3-13-05/Sunday

Dan has finally started on dialysis for his kidney functions. This machine will help remove the toxins from his body and will also take away much of the fluid that has consumed his body. Given the complexity of all the things going on with Dan, the machine will run around the clock but will take the bad stuff out slowly. If they go too quickly his blood pressure will drop.

A few days ago Kelby noticed some swelling around the incision in Danny’s neck where they removed the tumor. The team had a surgeon come in a clean the area up, but unfortunately it caused increased bleeding in the area and to make matters worse Dan is getting itchy underneath the dressing.

Dan’s blood pressure did drop a bit so they had to back off his pain medication, which wakes him right up. At one point Dan suddenly grabbed hold of my hand and my mom’s and he started to pull himself up. I’m not sure what he wanted to do, maybe he just wanted to show us how strong he still is. Earlier Chris had been commenting on how strong Danny is and I think he wanted to show me too!

Dan is still sharp as tack mentally. I was talking to him about a woodworking project and asking him about dovetail joints versus biscuit joining. He couldn’t talk to me about it but his eyes lit up with the excitement. He shook his head no profusely to the biscuit joints and almost smiled about the dovetail joint. For a short moment in time he was Norm Abrams and the New Yankee Workshop came to Beth Isreal.

Dan still wants that ventilator tube to come out, but he is showing tremendous patience. Dan has been getting a lot more nutrition, which will help him gain strength and ultimately help him breath on his own. He has been getting excellent nursing care recently from Rob, Susan and Bill. They have been doing their best to keep Dan comfortable, but they are always trying to balance his blood pressure, his tolerance level, and Dan’s own strength (stubbornness) that keeps him awake. His nurse Rob was saying tonight that it is Dan’s stubbornness that will carry him through his treatment.

Dan is being so brave and courageous. Dan has a way in which he raises his eyebrow and looks you in the eye, that says I’m gonna be all right. Isn’t that just like Dan, he’s very sick and yet he still tries to comfort you.

Mark

Enter content here

Enter content here

Enter content here