Sunday 12/27/09

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.
Josh was disappointed that he didn't realize it was Christmas when we had dinner with him. There is not much to update on his rehabilitation as it will be a long process which is repetitious.
Today, I realized that Josh will have many good days and many bad days. On Christmas, he was in a lot of pain and could not make it through dinner. He is in pain when sitting in his wheelchair or lying in bed.
Today though, he had a great day when we were visiting and he was in good spirits. He did have all of his staples removed from his surgery incision and the wound on his head and leg. He will definitely have a nice battle wound from his belly all the way around to his backside, I am sure this will be his bragging rights in the future!
Josh has a window in his room and he was trying to figure out the exact location where he was, as I was explaining to him he rattled off the exact address!!! (Typical UPS Driver!)
As I write in this blog, I feel a weight has been lifted compared to the first blog that I wrote while tears were running down my face as I now see a future again with my husband.
To all of you who have shown your support through this, I Thank You from the bottom of my heart. When Josh is home and I feel he is capable, he will hear a list of names of every single person that has shown support to his wife and children.

XOXO
Carissa

Update 12/24/09

Rehabilitation has began and is very intense for Josh. Physically, not much has changed for Josh as you all know by now that will be a very lengthy process. As far as Josh's Brain Injury, I am anxious to know the extent of it by next week. At this point, he is still disoriented. I told Josh that today was December 24, 2009 and it had no significance to him. At this point, the hardest part is not knowing if I am going to get 100% of Josh back. His intense Therapies are not allowing me as much time with him as I would like but I know this is in his best interest. As for tomorrow, Christmas Day I am planning to bring the children to see their Daddy.
As my heart is saddened this evening (Christmas Eve) without my husband and the kids father, I would like to take this opportunity to ask each and every one of you to cherish the time with your family tomorrow and every single day.
To those of you, you know who you are- Thank You so very much for making our children's Christmas by helping to fulfill their wish list in Josh's absence.

XOXO Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole and baby Cayne

Rehabilitation Day #2

Well, Josh had a very busy day today! This morning I walked into his room and he greeted me! Josh has started Occupational, Physical, Speech & Language and Recreational Therapy.

The Doctors main concern right now is to evaluate Josh's Head Injury. This is on the top of his list to see the extent of damage to his brain. Obviously we have our fingers and toes crossed that he has no permanent damage.

Josh was able to sit upright, wash his body, brush his teeth and get a t-shirt and shorts on. He was exhausted, it did take a lot out of him.

Last night our phone at home rang around 7pm, I answered it and heard Josh's voice on the other end! My heart melted to hear him on the phone. He told my Dad our phone number and called our house to talk to me. He said- "Hi Babe, what are you doing?" I was so excited that I don't even think I answered him!!!! It was short & sweet and he was to the point for sure.

Josh, I know you have the strength to get through this, especially with everyone cheering you on. We love you so much. Caydance, Cole & Baby Cayne cannot wait to have Daddy home!

I Love You
XOXO

Update #2 12/21/09

Josh is doing amazing and has now been transferred to Rehabilitation. At Rehab he will have a lot of Physical Therapy, Brain Therapy and Speech & Language Therapy. His days will be very structured and routine. The Doctor says that it is too early to tell if Josh will ever be back to "normal" again with his brain. Josh is stuck on UPS and his delivery addresses!!! He will randomly rattle off stops that he has or needed to make. That is a devoted driver!
At this point, the Doctors have asked that visits refrain to only his family. Josh needs a lot of time to answer the simplest questions and process what we are saying to him and if he has too much stimulation, he gets confused and agitated. Right now he needs a calm and relaxed environment.
Please keep him in your thoughts as he is in for a long and hard few weeks. Josh will continue to progress daily and get stronger for his wife and kids!
Medically, Josh is healthy. Mentally & Physically, he is not. Hopefully with rehabilitation and his strong will, he will be home soon!
Thank You to all the Doctors, Nurses and staff that helped save Josh's life at Fletcher Allen Hospital. Without your care, I don't think that Josh would be here with us right now.
Also, Thank You to all who assisted Josh at the scene.
Thank You for saving Josh's life. He is such an amazing man, husband and father.
We Thank You from the bottom of our hearts!

