Thanks be to God!

A reader writes:

Very hopeful and uplifting update regarding Fr. Dumas from Fr. Louis Merosne:

Dear friends!

Thank You!

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this update.  I am so moved by the expression of SO MUCH LOVE from all of you.  Your prayerful support is truly touching.  The first Christians would be proud of us to see how we take care of one another even strangers.  This reminds me of the question posed to Jesus “Lord, who is my neighbor?”  You have answered that question so beautifully, by seeing your neighbor in a complete stranger, Fr. Dumas.

In two days you have raised about $17,000 for Fr. Dumas!!!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I cannot say thank you enough so tomorrow (Thursday), God willing, I will offer up my Mass in thanksgiving for ALL of you who have been supporting Fr. Dumas with your prayers and donations.  I will ask the Lord to hear whatever intention that you wish to offer to Him through the Mass.

Critical but Stable

Now for the medical follow-up of Fr. Dumas.  By the way, I feel that you are all family now through this sharing 🙂

I think I just assumed that you guys knew some things that I did not explicitly share, but you might not know.  So here are some things to catch you up: Fr. Dumas has been in a coma since the accident of course. Hence he has a feeding tube and a breathing tube. His nephew was in the car and was killed on the spot.  There was a nurse in the back seat who survived but broke her leg.

There is still some blood the his brain that just needs to be soaked back in by the brain because it is no longer fluid-ish but that is not a big deal.  Brain pressure is still low which is good.  The catheter is in place in his head to continue monitoring pressure and to remove any new fluids if there were to be any.

His seizure-like movements, the main doctor thinks, are what is called “storming” which is a tense and jerky reaction to pain.  After some pain meds he was doing fine.  Nothing in the tests that were previously done suggests seizure.

Today the orthopedist came and examined his broken bone, and explained that Fr. Dumas has an AC separation in the clavicle.  The AC stands for some big words that I do not know.  Most of the time these heal reset themselves, but he will continue to monitor it.

The ophthalmologist came and examined the right eye which is still swollen.  Because Fr. is still in a coma, he cannot move the eye. But the doctor noticed that an important nerve looked good at least on the inside of the eye.  He is still unsure what is causing the swelling.  He will wait for a couple days to decide if he should do any more tests.

Fr. Dumas’ main doctor said that he expects that he will be waking up within 2-4 days at which point they will be able to do some more testing which will give a more accurate basis for a prognosis.  So please keep praying.  You are beautiful people!

See you in the Eucharist in the morning.  God bless you.

Fr. Louis

P.S. I am staying at a nearby parish where there is a Haitian community! Thanks to all of you who have offered to help with lodging.

Father, thank you for this progress!  Hear our prayer for his complete recovery through Christ our Lord.  Amen! Mother Mary and St. Luke pray for him, for his caregivers, and for all who love him!