I’ve been away for a long time.  Lots has happened during the past five months.

My oldest brother, Dwain, passed away on August 12th after an illness that had worsened over the months since February.  Dwain would have been 87 in September.  Dwain’s wife continues to live in their Bismarck home.  We were able to visit Dwain during the July 4th weekend.  Then we attended his funeral on August 16th.  Our children Renee and Jeff and Renee’s husband Rob also attended the funeral and the memorial service the evening prior to the funeral.

Our son Jeff began his senior year at Marquette University in late August.  Jeff came home during a four-day break period in October and then returned to college.  On October 28th we received a phone call from a Marquette contact that indicated that Jeff was having difficulties at school.  Early on the 29th we drove to Milwaukee.  We completed the round trip that evening when we brought Jeff home with us.  I’m sparing you many details here, but the result is that Jeff had an accident on October 30th that caused a traumatic brain injury (TBI).  Jeff was rushed to surgery which ultimately has proven to be very successful.  Jeff spent two weeks in the HCMC intensive care unit, then transferred to another level of care at HCMC and finally transferred again to Knapp Rehabilitation Center, which is located within Hennepin County Medical Center.

If you wish to do so you can read our Caring Bridge journal of Jeff’s recovery at www.CaringBridge.org/visit/jefffick

There’s way more to tell, but time for blogging has expired for today.

A healthy Jeff having fun