Update #71

Dave continues to progress well. Yesterday, he worked on the trach collar for three and a half hours in the morning, then sat up in his chair for an hour and a half! He also got another massage, which seems to be almost a daily thing now (I think Gayle and her associate JoAnn are succumbing to Dave's charms as well), and he gets more and more relaxed every single time.

During Dave's work on the trach collar, he has used his Passey-Muir (I think that's the correct spelling) speaking valve a few times, and his voice seems to be getting a little bit stronger each time. The valve makes breathing even more difficult than just breathing on the trach collar, so he doesn't like working with it that much, and we have gotten good enough at reading his lips that I'm not sure he sees the point of speaking out loud (especially since his voice really doesn't sound like his when he uses the valve).

The drainage from Dave's colon has remained at a fairly low rate, and according to his nurses, that rate (and the progress in scar tissue growth over his wounds) has made Dave's condition closer to manageable outside of the ICU. Brenda, his day nurse for the past couple of days, has indicated that she will be talking to Dave's primary doctor to get an idea of what exactly it will take to get him on to his next location and the next phase of his recovery, which will most likely be at the Select Specialty Hospital at St. Mary's Hospital in Knoxville and will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.

Some of the levels in Dave's blood have been down (hemoglobin is one of them, I think), so there is a good possibility that he will be getting another unit of blood in the next couple of days.

One specific prayer request - Dave has a new pain in his back, near his left hip, which makes sitting in the chair extremely painful and PT on that side much more difficult. Be praying that the physical therapists, nurses and doctors can figure out what is causing the pain soon so he can continue to progress.

Just as a heads up, I'm up in Cinci to take my middle schoolers on a retreat from now until Sunday. I will continue to get updates from Dave's parents whenever I can and will do my best to get the updates posted on the website as quickly as possible. Please don't worry, however, if the website isn't updated as frequently. If anything serious comes up, I will be sure to post it. Otherwise, as always, no news is good news.

His Spirit, His will, His peace, His glory,
Kendahl