How about another ice chip?

After a 7-hour surgery yesterday to clean and debride the wounds on the lower half of Dan's body, he spent the rest of the afternoon resting and catching up on sleep. The surgeons gave us a very good report from the OR - all of his wounds look very good from their standpoint. Very clean, with no infection. He is going back to surgery tomorrow, for more wound cleaning and a possible revision of his amputation. One leg may require revision to above-the-knee to better fit his prosthesis. He will eventually need pins placed surgically to fix his fractured pelvis, but this can't happen until his open wounds in the area are fully healed. He can't begin any sort of orthopedic rehab with his legs until the pelvis is healed. We don't know how long this will take, but we are all hopeful that no complications will arise and Dan will progress as expected.

Moving on to the subject of how to make a SEAL in the ICU happy:

Ice chips - raging success
Ear plugs
Old Spice deodorant
Ice packs
Toothbrush
Anything cold
His nurse Kelly
Arm exercises

He's a simple man, really. And the best patient ever. He is always so polite to the nursing staff and the doctors - they all cried when he spoke for the first time Tuesday. I wish everybody on earth could spend 5 minutes in a hospital room with this guy. His stories are hilarious and his attitude is always inspiring.

The day he first woke up was so exhausting for him. Everybody wanted to see him and hear how funny he was, understandably. He felt so happy and was pretty impressed with the turnout. Today has been designated as Dan's Sabbath Day - only rest, no visitors. He really needs this right now because he's so exhausted from visitors, surgery, sleep deprivation, and 10 years of being a badass.

Thank you to all who have sent such heartfelt and inspiring messages. We are printing them off and reading them to him a few at a time, eventually all your messages will reach him.

With all our love and gratitude,

Dan's family