Hi all:  This is Claudia again.  I just came from Daniel's house to get the latest.  I apologize that you are receiving this a bit after the fact, but Bill and I were out of town for a week.  

To update everyone, Daniel came home from another hospital stay today.  Last Thursday afternoon, Daniel had a scheduled appointment with his trauma team at the hospital.  The doctors took one of his drainage tubes out, leaving Daniel with only one tube left.  The doctors were hoping to wean him off of the remaining tube, which would be removed after another two weeks.  

By 9 p.m. that same Thursday night, Daniel began running a fever.  He was up all night with diarrhea and chills.  Early Friday morning his parents called his doctor, who said Daniel should be taken directly to the ER.   Blood tests revealed that Daniel's white blood count was quite high, indicating continued infection in his liver. Daniel was put on IV antibiotics, and the doctors said he should remain in the hospital until his fever and diarrhea were taken care of.  (Okay, let me just say I am using the descriptive 'd' word to give folks an idea of his medical condition.  I hope it does not come across as TMI -- too much information!)  

Daniel finally began feeling better early Monday morning.  He came home today, Tuesday, about 4 p.m.  He is still on IV antibiotics at home.  A home health care nurse will be coming in periodically to check his vital signs and make sure he is doing okay.  

As most of you know from reading the blog, Daniel has had great difficulty tolerating the pain meds given to him, and so he found taking ibuprofen helped his pain as well as, if not better than, anything else.  However, his bloodwork at the hospital revealed some beginning danger signs of his kidneys being negatively affected by so much ibuprofen, so he can no longer take that to relieve his pain.  He is on a different pain med, but Mendy said it is not nearly as effective as the ibuprofen was.

Please continue to keep Daniel in your prayers.  His latest unexpected hospital stay reminds us that even though Daniel is an amazing young man who has been greatly blessed through this ordeal,  much still lies ahead of him in terms of recovery.  We continue to pray that Daniel and his family will experience strength and comfort as Daniel's body continues to heal.