Update from Aubrey -- Another Surgery Scheduled for 5pm Today

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Monday 1 June, 4:45 pm MST

Dear Bill,

Yesterday (Sunday) I went to the hospital to take Daniel to church. The hospital has a chapel and provides a short service for the patients if they want to attend. Daniel was in a lot of pain when I showed up, so much that he just mumbled a few words to me. His eyes were glossy and his lip was quivering, so I sat with him and rubbed his feet until he fell asleep. Then, I stood guard outside his door and wouldn't even let the nurses in to check on him. I hadn't seen him sleep for a long time so I wasn't about to let anyone wake him. He had previously quit taking any narcotics because they made him sick, so he had been surviving on Tylenol and Ibuprofen for the past 2 days.

Yesterday, they prescribed Tramadol, which helped him relax and seemed to take the sharp edge off of his pain. Later, he perked up when his friends came for a visit and I actually talked him into letting me go find something for him to eat. I came back with some cheese raviolis (that were actually pretty tasty) and he ate them all. Christine and I both reacted to his first huge bite and told him that one bite amounted to more than he had eaten in a week. After I left, the doctors came in and removed all of his staples and one of his drainage tubes. He was not prepared for the pain caused by the removal of the tube. He said it hurt worse than anything so far. When I came back later in the evening, Christine put some latex gloves on and pulled the tube from the trash can to show to me. It was over 2 ft. long and had an additional 8" flat strip attached to the end. I can imagine that the liver tissue must have tightened against the tube and caused some intense friction when they pulled it out.

Today he is at the Huntsman Center, just about ready to go in for another surgery. They are replacing the stint from his liver to his large intestine because it was starting to move out of the liver. Over the past few days, bile has been coming out of one of his drainage tubes rather than traveling through the stint. This will be the 9th surgery they have performed on him. They will go through his throat and perform the surgery endoscopically. They are considering taking out another one of the (4) drainage tubes during the surgery as well. Daniel told them he wouldn't allow them to remove any more of the tubes unless they put him to sleep first. You know it must hurt for him to say that. In the past, whenever they removed the other chest tubes, he didn't even flinch.

His spirits aren't too high right now, which is to be expected. He has been extraordinarily courageous and positive through this whole ordeal, and so has Christine. I'll let you know how the surgery went, as soon as he's out of recovery.

Love,

Aubrey