Day 62 - In the Land of the Simpsons?

Daniel has definitely arrived in the land of the itch. Today Daniel continued to feel irritated and was not able to do too much therapy until we got some anti-itch medications going. The Atarax helped and we also tried another that should make him less drowsy.

We're trying everything we can to help. It was suggested that a deeper massage style is better for the itch than a soft touch. Keeping his skin moist is also a key strategy. There are a few medications that seem to be helping and we've discovered that when he wears his new face plate it seems to calm him and puts him to sleep. We have a weighted blanket that we will try tomorrow and see if that soothes his itchy skin. The weighted blanket can be a tool with sensory issues that can calm individuals. It's never been much of a help with Daniel in the past but the pressure against his new skin may feel soothing so we'll give it a try and report how that goes tomorrow.

Today during wound care we learned that Daniel's back grafts are looking great and will fill in on a few spots. There's one rectangular section on his left side of back that needs a graft as it will heal faster that way. We could wait, but it might not fill in and would take longer than re-grafting so this is the best way to heal this area and get Daniel moved off the ICU floor and into full-on recovery. This final surgery is planned for Wednesday and will probably not take too long to complete.

Now if we can just get his mind off the itching and get his feeding level up then work on all the rehabilitation we'll be heading home sooner than later. Home is probably more than a month away, but there's no way to know until we get further along in rehab.