Day 81 - Happy start

Today we arrived to find Daniel in bed lounging. An attempt was made to get breakfast going with his nurse before we arrived, but Daniel was having none of it. Once we were gowned up we helped him up and out of bed. He made some happy noises and he was smiling and "wagging his tail"! If you know Daniel and you've seen him happy you can picture what I mean. This we have not seen since before the accident. It was so unexpected and wonderful to see and hear Daniel being HAPPY!!

The Mama feeds the dude

After PT K. worked with him he was making happy noises again. Today is a good day. Well at least up to mid-morning. We'll see if this happy trend continues.

This lotion is REALLY awesome for Daniel's skin. He dries out so quickly. Putting this on really helps. It melts when you put it on; like basting a turkey. In some sense maybe that's not far off. 🍗

Here's an action shot of Daniel bouncing on his big red ball. He must be feeling pretty good to be able to move his body like this - more wiggling and bouncing. It takes balance and core strength too. Good job Dan!

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News flash:
Daniel has a discharge date! At least it's in the system and that date is: April 25th - about a week and a half from now. We think he will actually be ready to come home on that date, but will we be ready?

Well I'm definitely done with being here and coming here every single day for the past 80 days. Dawn and I know the routine with wound care, we know how to wash him, feed him, and we've had plenty of experience with medication management. We might need to make a few minor changes in our home, but we think he will be happy to leave and head home. I'm sure there's a surprise or two left for us, but we're happy because we can see the end of Daniel's hospital stay is in sight.

His recovery is long from complete. He's got a year or more of pain just from burn sites, his elbows are somewhat locked in place, he will itch all over for months and months, and there could be surgeries down the line to help loosen the grip on his shoulders and get his elbows to unlock. Burns are horrible. Don't try this at home!
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It's a stretch, but when motivated with a good snack he CAN get food up to his mouth - just barely.