Update #59

The power of prayer never ceases to amaze me. It shouldn't surprise me as much as it does, but I'm a slow learner, I guess.

First, Dave slept through the night last night - yeah! I got to his room just in time for the 11:00 p.m. visiting hours, and he was sound asleep. He rolled his head toward me, opened his eyes, smiled, then fell back to sleep. When I arrived at 5:30 a.m., he was still sleeping - his nurse didn't even have to disturb him to change his dressings. :-) Dave has been put on a very low dose of relaxers to help with his anxiety, so I'm sure that is helping him to sleep better - it was amazing to see him so peaceful.

If that wasn't enough, this morning on rounds, Dave's doctor said that his platelet count is back up to 42,000 all by itself (he had a transfusion right before surgery yesterday but nothing since then), which means that his body is producing platelets again and the bacteria from his infection isn't killing them. Also, his white blood cell count dropped again - from 36 to 30 between Tuesday and yesterday, and from 30 to 24 between yesterday and today. So incredible! Sepsis...staph infection...nothing can stop the power of a country full of prayers. :-)

Dave also had his surgery, yesterday instead of Tuesday, and I apologize for not giving any updates, but I was back in Cincinnati trying to focus on a meeting while waiting quite impatiently to hear how it had gone. The screen in his vein was inserted successfully, and his heart and brain are no longer in danger from the clot in his pelvis. Although the clot is still causing him pain, he did allow us to move his ankle and foot quite a bit this morning, which has been nearly impossible in the past few days.

When the infection was at its worst, the nurses were pumping Dave full of fluid again, which was causing a small part of the pain that he was feeling in his leg as the skin stretched and blistered. As the infection improves, the fluid is disappearing - coming out of every small scratch, hole and blister and leaving his sheets and bed soaked - which is reducing the pressure on his leg and foot, as well as on the rest of his body.

Although the infection may take weeks to heal fully, Dave's improvement is amazing - evident in the fact that the respiratory therapist has started him on lung PT again (the CPAP - pressure support only - setting on the ventilator) and the physical therapists worked out his arms and legs pretty intensely this morning.

Dave has been very awake and talkative, and he really does seem much more relaxed than he has in the past few days. He talks constantly about getting out of the hospital and can't wait until he can do things for himself again. Keep praying for the wound - they took the mesh out (what was left of it) and have left the skin graft attached on one side until they can figure out what they want to try next - and for his continued fight against infection.

Love you all,
Kendahl