Daniel Is Home

Dear Readers,

Below is an update from Aubrey. He describes Daniel's progress better than we ever could.

Thank you for your many prayers and support for Daniel and his family. We are out of town and unable to get reliable internet access, so you may not see any updates for a few days. In the interim, it is possible for Aubrey or Mendy (or even Daniel himself perhaps) to update you by adding comments to this entry. Perhaps they will do that.

And now for Aubrey's update.

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(written Tuesday 14 April, 8:04 am MST)

Bill,

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from Mendy saying a determined "trauma bobsled" had defied all of his doctors expectations of an extended stay in a rehab center, and was returning home...today! "Is it possible to stop what you are doing and go pick him up...now?" My first response was complete shock and then, "are they crazy?" One of Mendy's good friends brought her cleaning lady to the house and she and Mendy went from top to bottom, while I frantically tried to stop the hospital dismissal of Daniel. Quickly realizing the avalanche was gaining momentum, I had Stephanie from my office arrange for a hospital bed to be delivered to the house, while I hurriedly called "Dogmode", our favorite boarding kennel and booked a room for Brady...only to discover he was overdue 3 of his vaccinations and they wouldn't let him come. It was 5:00 when I reached the Vet, and he told me to come right down and he would facilitate the shots. I called Geoff and of course he told me to "chill" and I told him he had 15 minutes to get Brady to the vet and then to the kennel. Geoff called Mendy and offered to keep Brady @ Kelsey's and wanted to know why I was so stressed out. Mendy told him to just do whatever I wanted. In the mean time, I am talking to any doctor who will listen to me and trying to convince them to re-evaluate Daniel and send him to a rehab center for a transitional period. After all, he just had his last chest tube removed YESTERDAY! He had gone up and down throughout Sunday. In the morning he had felt a lot of pain and was slipping into a hopeless depression. He didn't even feel like having his physical therapy...something that he has always insisted on each day. He finally fell asleep, after some good drugs kicked in and we decided to keep visitors away for the afternoon. Within a couple of hours he was wondering where his physical therapists were. He was ready to walk the halls....and, he did just that. He man aged the entire hallway of the unit, through the double security doors, down the public hallway, around the bank of elevators, through another hallway, and then managed the return trip as well. I kept telling him that however far he traveled one way, he would have to travel the same distance back, but he just kept walking; of course, with his little entourage of nurses...me supporting his arm, one carrying his portable chest tube suctioning machine, and another nurse "spotting" him to stop his likely fall. Not long after he returned to bed, they took him for his daily chest X ray. After discovering the fluid around his lungs had diminished to an acceptable level, they actually removed his chest tube. Mendy and I decided it was time for him to try a night by himself with reassurance from the nurses that they would keep a close watch. Grandma took the next shift at 6:45am and then things started to happen. Apparently, against all odds, he started walking to the bathroom, by himself...with of course, his nurses and therapists keeping a close watch. The therapists allow him to continue to walk by himself and then introduce him to the portable stair steps, for the ultimate challenge. He continues to persist until he has mastered the stairs. The trauma team comes in and evaluates him and makes a decision to send him to rehab. A therapist from the rehab center comes to give him an evaluation and tells him that there really isn't a need for him to go to rehab, because he has surpassed what they could do for him. Within an hour I was getting a call to come pick him up. Needless to say, my efforts (and you know my determination) were failing and I found myself leaving my office to go to the hospital and pick up our son, to bring him home.

I stopped at the top of "hospital row" (Primary Children's, UofU, Huntsman Cancer Research, and the Moran Eye Center) and took a few pictures of a gorgeous sunset. The reality of it all started to settle in. Daniel looked around and said, "it's so beautiful". We drove the 2.5 miles home and in to the driveway. I opened the door of the car for Daniel to get out, only to realize again that he had a cast arm, a braced leg from top to bottom, a frail, skinny body, and no crutches. I left him leaning against the car while I ran upstairs to retrieve my crutches, only to find them gone. After a couple times scratching our heads, Mendy remembered that we had loaned them to Geoff. Before Geoff could get to the house, Daniel reminded me that I also had a walking cane, so I retrieved it and he, by himself conquered the incline of the sidewalk and stepped over the threshold into the kitchen, took the walk to the living room, waited for 10 minutes for Geoff to show up with the crutches and then took on the challenge of maneuvering the stairs to the family room, where he would now take up residence. Within minutes, we turned to see Christine walking up the stairs with a big smile on her face. Then, the friends started coming in. So much for Dad's sanity. I walked up the remaining stairs, shut my door and went to bed, realizing my defeat. I now wake up realizing Daniel's victory.

Thanks for all you have done for us.

Aubrey and Mendy