By popular requsest, another post.

09-09-09

Greetings everyone,

It's been five days since I last posted here. Previously I mentioned how it would most likely be difficult for me to see the progress Danny makes because now I see him all the time. I do notice change and improvement as we do wound care each day. I see how the healing is coming along by each spot that at one time was a large opening in the skin. He has very few open sores now and the ones left are quite small. The very tender and sensitive areas are still giving him extreme pain if touched or bumped. He is doing better with pain though, today he didn't take any pain medication until later this evening. He dislikes very much being dependent on drugs for any reason.

We have our good days and bad days here. It seems for every good day, Danny pays for it with one, maybe two bad days. Right now he is experiencing tiredness and fatigue. Most of the day a nagging cough has been bothering him. Those are classic signs of pneumonia, so tomorrow at the hospital check up, we will find out about it.

9-12-09 Morning

We did that check up on Thursday, with no problem of pneumonia. We were told his lungs will have debris in them caused by the vent tube in his gullet for 10 days. He just needs to cough all of that out and get rid of it. The fatigue and being tired is something he'll deal with for the next few months and is typical for his type of injuries. Physical rehab went well, with Danny doing what was asked plus a little extra. As we left the hospital he pushed the wheelchair instead of riding in it. Part of that is pain from sitting on a part of his body that was also burned.

Yesterday, 9-11-09, we were up early and Danny was quite active. He was walking around the house and getting some exercise then decided to go for a walk around the block before the sun comes up. He cannot be in the sun at all, or severe scarring will be the result. I watched him take off up the block and he was walking tall. Some of the neighbor ladies said hello to him as they were walking too. When he got home we had breakfast, then it was back to exercise. While doing a little wound care, he found a couple of staples in his right leg left over from surgery. I called to find out if we should try to remove them but were told it would be taken care of next time we're at the burn unit. I told Danny some wire clippers and pliers would do the job. He said he would just as soon wait. Now what fun is that?

Also on Friday I took him over to the Ogden Athletic Club where he began more physical therapy. He was measured for his range of movement, then Frank (his therapist) took Danny out into the training area and got him started on several of the machines. If things go as planned, he will be at the OAC on Mondays and Wednesdays, then a session of rehab at the U Med Center on Fridays. I was watching and decided we need to find him some more stylish clothes for such activity. Pull over shirts are a problem because of his ears. We thought of some sort of Velcro system to fasten the shirts together some way, but that's still in the works.

Friday evening Danny soaked in the tub full of water for the first time in years according to him. (Typical guy doing showers.) It did wonders for his appearance. All the dead skin that's been stubbornly hanging on finally came off. Other than the discoloration, the injured areas are starting to look very smooth like they should.

We improvise every day thinking of ways to make him more comfortable. Some things work while others we'll only try once. It's a slow process, but progress is being made.

Best wishes,
Jan