The Office:

The Job:

Cody has been discharged from the hospital in Cody, WY and survived his first full night without pain killers.  Things are getting better, it will be a slow healing process but he's got a great attitude and hes just plain tough:)

Its been a rough couple of days for the Suder family, especially for Cody.  Chronologically it goes this way:
Friday night: Vehicle Cody was in rolled 3x, Cody was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Billings, MT
Saturday: We find out that Cody has a broken occipital bone, nose, jaw in 2 places, and lost a[nother) tooth
Sunday: Cody goes into surgery to fix his nose and jaw, only to find out that he didnt lose a tooth, but his jaw was so badly broken that it created a space leading the docs to believe he had lost a tooth.  A plate was put in one side of his jaw while the other side was wired shut.
Monday: Cody's back in Cody, WY with a blistering headache and coughing up blood (with his mouth wired shut, can't be that easy).
Tuesday: Dad takes Cody to the hospital again for chest x-rays and blood work to find out that he has developed pneumonia.
Wednesday: He's put on a regimented antibiotic regime to combat the pneumonia, will remain in the hospital until at least Friday.

As strong and tough as Ive wanted to be over the past few days, I havent been able to be.  I completely understand that bad things happen in life, and in the past I have prided myself on my ability to accept things like this as a part of life.  But my underlying vulnerability has left me asking, "why does this have to happen to my little brother???"  Not as a way of questioning God or the nature of life, but probably more as a way of asking, "why do some guys have all the luck?"  I wish that I could take his place, but I can't, and in ways that I will never understand, I believe that this is part of a sovereign plan for Cody's life.  People have always said that he plays bigger than he actually is on the ice rink throwing his 5'7" 170 lbs frame around like he's 220 lbs, and that's because he's a fighter (Im his big brother, I would know) and tougher than nails.  He'll come out of this even stronger, and will have learned something new about himself, his family, his friends, and his God.

I personally have been overwhelmed by my friends and family.  The sage wisdom that I have received my Glenn Wesley and David Mukai has really put things into perspective for me.  Ive had numerous friends (Michael Gruber, Cameron Schaefer, Erick Kozlowski, Mycal Anders, Justin Sanders, Armando Casas, Noce Nayigihugu, Eric Weber, Justin Mullen, Brad Meissen, Steve Riley, Vianka Berain, Ashley Johnson, Lindsay Bengard, Kelsey Adams, Steph Rodgriuez) who have said, "that's my little brother too" and have been relentless in their concern of him and their support of me.  And that's why today I can be stronger than I was yesterday and say, "yeah, the sun also rises."  Blood may be thicker than water, but you dont need to share blood to be family.


Thanks.

Cody was readmitted to the hospital today due to headaches and vomiting.  His hockey team's doctor took charge and ran some blood tests, determining that since the accident Cody has developed Pneumonia. I dont know what to say.  Continue to pray.

Monday:
Cody had a very rough time this morning and afternoon, but sounds like he is feeling a little better tonight.  Steven has been putting ice on his face for the swelling and the team physician worked with his pain medication to make it more effective for him.  He is still coughing up blood, but has had some smoothies for some nutrition.  He has had a tremendous headache all day, and still has one. He is up moving around tonight, which is a good sign.  Please pray that he can sleep--that seems to be hard for him right now.  Steven will see how he is doing in the a.m. to determine what he does tomorrow.  He feels like there has been a turn-around in the last few hours, so hopefully he will continue to feel better.

Tuesday: 
Just received word that he has been vomiting and experiencing a lot of pain, so he's headed back in to the hospital.