Love,
Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole & Cayne

Update 12/21/2009

Well, good news! Josh is out of the ICU. He was transferred on Saturday early afternoon. Caydance, Cole and Cayne were able to see their Daddy! Josh said hi to Caydance and had a short conversation. He called Cole "Muffin Man" which is our nickname for him and he anxiously wanted to hold Baby Cayne in his arms which of course cannot happen yet!
Sunday morning Josh gained his appetite back! He ate an omelet and english muffin. He also brushed his own teeth!
Josh asked his nurse to call me and he told her our phone number! I was very excited to hear that!!
He is slowly gaining his memory back, every day he takes baby steps. Physical Therapy started on Sunday as well. The nurses helped him out of his bed and into a chair. It was very painful for him, but movement will help.
As I write this I am headed to the hospital, I will continue this update later today!

Thank You,

Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole and Cayne

Update 12/18/09

Basically not too much has changed for today. Josh is the same, his memory is still not up to par.
The good news for the day is that Josh will be leaving ICU this weekend and getting into his own room so I will be able to take the children to FINALLY see their Daddy!!!!!!!
And as usual, TOO many people to list to say Thank You. But from the bottom of our hearts, we Thank You ALL again. Everyone's show of support has been such a blessing to our family. You have taken my family into your hearts and words cannot express how much we appreciate all the gestures from everyone. I can't wait to tell Josh what you all have been doing for us. Josh is going to be soooo surprised by how many peoples lives he has touched!
Dale from the St. Johnsbury UPS center drove to the hospital this afternoon to hand deliver donations that have been collected for us as well as Dave from the Berlin UPS. It is so unbelievable to me how many people have come to support Josh and his family.

Thank You,

Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole & Cayne

Update 12/17/09

Today had a bit of a rough start. Josh is still trying to focus and regain his senses. I think at this point he is frustrated and agitated while adjusting to his medications. I tried to explain to Josh yesterday where he was and why he was at the hospital, but he does not remember...I know he is fighting so darn hard.
I showed him a family picture and he knows Caydance and myself, but does not remember his boys names. This was especially hard on me and obviously Josh.
I know he has made tremendous progress in the past few days, but I can't help wanting everything back to "normal."
When Andy went in to see Josh this afternoon, Josh said that he needed a few weeks off because his back was hurting!!!!!
I want to take a moment and say Thank You to everyone that has been sending their best wishes, thoughts, prayers and love our way. Andy Tosh, Josh's Supervisor at UPS, Thank You for being so supportive and clearly caring about Josh and his family. Abbi Pajak, You are such a great and supportive Friend. Thank You for organizing the food and making sure that we eat and tying up loose ends for me!!!
And ESPECIALLY, Mom, Dad, Chad, Corey & Gabrielle-Josh, Myself & the Kids love you so much. Thank You for EVERYTHING! Without you, I do not think the kids and I would have made it through the past 10 days. I know it has been stressful and trying at times-but we all have each other and are after the same thing-we want our Josh back.
Thank You to all who have sent cards, we are very appreciative.
I do not have enough room to Thank everyone that has showed care and love so I will say,
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

XOXO
Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole & Cayne

Excellent Start to Today!!!! 12/16/09

I am excited to say that I when I walked into Josh's room this morning, he said "Hi" & "I Love You"
I cannot tell you how happy I am to see his progress and anxious at the same time to continue on with his recovery out of ICU.
Josh's Doctors came and spoke with me this morning. They cannot stress enough how hard Josh's rehabilitation is going to be and it will take time. Josh needs to regain all of his strengths and basically learn how to use his left leg. Right now his body is ajdusting to the pain medication they have him on and he is semi-coherent.
This afternoon, Josh will have one radiation treatment. This is because the Ortho Surgeon is concerend with bone mass that could form in his muscles. Having radiation will hopefully inhibit that from happening. Thank Goodness we were not planning on having any more children!!!!

Thank You,

Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole & Cayne

Josh's Update Day #8

I wish I could say that I got to communicate with Josh as I anticipated I would yesterday, unfortunately he's having a harder time coming out of sedation. The good news is, they were able to remove him from the ventilator and he is now breathing on his own. Also, they removed the chest tube from his collapsed lung.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring more good news and progress.
All in all, Josh is a miracle!

