Day 26 - Sunday Sunday

Daniel was queued up first to go to the Tub Room today so we held off driving in to the hospital until we knew he would be back in his room mid-morning. We learned that Daniel's white blood count had dropped back down a little; still high, but moving in the right direction. Daniel's weight dropped a bit more - we discussed some concern and what we think his "typical" weight would have been before his burn. Since his calorie intake was upped about 30% two days ago we think it will begin to balance out.

Last night (Amanda, her BF Evan, Susan, Wes (grandparents), Dawn and I) met back at our house and walked down the block to dine at Duo. It was a great evening escape for us to spend quality time with family and getting to know Evan better. I think we all had a good time over dinner & dessert and then back to our casa.

Amanda was with Daniel again this morning and spent some time with Daniel looking on protectively as only a big sister can. She and Evan are driving back over the Rockies to Grand Junction after meeting Carly her friend from HS and college roommate.

By noon Daniel's temperature spiked so he received some Tylenol and it's been dropping back down since. He's been pretty sleepy today, but then his eyes open and he's looking around and appears alert. These days he seems to really enjoy having his feet and head rubbed - he shuts his eyes and you can see him relax big-time!

Jamie is here today (on her birthday) visiting Daniel and doing some light stretching and arm work. We're hoping to get Daniel sitting up again and doing an activity. We want his fever to go back down before we get him up and out of bed. We want him all rested up and ready to go for his big surgery tomorrow, but he does need to get moving.

Daniel did 30 minutes sitting up, but he seemed pretty pooped after doing a puzzle. We gave him his talker and he asked for BREAK, then he asked for BED so we honored his request, assembled the team and moved him back to rest in bed. He's currently shaking off the pain/exhertion, but doing fine again in bed. I wonder if he knows he's having a big surgery tomorrow?

Two days ago when Daniel was once again walking out of his room and sitting in a chair the staff declared him "ambulatory" which is a big milestone. It means he will be doing more movement and gaining strength, but that they've raised the bar for what they expect of him too. It also earned him sheets on his bed!

I had a seriously gnarly headache last night that I could not make go away. My head was pounding from every angle (stress + alchohol + sweets DO NOT MIX) - it reminded me how Daniel probably feels 24x7, but it doesn't even come close to his struggle. I just had a wittle-teeny-tiny headache, while he's got this major ache all over that will not go away.

The thing is there's no escape until he's all better. He can't escape the hard work his body is doing CONSTANTLY. His heart is working hard; all his organs are pumping and working overtime. No escape from this HARD WORK until he's got new skin everywhere. I'm hoping that once his burned skin areas are all grafted over that his body can slow down a little and doesn't have to work so hard CONSTANTLY - WITH NO BREAK!

Once the grafting is complete then he will have new battles with regaining strength, fighting infection and overcoming the pain of using his body again - a lot like working for months in zero gravity and coming back to earth. At least by that time he won't have the marathon-each-day exhaustion that he's dealing with right now.