Here's the latest:
He had surgery this am that the doctor says went well. They put a plate and screws in one side of his jaw for that break, and then wired his mouth shut for the fracture on the other side.  Another doctor fixed his broken nose. The tooth that they thought he lost, was actually not lost.  The break in the jaw made it look like he was missing a tooth on the CT scan.  I have talked to Cody, and it surprised me how well I could understand him with his mouth wired shut.  Anyway, he was discharged this afternoon and Steven and he are now back at the home he stays at in Cody.  Steven said he is sleeping in Cody's bed, and Cody is in the "dorm room"--a room that has 2 big beds in it pushed together that his 2 roommates sleep in--watching a movie with his friends (roommates).  He slept all the way from Billings to Cody, and woke up asking for pain pills.
There is a man on the hockey board of directors that is a dean at the college where Cody is taking classes.  I guess he has already, or will, take care of contacting Cody's instructors.
If you want to contact him, his address there is: 
Cody Suder,
c/o Sue and Rod Boutelle;
P.O Box 3225;
Cody, Wyoming  82414.

I guess what makes life just that are the unprecedented, unexpected events that make your stomach turn, your eyes water, your voice crack, and your knees to hit the pavement.  Like when you wake up too early on Saturday morning to a phone call informing you that your best friend and little brother is in a Flight for Life helicopter after a severe car accident, which is what happened to me yesterday.

Cody was asleep in a car on the way home from a playoff hockey game in Montana when he woke up to a violent, 3 roll accident caused by black ice.  He was raced to a nearby medical facility in Billings, MT.  He ended up breaking his eye socket, his nose, and his jaw in two places.  Its strange to admit that I was relieved to hear that those were the extent of his injuries, but his head, neck, back, and internal organs are fine.

He underwent surgery this morning to fix his jaw and his nose and is back at his house in Cody, WY as of tonight.  Hes doing well and is proving to everyone what Ive always known, that he's tougher than nails.

Id like to thank everyone for their prayers, concerns, and encouragement of him and our family.  Ill keep you updated here if you'd like to track his progress.  Here's a few [graphic] photos of him.  Notice the attempt to smile with a wired-shut jaw, the thumbs up, and the "rock on" fist.

Interestingly enough this is my first post in over a year on a blog created to keep friends and family engaged and informed of my life.  So, I'm a hypocrite, but I'm back on the e-circuit.

The past year has been a difficult one, a year in which I have learned vast amounts about a specific skill (piloting), life in the "real world", and what it means to be in a physical and metaphorical desert.  Since I last wrote the world's economy has gone into massive recession, America elected its first Black man as president, and Britney Spears competed with the two monumental afore-mentioned circumstances and two wars for media attention, a battle she probably won.  Personally, I have finished the Air Force's Pilot Training, run my first marathon, driven on homemade bio-diesel, and learned to wake-board.

These personal successes have given me a great sense of accomplishment but I will be the first to admit my failures.  I focused on one thing (pilot training) and let other, important, aspects of my life slip.  I am still trying to find the delicate balance between knowing everything about my job and being the best I can be at that, but not letting that job define who I am.  It's a work in progress.  The world, through my eyes, is still too vast and interesting to focus on one thing, but I am learning how to choose which things are important and to not spread myself too thin.  For this next year, I have resolved to primarily know two things: my job and my God.

What's next?  I was lucky enough to get my first choice out of pilot training and will be moving to the Seattle-Tacoma area to fly C-17's for the Air Force.  I am excited beyond words to get back to the mountains, people that value the same things as me, and to enjoy a coastal environment.

That's your update, I will be updating this blog more often with comments on both the internal and external facets of my life.  I hope you will continue to check back!

Beau

I started making this smoothie for breakfast, its very healthy and quite scrumptulescent as well, thought I would share:

8oz Orange Juice
2oz Soy Milk (regular milk would probably work but my roommate is lactose intolerant)
8oz Vanilla yogurt
1/3-1/2 cup of raw, uncooked oats
Handful of frozen strawberries
A frozen banana
A Whey protein scoop
Squirt of Honey
Spoonful of peanut-butter
1 tbsp of flax-seeds

Blend, enjoy, makes enough for about two glasses.

Sometimes I substitute Apple juice for the OJ and toss blueberries or raspberries in for the strawberries and bananas.