Friday, July 16, 2010 at 2203

Hope You're All Having a Great Weekend,

Well, here's the report for today:

David has been quite comfortable and has been sleeping very well. Every 2 days they re-dress his wounds and take a close look at all the areas of concern. I know that I reported, a few days ago, that he was free of stitches, but I was wrong, there were more on the back of his legs and the technician said he stopped at about 40 today. Ok, now I think he is free of all his stitches.

David ate a little lunch and we went to his physical therapy about 1:30. I forgot to mention a few things about yesterday's physical therapy session. When we arrived, we were treated to a session of looking at a bunch of David's X-rays. It was amazing to see pieces of shrapnel in his arms and his legs. The doctor told him that the pieces would be working their way to the surface for several years. I have watched him picking pieces out of his arm for several days. He really enjoys looking at each little piece to see what part of the bomb it would have been. We also saw an incredible amount of HO growing in his legs. I can't remember what that stands for, but you may remember that I previously explained that when bone gets cut off, the simple explanation is that the bone thinks it should grow back so it just begins to grow. Sometimes the bone fragmentation will embed itself in the muscles when the blast occurs - if the bone remains alive, it will start to grow wherever it is. David has bone growing all through the ends of both legs. The doctor showed us an actual cast reproduction of a leg bone that had been removed with HO growing to it - it looked like the bone was just spreading in all directions - it's a bit like a spider web but can be much thicker than that. David's HO seems to be growing in such a way that it may actually give him a bit more support than a hindrance, it just depends on whether or not it continues to grow and cause pain. If the pain is too much, it will be removed.

He was able to transfer himself, to and from his wheelchair, several times today. He is really doing great. I think I was a little wrong on what the butt ups were - I'm not looking back at yesterday's blog but the correct stretch is when he lays flat on the mat and lifts both legs and his entire rear end off the mat with just his abs. I tried it and couldn't do it without the use of my hands and arms. David actually did it with a fair amount of ease and a great amount of pain.

I left David tonight at about 8pm because he was sleeping. He started to feel a bit sick to his stomach and felt that sleep would take care of it. Hopefully it did.

All-in-all, things are really doing well. He is doing great and is simply gritting out every exercise and movement - I would say he takes after his Dad, but the only pain I deal with is bad leg cramps after a game of golf. I'm almost in tears when they hit. David talks about the good points of this "no legs" situation he is dealing with - he won't have any more athlete's foot, he will never need a knee replacement. His attitude, needless to say, is very good.

Thank You All For Caring So Much,

Gordon