Friday, May 28, 2010 at 1750

David has completed another round of surgery - this one was approximately 4 hours. As was planned, the pinkie finger was removed and the wound was left open. They were able to save enough skin from the finger to close the wound on the side of his hand when the time is right.
That long explanation of the skin flaps and attaching his arm and wrist to his abdomen was delayed until the middle of next week. We were also told that the "fixator" attached to his pelvis would be altered to accommodate making the arm completely immovable for the 3 to 4 weeks necessary to obtain good tissue growth.
Unfortunately there was a necessity to do more "debrisment" from both legs. Debrisment is the term they use for cutting away unhealthy tissue. The debrisment did not necessitate changing any length at this time and it appears that they will wait until the very last moment to make the final adjustment to the length of his legs - they anticipate very little change, if any.
David had to have 3 more units of blood in the operating room. That much blood loss was prepared for but not necessarily anticipated. The problem they encounter is that the body can not produce enough red blood cells to keep up with the blood loss during surgery - they're just keeping up through the transfusions to make sure there is very little change in his blood pressure. So, that was 5 units of blood today - if you haven't donated for awhile, you may want to consider taking the time.
Some good news is that they found the other end of the transected (I believe that's the right word) ulnar nerve and it may result in much better sensation and use of his right ring finger. Any good news through this whole procedure is fantastic.
The impressive thing is that, sometimes, the only way we can see he is in pain is if the area between his eyebrows is wrinkled. It was wrinkled and we asked what his pain level was - between 1 and 10? He said 12.
After a little medication he was closer to a 4 and he opened his eyes wide. Catherine told him how wonderful it was to see his eyes because, she said "you're always hiding those eyes from me." He immediately squinted his eyes so she could hardly see them. I tell you, this son of mine has a fantastic sense of humor and I'm loving every second of it.
The infectious disease team was very comfortable with the current situation and are feeling very good about how he is progressing in that regard.
One of the more tender things that I have heard in the past few days is when Lynnette asked another mother who's son had lost his legs, "didn't you just love kissing your baby's toes?" I'm hoping that when David is all well and looks back at some of these entries that he doesn't decide to smack me for being so gushy and sentimental.

Soooo many different feelings behind soooo many different tears.

All My Love,

Gordon