Day 5: Midnight Edition

This pic was taken outside the hospital while Daniel was in surgery. In the left of frame you can see one of the "Life Flight" helicopters on the hospital roof landing pad.



This view is also from outside the hospital, looking west at the Great Salt Lake (which lies shimmering at sunset, with Antelope Island in the background). Inside the hospital Daniel's surgeons are performing the laparoscopic surgery to insert the tubes and drain the bile and other fluids that have built up in Daniel's abdomen and around his lungs. This surgery went well and if it continues to accomplish what is necessary, a major surgery to open Daniel's abdomen will be avoided. The shadowed dome in the center of the picture is the Utah State Capitol.

(Note: You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger image.)




A happy dad and fiance with Daniel, who still does not have well-managed pain, but he says, "I have learned to deal with it and I breathe through it". However once his blood hematocrit levels are more normal (they are at 2/3 right now), the trauma team can change the pain medication to something that is more effective. Daniel said the morphine managed the pain at first, but is not working now. Aubrey and Christine are smiling because Daniel's surgery went so well.




Daniel is back to not being allowed to drink fluids, but he can gargle water and then suction it out of his mouth. Christine assists.




Trauma Bobsled finally closes his eyes after a long day of internal bleeding and fluid leakage, distended abdomen, emergency surgery and LOTS of pain. But his spirits are amazingly good. All things considered, we think T Bob has come through like a true stud. As they say in rural Utah, he knows how to cowboy up.
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Aubrey shared with us a long list of medical assessments tonight that we don't dare attempt to translate to the blog at this time. But Aubrey will write a letter and explain in more detail what shape Daniel's body is in. For now, we will tell you that we had no idea just how traumatic the collision impact was to Daniel's body. The fact that he is alive, that he did not incur serious brain damage, and that he did not have a significant spinal cord injury (only one chipped vertebrae) is truly a miracle. One of Daniel's doctors said, given the force of the impact and the damage to the internal organs, he is amazed Daniel survived the crash. Daniel will get through this and heal and be whole again, and THAT is an incredible miracle.