Implants out...

Hey everyone,
Well, Dan had surgery this morning, well, I should say this afternoon...
After last week's 4th issue with his left implant, we decided, through a lot of prayer, to have the tissue expanders removed. Dan also had deep dermabrasion to the scarring on his face and z-plasty done to the scar bands that are near the inside of his eye, by the bridge of his nose. Yesterday was a crazy day with this surgery being canceled, then re-scheduled for Friday, then back on for today with a different doctor. BUT...when we were at the hospital in the pre-op area, Dan's plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas, showed up and ended up doing the surgery. (I know it sounds crazy, but new patients come in all the time, and these "elective surgeries", get bumped so they can do the life saving skin grafts for the newly injured guys.) Anyway, Dan face is pretty raw from the dermabrasion, so please pray for pain control, as always. He will be in the hospital for a couple of days, and then home recovering. We appreciate your prayers!
Teal

College Station weekend...

Well last weekend, we all went to College Station. As luck would have it, there were a lot of things going on. The initial reason we went was that Dan was asked to speak at the dedication of the "Freedom from Terrorism" Memorial. He did a great job!

Another thing that came up was the retirement ceremony of Lt. Gen. Joe Webber (A&M class of '72). Gen. Webber's son, Clint (A&M class of '98), worked with Dan during his Ramadi deployment and Dan has a vivid memory of Clint helping load him into the emergency vehicle after Dan was injured. This was the first time they had seen each other since. Such a great reunion! Gen. Webber was one of the first Marines we saw when we arrived in San Antonio and was able to tell us when Dan was going to arrive, so he holds a soft spot in all our hearts. The reason all these people were on the A&M campus was that Gen. Webber was retiring after 36 years and is going to be the VP of Student Affairs at A&M. It was a great afternoon!

We also got to go to and Aggie game and had a great time. Dan, Trey, my sister, Tamara, sister-in-law, Anne, and nephew, Luke all got to go. Below are some pictures from the weekend!

Sgt. Major Kent, Dan, Gen. Conway

Clint Webber and Dan

Tamara, Anne, Luke, Teal, Trey and Dan

Trey and Daddy going to the game

Trey and Aunt Tamara

Trey and Daddy leaving the game

Dan, Col. Olbrich and Teal

Col. Olbrich is the commanding officer of the Patient Affairs Team here are BAMC. The PAT team takes care of all the injured Marines. He is also an Aggie!! This picture was taken yesterday (Sat) at his farewell party. He is moving on and we will miss him tons! (You might notice Dan's right shoulder is big, that is the implant that will be taken out this week. His nose is doing good and will have a final shaping surgery sometime in the new year.)

Quite an update...

Well, things around here are as unpredictable as ever. Last Thursday, we went to College Station (more about that in another post...) Dan wasn't feeling great and his left shoulder was starting to get a little red. (Yes, you are correct, this is the same shoulder that has faced the crazy hematoma, the port working it's way out of his body and a bleed after surgery which caused an emergency surgery.) As the weekend went on, the red area began to spread. Well in this house, red, hot skin means infection. So on Sunday evening Dan helped me unload the car and then he headed up to the hospital to have it checked out. (I know it sounds insensitive that he drove himself, but it is just our life and it's not like he was bleeding or writhing in pain) So just like expected, he was admitted to the hospital for an infection in his left shoulder. The reason he has to stay is b/c the course of action they take is IV antibiotics and he has to be inpatient to do that.

So on Monday the doctors noticed that the corner of his implant, not the port, the actual implant, was beginning to work it's way out. How does that look might you ask? You start to see blue under his skin, b/c the implant is blue. Not good. So to spare you all the hours of options and even more hours of prayer, Dan has decided to have both implants taken out. We are scraping the face-off surgery. We prayed about this decision before we went forward with the first surgery and have prayed hard this week trying to hear God's will and direction for this situation and this is where we are at.

Patrick was actually discharged from the hospital this evening, (yes, he drove himself home...I mean what was I supposed to do, his car was already up there:):) We are going to see the plastic surgeon tomorrow morning and expect to have this surgery done next week. My in-laws will be coming in town to help out, and if for nothing else to insure that he doesn't have to drive himself to and from the hospital after surgery:)

Another milestone of the week was Tuesday, Oct. 21. That was the two year anniversary of Dan's injury, but more importantly, 2 years since he lost 3 Marines. For those of you that knew, we appreciate your prayers. Dan was able to talk to all the families of those Marines and I know God was putting the appropriate words in his mouth to offer comfort in the way that only HE can.

Please keep us in your prayers. Although I can laugh at this moment, it has been a pretty exhausting week, physically and emotionally; the anniversary, trying to decipher all the "doctor talk" and really looking at all the pros and cons of all the different avenues have left me less than glowing. (3 hours at a well-baby appointment during nap time didn't help either...) But man is our God good and He continues to renew me.

"Praise the Lord , O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Psalm 103 : 2-5

Welcome Home David!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well, as most of you know, my brother-in-law, David (Dan's brother) has been deployed to Ramadi, Iraq since March. Praise the Lord, he came home safely this past Friday, Oct. 3. Here are a few of the sweetest pictures ever. There is nothing like a homecoming!!!

First kiss

David and Callie

Sweet David:)

David and Callie in front of their house

One interesting thing that happened while David was deployed involved his promotion from 2nd Lt. to 1st Lt. As most of you know, Ramadi was where Dan was deployed when he was injured. On Memorial Day of this year, David stood in the intersection where 3 brave Marines were killed and two others were seriously injured (Dan and Sgt. Luis Blanco), and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Two years ago Ramadi was considered "lost" and through the hard work and sacrifice of many Marines and Soldiers, David was able to stand in the open and be promoted. You don't hear these awesome stories on the news. Here is the link to a great article that was written about it with a couple of pictures.

http://www.marines.mil/units/marforpac/imef/1stmardiv/1stregiment/rct1/Pages/Marinehonorsbrother,fallenMarineswithpromotion.aspx

Welcome home, David! We praise our wonderful Lord for your safe return!

Dan's Home...

Hi Everyone,
Well, Dan was released from the hospital earlier today. He had an uneventful night and is now resting here at home. He is looking pretty good, but says his shoulder feels like it was kicked by a horse. We cannot begin to thank you all enough for all your prayers. We do not take this situation for granted and know that the Lord had His hand over Dan yesterday and still does as he recovers today. I will update again when I have some new information.
Teal