12-23-00
The news today on Dan was mixed. Dan practiced going off the ventilator for the first time for
about 15 minutes in the morning, and then again in the afternoon for about 30
minutes and both went very well (they measured the strength of his breathing
with the ventilator and without; his breathing was stronger without the
ventilator which is great! He also
had a test for swallowing food, which he passed, now he can have pureed foods.
While taking this test he showed the nurse one of his finer skills of touching
his nose with his tongue. “Believe it or not.”
Dan was hoping that he would be able to sit up in bed before Christmas
but when they did the CT SCAN today, it revealed that where they put the plates
and screws in, one of the screws was loose, so he will have to wait at least
until next week to sit up in bed (I know what some of you are thinking, “Dan
has a screw loose” I don’t want to hear any teasing about that, I’ll take
care of that myself).
The family went over to sing Christmas carols with Great Grandma Claassen Friday
night. The kids (cousins) had a gift exchange at Candi’s mom’s house; Candi
came later in the evening. We took pictures with a digital camera that we can show to
Dan today on his TV.
Jim Hadley
Please pray for continued strength and patience and that he can get the
ventilator out by Tuesday (so he
can talk)!
Thank you for your concern and prayers!
Candi and family
Candi’s dad read an encouraging verse the
other night that Dan wanted to share:
Job 11:18&19 “You will have courage because you will have hope, you will take your
time, and rest in safety. You will
lie down unafraid and many will look to you for help.”
A message from Dan- 12/21/00
“I’m going to let God do something incredible with this
accident. Lying here on my
bed I have no idea what or when, but each of your words have incredible
strength. I thank God for
each of you taking the time to reach out to my family. May this be your best
Christmas ever. I Love you guys!! Dan
Dan and Candi received an especially encouraging verse from someone that
they want to share with everyone – Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
Candi noticed another positive sign this morning – Dan’s heart rate
has been around 99-100, but this morning, his heart rate was around 60!
