First Day of live blog, On July 8th Beth wrote:

babaLou and Rosanna - thanks for getting this blog ready for publication.

It is a way for me to reach as many of you as possible and for you to reach me and Glenn. The level of detail may exceed or may fall short of your need-to-know. Information is mercurial, minute-to-minute, and at times like herding cats. Much has gone on since June 27th. The hospital environment is now more familiar. This has reduced my anxiety level. It is an 8 bed burn unit (isolated) at a teaching hospital so they see a lot of action. This does not interfere with excellent and appropriate care-giving; but it has required time to understand and accept the "moving target" nature of Glenn's condition, needs, treatment and timing. Today I feel okay about staying away from the hospital to catch up on some other things. We are both at a point where we feel confident that Glenn is ready and desires to navigate and advocate for himself, for the most part.

Your concern and support are invaluable. If you are hearing about this for the first time, it is shocking, but know that things are under control now. In a few days I will take a laptop with me so Glenn can read anything you post to this blog; and maybe he will be up for responding. Glenn is not particularly fond of computers, so we'll see.

These past 12 days our families have propped us up in extraordinary ways and a few friends and neighbors have helped define, identify, research, and fulfill...immediate needs and tasks; they have helped contain the flow and potential distortion of information until this time that we can manage more of it ourselves. To you, the fore-runners, we are more grateful than we can ever express. To you who have already learned of this tragedy and have been giving us the space and time needed to get this far, thank you for your patience, your healing energy has been felt. And for you who are just learning now, it is indeed shocking and you may want to hear more background than is available here right now, but know that things are under control, day-to-day goals are being defined and met.

No idea yet about how long Glenn will be in the hospital. Week one taught us that speculation is fruitless. Yesterday Glenn said he sensed he would be there til the end of July. The medical team's goal is that the wounds be sufficiently healed and that Glenn be ambulatory and maybe even doing steps before they release him. He will be an outpatient for some time to come. The rehab, they have told us, is a roller coaster ride and the ultimate goal is for Glenn to regain 99% mobility.

with love and optimism,
Beth