Memorial Day May 31, 2010 at 1117

Happy Memorial Day,
The address I gave for David the other day is still good.
David has his motorcycle at the home of one of you blog followers and I probably shouldn't mention your name, but I would like you to give me a call at 801-694-2874.
We had the privilege of being at the Arlington Cemetery this morning and what an incredibly reverent place that is. It was a pleasure not to hold back tears when thinking what so many of those heroes gave for the freedoms we treasure. Many heroes like David and many of his friends.
David is having a really good day. Breathing tubes gone, chest tube to keep the lung inflated is gone, cast on his right arm up to the arm pit is now just below the elbow (that is incredible to me because the first reports we received led us to believe he would have limited motion of his right arm from the elbow down and now the elbow seems to be just fine), and now he even has a button to push to apply some of his own pain medication.
When David was in High School he was sledding and decided to take on a tree with his right arm. The tree won the fight and he had a compound fracture that took many hours for Dr. Pepper Murray to repair. David has always been proud of that scar and has often tried to pass it off as a shark bite. We were talking a few minutes ago and I told him that he now had some scars that he could, without question, pass off as several shark attack bites. He smiled, as he often does.
The kidneys are still relaxing and waiting for their return appearance but, I'm confident, that will happen.
David now has a TV in his room and had me put it on the Cartoon Network this morning before we left for the Arlington Cemetery. They also have him set up with an X-box and a Wii but he didn't feel up to that just yet.
His friend, Seth Leonard, brought 4 big boxes of popsicles (root beer and banana) yesterday and David is in 7th Heaven.
David is having a debate with himself as to whether or not he should keep his (very thick) mustache when he is awarded the Purple Heart this next Thursday.
It is so nice to see him alert and feeling better and I wish he didn't have to go back into surgery again tomorrow but we all know that is part of the whole process. The surgery from yesterday left his voice very horse and the feeding tube through his nose and down his throat really make you have to listen close when he is trying to talk.
He had another unit of blood today just to keep his blood counts where they need to be.

I want to express my thanks to so many of you who have left notes or called, or even just thought and prayed for David. He has had many of his great friends visit and these are phenomenal individuals. If their usual mannerisms are the same as they are around Lynnette and I, their parents and our military has created some great men and women.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day, this is one that I will never forget.

Thumbs Up!

Gordon

P.S. While I am typing this blog I am sitting in the ICU waiting room. About 8 feet away is a mother and father and the wife of a Marine that came in yesterday. They were married this last Valentine's Day. The soldier is in the operating room, right now, fighting for his life. He has lost one leg, potentially up to the hip, one arm up to and possibly including the elbow, and many other injuries. He is in extremely critical condition. While listening, I found that his older brother died a short time ago.
No matter how bad things are in our lives, we don't need to look very far to find another who is possibly hurting more and needs more than ourselves.

Count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!!!!!!!!