Please Pray for Father Paul!
Please keep our Hieromonk Paul in your prayers. He took a bad fall yesterday, off some steps outside our trapeza, landing head first, straight into the grill of his truck. In addition to some gashes to the forehead and chin, he has cracked some vertebrae and the disks were jostled around, causing him significant nerve pain in his hands. He also had some damage to his thyroid cartilage (Adam’s apple). There are keeping a close eye on this to make sure it doesn’t impede his breathing. So far that’s been stable and seems to be improving a little.
I just got off the phone with the surgeon there at his hospital, and we discussed whether or not to have immediate surgery to help his neck issues or to postpone it. Since he’s already got a doctor at another hospital where he was going to have other spinal issues evaluated (ongoing lower back), we decided to hold off on that, and look at the possibility of neck surgery at a later date.
So please pray for healing and pain management for Fr. Paul and for wisdom for the doctors and us to determine what to do in the near future. We are hoping as soon as his throat issues are not a threat, to have him come home.
Thank you for your prayers and to all who have offered help and support in response to this recent event.
Fr. Martin