Saturday, May 18th
3:30 pm Jim called and reported that Daniel had another good day. They are stilll rocking him and he appears more swollen and puffy...but the doctors did not seem too alarmed by that. Jim plans to come home on Monday and Jim's Mom will travel to New York to stay with Toni.
10:45 pm Moved week 2's reports to a separate page. Below is a link to the previous weeks updates. Also, we will keep updating this web site whenever we get any new information, but we plan on updating it just once a day.
Sunday, May 19th
4:00 pm I spoke to Toni and she said Daniel had a peaceful and stable day. He still has the doctors puzzled about his fever...but he is tolerating the dialysis well. They have wonderful nurses and a wonderful support group there in ICU.
Monday, May 20th
12:45 pm Daniel is holding steady again today after a little bit of a rough night last night when his respirations dropped. Toni is at his side again today and reports that he is looking great in his "clean blue nightgown."
Tuesday, May 21st
8:15 am I know that many of you check the website frequently throughout the day, but since Jim is now home and back at work, he will be checking with Toni in the evenings. Also, I know the cell phones cause havoc with all the electronic equipment in the ICU rooms so we will wait for the evening update from Jim and then post it here. The guest book will remain up all the time.
7:15 pm Daniel had a peaceful day today. Toni said that they removed the staples from his legs and he now has bandages. His blood pressure went up a bit but when they gave him some pain medication, it went down again. He had 4 hours of dialysis today and tolerated it well. Still has a fever and they don't know the source. They are considering doing a full body scan tomorrow but are cautiously evaluating this. They would like to reduce the steady drips of medications and convert to intravenous medications...but this will be a gradual reduction with close attention to how well he responds.
Wednesday, May 22nd
10:15 am
Daniel was able to tolerate the full body cat scan today. This provided the
following information: (best news first!)
No change in the aorta.
The brain appears to be healing.
There is fluid in the abdomen and pelvic area but it is of minor concern.
There is excess air in the body cavity (probably from the leakage from the
lungs.) Another chest tube was inserted to deal with this (now 5 tubes).
They turned the pressure on the respirator down so it appears that his lungs
are absorbing more of the oxygen.
His legs look good.
He had a fever late last night (104) but the doctors speculate that this may
be a reaction to the seizure medicine. They changed the medicine and his temp
this morning was 99.5. They have not been able to identify the source of the
infection...it may be due to the trauma.
All in all, it is a good day!
Thursday, May 23rd
7:45 p.m. Miracles happen! Daniel woke up this evening around 10 pm Eastern Time!! Today, the doctors took him off of the chemical paralysis and he had some involuntary movements today. Then tonight he opened his eyes! The staff called Toni and Jim's Mom at the Fisher House and they immediately returned to the hospital. Although he was due for some pain medication, they withheld it until Toni arrived. He squeezed her hands, wiggled his toes, and can nod his head. He tried to talk but the nurses asked him not to. They explained to him where he was. The neurosurgery staff were on the ward treating another brain injury, and they came down to check on Daniel. They were surprised that he awoke so quickly after coming off paralysis and that he could move his extremities. They gave him some pain medication after their brief visit so he is resting comfortably again.
Friday, May 24th
8:00 p.m. Quiet day. They had a hard time keeping his blood pressure down, so they had very little interaction with him. He still has a fever between 102 and 104. They are having trouble keeping it down. They changed him to Motrin. The good news of the day is his kidneys are doing better and they were able to take him off of dialysis. He was also able to follow a few very simple commands which was also a good sign.
Daniel's friend Emilie (from Bard College) has also set up a link to pictures from this year.
Emilie's site
Jeff and Mary Ann Laun
618 Santa Rosa Rd
Arcadia 91007
(626) 447-8492 (h)
(626) 827-8492 (cell)
(626) 585-7833 (work)
Mary Ann's email
Mindy Sherman
home after 5/22/2002 (626) 447-8492
Mindy's email
If you would like to send a message to Daniel, go to the Guestbook.
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