing on and letting you know how things were going.

Thank you. This morning when we drove into Columbus, I commented to Karen that in times like this, it is so hard to look about you and realize that the sun is rising, the world is turning, and there are people out there that have no idea that the world may come to an end for us. But then again, we are so lucky because we have a family of friends from Mudcat who know what a special being we are praying to save. You give us comfort. Thankyou. the Mother-in-law.