Day 4: What We've All Been Waiting For

Friday 3 April, 2:30 pm MST

We were going to be cautiously optimistic when writing this post (because the doctors are telling his parents that Daniel still has "a long road ahead of him" and that they are still concerned about infection, etc.) , but we find ourselves unable to restrain the great optimism we feel after hearing the relief in Aubrey's voice as he called with the news from Daniel's surgery. In Aubrey's words, "He did really well."

During this operation, the surgeons worked on six pieces of elbow and cartilage. They discarded one piece and repaired the others. A metal plate and six screws were inserted at the fracture site. The metal plate will probably eventually be removed to give Daniel more range of motion. The surgeons also sutured the lacerations on Daniel's leg. It does not look like any further orthopedic surgery will be needed for Daniel's leg and pelvis. In the surgeon's words, "they will heal themselves." This is incredible news, as we had previously thought more surgeries would be required.

Daniel is in Recovery right now (coming out of the anesthesia). He should be out of Recovery in another half hour. Daniel has still been in a lot of pain and is exhausted, so when you come to visit at the hospital, please remember to do your visiting with the family in the waiting room. As we reported in an earlier post, you will probably not be able to go to Daniel's room this evening as he will need time to rest and recover from the surgery. And with the risk of infection still high, the trauma doctors are trying to protect Daniel's strength.

In his telephone report, Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief and said, "one more thing under our belt."

It is amazing how many doctors and independent teams are involved in Daniel's care and Aubrey and Mendy are so grateful Daniel is in a facility where he can get such superb medical attention. But the greatest strength and hope continues to come from a source more powerful than any this world has to offer. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.