Tuesday 22 June 2010 at 1135

I went home about 10:30 last night and was just too dang tired to do much but go to sleep.

David has a pretty good day yesterday. The Physical Therapy technician came in with the occupational therapist and had David setting up to almost 90 degrees. He said it felt great even though it was stretching his back quite a bit. Remembering that his bed is inflatable, I don't think he will be able to set up that far against a solid surface. Both of the technicians were female and one ended up climbing up on the bed and kneeling behind him while the other on stood to the side and supported the left shoulder. The actually did that twice and the second time I was able to reach in and give his entire back a good washing - he was really pumped just thinking about setting up.

Next they worked on some strength training. The had him lift both legs 10 times and had him do 3 repetitions of that exercise. Then they had him press both legs as far down, 10 times, and do 2 repetitions of that exercise. Then they had him squeeze his rear end, as tight as he could, 30 times. Then they worked with his right hand and forced the wrist as far forward as his pain would allow and worked with each knuckle and joint in the same manner. At this very minute, they are reheating the brace, on his right arm, in an effort to reposition it to straighten the wrist and the knuckles. It's all good moves. After he sat up so well yesterday, they ordered him a wheelchair so he could drive himself around and outside. I am a little worried about that transitioning from the bed to the wheelchair and back again because of the tube that was pulled the other day. He is extremely tender from that. When I expressed my concerns with him, he calmly said that we would work through it - obviously he feels that the pain is worth the freedom.

David and I discussed the actual incident again and, in my mind, it is great that David has the attitude that he can talk openly about the event. This morning, SSGT Fraley, the soldier I mentioned the other day that had a skull fracture from a large chunk of shrapnel in the side of his head, came in to see David and they had a nice chat and a good laugh. SSGT Fraley also had injuries to his left shoulder that messed up one of his tattoos and David is worried about the skin grafts tomorrow because he doesn't want the Cysteine Chapel tattoo on his back to be messed up. We'll do a special request for them to leave that tattoo in tact.

David is eating much better now because he does not want that feeding tube back in.

He slept great last night. His energy level was much better today. There are so many things that are going pretty good. David will be out of commission for about 5 days after the skin grafts because they really need to keep his movement level low while the skin grafts take hold. After that, they will be evaluating if he can transfer to Walter Reed or to Balboa Hospital in San Diego.

I need to get back into his room.

Love to All,

Gordon