Update #116

Although I have not been as good about updating recently, I hope this blog is still useful to the many of you who are too far away to come see how incredible Dave looks for yourself.

New prayer request today: out of nowhere this morning, Dave started experiencing chest pain, a tightness that started around his heart and spread gradually toward the right side of his chest. Considering his two past cardiac episodes, needless to say, the issue was a little concerning. Dr. Weintz ran an EKG, which came back normal, and eventually the pain subsided, but please be praying that the pain was just a fluke (extreme heartburn or something equally minor) and not evidence of a larger problem.

Otherwise, things are going well. We continue to wait to hear from Dr. Bauer, the Pulmonary Specialist, regarding Dave's bronchial scope, but while we wait, Dave's breathing is making progress. Currently, in addition to his IPV breathing treatments that he gets five times per day (pump oxygen and Albuterol into his lungs to loosen the congestion and make him cough), Dave also has two different breathing mechanisms that he uses to help improve his lungs, both of which he has been using since he was at UT. The first, his Acapella (a.k.a. Flutter Valve, a.k.a. Pickle), also works to break up the congestion in his chest (don't really understand how, but that's why I'm marrying an engineer - I'm sure Dave could explain it without a problem). The second, the incentive spirometer, measures the volume of oxygen that he is getting on each inhale. For the incentive spirometer, Dave has been running around 750 and occasionally hitting 1,000 per inhale (a normal 26-year-old non-smoker should be around 2,000). Last night, he was consistently at 1,000 and even hit 1,250 once. His cough is getting stronger, and his lungs are sounding okay. Hopefully, whenever he finally has the bronchial scope, it will show no scar tissue in his throat but only that the muscles he uses to breathe need to get stronger to compensate for his injured diaphram.

PT/OT continues to go well. Although the length of time that Dave is standing is not increasing (still about a minute and a half twice per day with the parallel bars), the ease with which he gets up certainly is. Transfers between his bed and his chair are getting progressively easier, and Dave is gaining strength in both arms and both legs every day. The EMG has even strengthened his right leg to the point that he can now flex his whole right foot! Still praying that the nerves in his left leg will regenerate...

The biggest piece of news from my perspective is that when the Wound Care Team changed his dressing on Thursday of last week, his wound was noticeably smaller, probably only two-thirds the size it was when we arrived at Drake! Being by his side every day makes it difficult to notice progress, so it was incredible to see just how much his abdomen is healing. Dave's body is generating new skin all over the wound area, so the dressing change is getting easier and easier, and we are moving continually toward the next step of ditching the wound vac and moving to something much smaller and much less complicated.

Overall, Dave is still moving forward. Be praying for his lungs, his vision and his left foot. More soon...