Monday July 12, 2010 at 2118

Good Evening,

Well, here I sit in my room with a beautiful slice of watermelon, except for the fact that it has seeds, watching Ratatuoilli on the TV.


I can only tell you about David through a few things he said to me and comments from Catherine because I was golfing today. I had the great opportunity to represent David at a fund raising tournament at the Army Navy Golf Club in Arlington, Virginia. They raised over $200,000 today and I can't tell you how impressed I am with the generosity and unselfishness of so many of these people out here. I'd like to tell you of one wonderful man - I will not give you his name because, once again, I did not gain permission to give his true identity - I will call him John. I golfed with John today and we finished 4 holes early because a loud siren rang, indicating that there was lightning within a short distance. After the golf, there were drinks served, then a dinner, and then an auction. I tried to buy something to give my support but the prices got beyond my range pretty quick. Up came an auction item with a signed baseball from Nick Johnson that was recently traded from the Washington Nationals to the NY Yankees and some tickets to an upcoming Nationals game. John started bidding and bidding and bidding and bidding and finally bought the tickets and the baseball for $950. He went and paid for his donation and came back to the table and handed me the baseball and asked me to give it to my son. Is that an incredibly Christ like act - absolutely!!!! I have learned a great deal with this whole experience - one of the things I've learned is that there are incredible people in everyone you see. That did not sound grammatically correct but I meant it just the way it was written.


Another item came up for bid, a Duck Hunting Trip for 4 people - to include two wounded warriors. The bidding was going along just fine when a gentleman jumped up and interrupted - he said that when he was a young man and injured, his first outing from the hospital was a Duck Hunting Trip to this exact club, he said, through a lump in his throat, that it meant so much to him to have so much done in his behalf. The bid ended up at about $1500. What incredibly generous people.


OK, back to David. This is the third time I've typed this - there is a thunder and lightning storm going on outside and it keeps killing the internet in the lodge I'm staying in.

Today was great and awful for David. David is absolutely focused on stand on his own two feet again. He wants that 6'4" stance so bad that he gets upset at the therapists when they try to help him through his exercising. He is doing everything he can to build up his abs and arm strength. He works his guts out to sit up and to accomplish the tasks that we do so easily and without thought. Go ahead and try it yourself - sit up without the use of your legs and your strongest arm. It's one of those times when you feel like slapping your forehead with the palm of your hand to get yourself to stop and think - I should be giving that same effort to make myself stronger and give myself a better chance at having better health.

The awful part of his day was after his finished exercising. They took him in to another room to re-dress his wounds. The last dressings on his legs were a bit like plastic wrap. The plastic-type material was used to keep the moisture in. Now they want the wounds to dry out. They intended to wash his wounds with a rough gauze and David kindly requested that they use a softer material as he knew it was going to hurt. For some unknown reason, they completely ignored David's request and in David's words, "Since Day 1, I have not had an re-dressing of my wounds hurt that bad!" Then to add insult to injury, they decided to give David a break from the pain. The problem with that decision was the fact that they had him lying on a very hard, wood table. David has been lying on his tailbone for almost 2 months and it is really sore - so there are very few comfortable positions he can sit or lye to take the pressure off. He laid on that hard table for 20 minutes without any padding, without any call button, without any protection for his tailbone. David's only relief came from trying to hold his legs off the table for 20 minutes. The pain was excruciating and infuriating. I promise we will address this situation with the right individuals but at a time when we are no longer this angry. I'm sincerely glad this errors in judgement are few and far between.

Needless to say, David's energy was completely exhausted after all that. He fell to sleep about 7:45 tonight. It is so incredibly satisfying to watch your child sleep. I know, I know - David is not a child, but he is our child.

As difficult as all this is, I only have to look back a month or look forward a month to visualize something absolutely wonderful about the past or the future.

I have now idea if Mike Crosby in Kaysville, Utah is following this blog - if not, would someone tell him that I am thinking about his and Cindy's comfort. Please let them know that I love them and hope the best for them and their family.

I wonder how many incredible people I will meet tomorrow.

Goodnight,

Gordon