Introducing you to DAN

"I've been thinking about all the things I'm going to do when I get my new legs. I've decided I'm just going to mess with people. I'm going to wear pants and shoes so nobody can tell that I've got prosthetics...and then I'm going to get them in all different lengths. One day, I'm gonna be 7 feet tall. The next day, I'm gonna show up and be 5'2". I'm trying to decide how tall I want to be, and I think 5 foot would be best because I'll have a lower center of gravity and will be way faster than anybody else. But then other days I'll want to be gigantic."

This is what my brother said to me the other day and I don't think I've laughed harder in my life. I will be SO happy if he actually makes that happen!

He had his final surgery yesterday (keep your fingers crossed!)....to put a skin graft on his left leg. They took skin from his right leg, the part that wasn't wounded during the blast, and attached it to the open wound on his left leg. The wound there was so large that he didn't have enough tissue to close on its own, so they had to borrow some from the other leg. He's in quite a bit of pain after this procedure - the donor leg feels like it has a nasty sunburn, and the receiving leg has shooting pain from his hip, down through his femur, to the end of his leg. His doctors are working hard to adjust his pain medication to give him adequate comfort at this time.

So now that this surgery is behind him, every wound that needed surgical closing is taken care of. Now he just has to focus on healing and regaining function in both his hands, and healing the pelvis before rehab can begin. He's still got the external fixator on, like metal scaffolding holding his pelvis together, and will probably have to have it until Christmas, when the ligaments and bone have grown back together. Then it's onward and upward to walking, running, and whatever else Dan's future has in store for him.

Another funny story I wanted to share with people - I wasn't in the room for this, but Dan's best friend Marty and his wife Erin, and his other best friend Niko told me afterwards - the other day, Dan had to get a couple units of blood transfused because his blood counts were a little low. As the blood was going into his body from the bag hanging on the IV pole, Dan started doing bicep curls with his resistance bands tied to the bed. He wanted to "introduce the new blood to what it's like to be inside Dan."

With all the changes that are going on, it's a good thing that humor is still there.

I hope everybody is having a great week - thank you again, and a hundred times over, for all the support, generosity, and kindness that you continue to show us.

Leslie