May 25, 2010 at 1443

Hello Everyone,
Another update after talking with the Chief of Trama Surgery, Lt. Col. Debra Malone, and she gave us a lot of helpful information.
I'll try to fill you in as it comes to my mind so that may seem a bit scrambled because of my old brain.
When the blast hit David it not only sent fragments into his body, it also threw heat and movement and a great amount of dirt and debris. Sometimes the heat and the movement damage can continue for weeks and they refer to that as "the injury presenting itself". The bacteria and mold spores in the soil of Afghanistan can equally damage open tissue so they can not possibly close all the wounds until they are absolutely sure that the bacteria is at an acceptable level to be controlled through IV methods. Lt. Col. Malone described it as going up a slippery trail, you take two or three steps forward and slip back one or two - so far we are progressing in that forward motion but they are constantly checking for that step back.
I am in the ICU Waiting Room and am talking with the parents of the Marine injured slightly before David - that Marine was the one who lost his hand and both legs. The family just behind me had their Army warrior brought in and he is undergoing full facial re-construction after taking a full blast to the face - he lost one eye as well.
David's kidneys are performing a bit under full capacity but that, from what they say is completely normal. When the body takes a hit like that, certain enzymes are released into the blood and will sometimes cause the kidney to shut down or clog. David's shut down but seems to be coming back nicely. There is absolutely no blockage.
I would tell you what his nurse Capt. Lang told us, but the way he put it would not be really good on this public blog - needless to say, his bowels are working fine.
Brother Grant Williams from the Kaysville 3rd Ward just came in and we talked for about 45 minutes
Lt. Col. Malone spent a good amount of time talking with us about the psychological aspects of what David has experienced. He just came from war and is most likely living that several times over in his head. Within the hour of David receiving his injuries, he took care of another soldier who had sustained almost identical injuries. He will, more than likely, experience PTS or Post Traumatic Syndrome and will need to deal with that in a very real way. We will be advised in the near future as to what our role in that should be so we will leave that in the hands of the experts for right now. We will learn how to treat conversations and photographs, etc.
A lady next to me just, kindly, interrupted our conversation and told me that a friend of hers was the wife of Col. Mike Evans. Col. Evans was present when they were loading David on one of his transport voyages and David was telling the crew that they were putting his IV in the wrong way and was trying to give them instruction as to how they should do it. Col. Evans expressed to his wife that David seemed to be in good spirits.
One of the first comments from David when he spoke to us was that he needed to write Adam. I did some research and found that Adam was on his first deployment as an EOD and that David was, I assume, his mentor. We found that Adam was injured but that he stayed in Afghanistan due to the limited injuries he sustained.
When I was last with David, Katherine said, "David, your dad is here!" I went over and he put his left arm around my neck and pulled me close and said "I love you so much Dad!" You'll never guess what I did, yep, I cried.

I can't remember any more so I'm headed back into the ICU.

See You All Later,

Gordon

P.S. Some of you reading this will understand this: I'm eternally grateful for my garden!