Josh's Surgery Update

It is currently 9:20pm and Josh's Pelvic Reconstruction Surgery was just completed. The Head Ortho Surgeon who performed the surgery just finished speaking with us, everything went well! Josh's pelvis was broken in 4 places which was repaired with titanium plates and screws.
The outlook is very good for his breathing apparatus to be removed tomorrow! This is great news to our family as we may be able to communicate with him in the next 24 hours!!!!!!!!
Keep the thoughts, prayers and love coming, it's working!

Thank You Rachel Willey

The Newton's Contacts

I have had alot of interest in people wanting to contact me directly. If you would like to do so, please feel free to e-mail or phone.
Carissa0818@aol.com or 802-434-2626
You can also contact my Mother at JGarf68854@gmavt.net

The Joshua Newton Family Fund

As a result of the accident Joshua was in, we are trying to designate a way to help the Newton family. In doing so we have set up this fund. As you all probably realize this will have a long term effect on this family.
To make monetary donations to help with the exorbitant financial burden now and in the long term future placed upon Joshua's family as a result of this horrific accident, please send your donations to
c/o Joshua Newton Family Fund
81 East Main Street
Richmond, VT 05477
Thank You in advance for all your love, help and support. Without this our difficult time would be more unbearable. During this Holiday Season may you cherish the ones you love.

Sincerely,

Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole and Cayne Newton

Hi everyone, this is Carissa. Thank you for your support and comments they mean so much to me and to my family. Right now we are just waiting for Josh's condition to improve and hoping that after Monday's surgery he will steadily begin to improve. It is our hope that the ventilator will be removed at some point next week.
Thank you to all the people that have been coordinating food, and offering support.
Much Love Carissa, Josh, Caydance, Cole and Cayne.

Update on Josh

I spoke with Carissa last night after she came home from another long day at the hospital with Josh. First of all I just have to say how inspired I am by her strength to endure all of this and her resolve to keep life as "normal" as she can for her children to protect them and nurture them. This is truly an amazing family and there is nothing they won't do for each other. This is why Josh is fighting hard too. Here is an update from Carissa on his condition;

"This is still a difficult time right now for our family. Josh is still in critical condition in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. He has suffered severe internal injuries but he is a fighter and he is strong. Josh is intubated and on a ventilator which is doing the breathing for him. He broke his pelvis in two places, collapsed lung, broken rib, many contusions closed with staples. The train hit the drivers side of the truck which resulted in the left side of his body taking the impact.
He is scheduled for surgery on Monday to repair his pelvis. It is going to be an intense 6 hour surgery and the Doc. needs to make sure his body will be stable throughout. Please continue with your thoughts, love and prayers. Josh, myself and the kids all appreciate the outreach of support. Thank you."

So far I have gotten a lot of response with people who want to help out with meals for the family, which is amazing. Anyone who wants to drop off dinners please contact me at abbivt@yahoo.com to make arrangements. A paypal link will be set up (hopefully) soon once I can sit down with Carissa so that those of you who have expressed interest in making a financial donation (thank you) can do so easily and safely.

Please let's all keep this amazing family in our hearts and in our minds this week and in the weeks to come. This is going to be a long and difficult journey and the more support this family gets from friends, family and even strangers, the more they can focus on what is important for them right now and that is loving each other.

Please tell anyone you know about this site and feel free to leave comments as often as you like. Hopefully as the weeks pass this will become a community for all of us and a place to all share our support and keep things moving smoothly for the Newton family.

Much love to you Josh, Carissa, Caydance, Cole and Cayne.

Thank You.

Food - Week One

Looking for people to cook meals that are easily freezable and will feed up to 6 people for this week (December 11-17th). Also, since Carissa is spending a lot of time with her parents and family at the hospital, looking for volunteers to put together lunches/bring food to the hospital this week.

Let's Show our Support

Hello,

Thank you for visiting this site to show your support for the Newtons. My name is Abbi Pajak, I am a neighbor and friend. Currently I am creating this site as a way for people to be able to coordinate and communicate in an efficient manor.

Carissa and her family are spending all the time they can with Josh at the hospital and in order to allow them to focus on their family, my hope is that this site will help to facilitate all the things that will need to go on behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly.

Whether you want to volunteer to cook a meal, deliver food or supplies to the family at home or in the hospital or make a financial donation hopefully this site will help facilitate that.

Please Also feel free to leave any comments for the family. Josh needs all of us to focus our positive thoughts and prayers on him right now. Much Love to you and Yours.