Day 6: Morning Update

Sunday 5 April, 11:15 am MST

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Sunday Mid-Morning; Mountains Above Daniel's Home in Salt Lake City

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The sun, which is shining brightly in Salt Lake City this morning, has evaporated the snowy mists of the past few days. The atmosphere is still crisp, but clear. The weather seems to be mirroring Daniel's recovery process.

Sunday mid-morning; view of east mountains and Mt. Olympus

Sugarhouse park (above) is behind the high school where Daniel graduated, and where he swam for the Highland High swim team with his now fiance Christine.

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Aubrey took the all-night shift at the hospital last night. He called this morning to say Daniel had a pretty good night. Daniel asked Aubrey to talk to him and tell him stories, which Daniel said helps distract him from the pain. Aubrey did this for hours. The pain is still intense, but sometime during the night, the nurse gave Daniel a sedative and he slept for 2.5 hours. Later he slept for another hour.

The respiratory therapist visited and said Daniel's respiration is good. Daniel is able to move a little more now and do some things for himself. He is finally being allowed to drink water again, in small amounts (this has to be a huge relief to Daniel, who has been constantly thirsty). Aubrey provided more details about what comes next. If you are interested, they are included below the next picture.

Saturday evening; view of east mountains from the hospital

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Apparently the laparoscopic surgery Saturday evening to install the drainage tubes was a temporary fix. The results have been good and 3/4 liter of dark red fluid was drained from the cavity behind Daniel's lungs. Also, there were 4 liters of fluid in Daniel's bladder bag this morning. Previously it was filled with blood, but now it is the appropriate color -- yellow.

The part of Daniel's liver that was not destroyed will heal, slowly. Currently, the liver is still leaking bile, so the doctors plan to perform some type of endoscopic procedure tomorrow, entering through Daniel's throat, to install a stint between his liver and his bowel. This will allow the bile from the ruptured liver to leak into the bowel instead of leaking into Daniel's abdomen and lung cavity. Beyond that, Aubrey says it is "wait and see". If the stint does not solve the problem with the bile build-up, then the surgeons will open Daniel's abdomen and perform a more major surgery (but we are learning that the doctors tend to prepare the family for the worst case scenario, and T-Bob is definitely not a worst case type of patient).

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Speaking of doctors, Aubrey says the "quarterback" of the trauma team, Dr. Morris, and the attending physician, Dr. Adams, are excellent physicians, as is the head of the orthopedic surgery team, who repaired Daniel's orthopedic injuries. Aubrey keeps talking about all the teams of doctors who are helping with Daniel's care. Last night's nurse and aid were very attentive and gave Daniel great care, and the same is the case with the nursing shift today.

We hope all of this information helps everyone feel connected. It sounds like this is a day for Daniel to rest up after yesterday's surgery. We are in frequent contact with Aubrey and Mendy and will provide another Day 5 update if anything changes. Otherwise you can assume that everything is stable.

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Addendum: Claudia tells me it is time to "cool it" with the scenery pictures, and I concur. But at least those of you who are far away have had an opportunity to visualize what Daniel and his family can see from the hospital, and that it isn't all staring at brick walls and stats monitors. We will continue to include pictures of Daniel and his family as his recovery progresses (and for the less squeamish, maybe even a pic of what is left of the motorcycle).