Day 15 - Deaccessorize

During morning rounds today much of the discussion was about scaling back on as many things as possible as Daniel just isn't needing all the extra hospital "bling". He's off all his IVs except for fluid intake. No antibiotics, no IV pain control, no BP meds. He's breathing on his own, but being given oxygen to keep his throat and lungs clear. (He's getting plenty of pain control medications every 6 hours or so).

He's still being fed through a feeding tube down his nose that terminates in his small intestine. A speech therapist came to see how his swallowing was coming along since his airway was removed. She gave him a small amount of ice chips to see how he could handle it and he had some difficulty swallowing, but it might be that his head was tilted back (to help with his neck burns). He's coughing up a lot of stuff today, but that's what they want to see. It's a good strong cough.

His day nurse today is spending a lot of time making him comfortable and keeping him clean. She spent a good deal of time brushing his mouth and teeth. I wasn't sure, but it looked like he had an injury in his mouth behind his top front teeth and the brushing didn't remove whatever was there. Actually it could be that it got scraped from the first airway that was put in before he arrived at this hospital. This was the first day I could really see in to his mouth. All clean now.

Later today his wounds will be looked at and redressed as they do each day. Now that his arms have been autografted (from his legs) the surgeons want to see how the new graft looks. They also want to see how his legs are doing from the places where they took skin - all his right leg (front and back!) and left thigh. His legs are all wrapped and packed in this goop that speeds the healing on them. The goop along with some weeping drips out and "splooges" on the bed, sheets and floor in a pink goopy mess at times. The surgeons seem to love the stuff as it promotes healing, but the nurses don't care for it as much because they have to tend to the mess.

Before noon the PT came by and sat him up in his bed for a bit then had him stand. I think he seemed a bit weaker than the first time he stood on Monday, but he did just have surgery and they basically grated the skin off his legs so that's got to take it out of the fella. Dan seems to be handling the pain of this whole process like a trooper. They left him sitting up for awhile longer, the eased him back.

Daniel seems to be looking more alert and "with it" today. Yesterday after surgery he looked pretty wiped out, but now that the sedation meds have worn off he appears to be much more himself. Dan and I are listening to the Beach Boys right now and watching more Disney videos. I'm about to attempt to color in a page from a hippy adult coloring book (thanks Laurel and Shari). ✌

Update on Dawn's burns on her hands: During today's checkup they determined that Dawn won't need any grafting on the burns on her hand. The burn on her right arm is nearly healed - she isn't wearing any dressing on it, no band-aid or anything. Just need to hit it with Vitamin E or lotion daily. The left hand still needs to be dressed, but is looking clean and like it will heal on its own in time.