Patti went to go see Daniel with Daniel’s cousin Nadine to see him for New Years Eve. When they got there, they found Daniel sitting in wheel chair. Patti was just elated! She was hugging and kissing him. She could not stop telling me just how over joyed she was to see him sitting up and in a chair. To be able to give him the affection she’s been dying to give him all this time was such a wonderful thing for her. It was awesome to hear her tell me this last night!

Daniel does seem to still have problems with his short term memory. He sometimes doesn’t know who people are, including Patti. The nurses did tell her, however, that he does talk about her to them and he does know who she is. Just from time to time, the short term memory “…isn’t there” as Patti told me. Related to that, he still seems to be in the “fog” about things, according to his doctors. Such as swallowing. They tried to feed him a little something recently and he wasn’t able to swallow. When the nurse put pressure on his tongue, he kinda “got it” and swallowed. So, they are hopeful that he’ll remember how do this soon.

Speaking of food, it looks like he’s going to get his feeding tube moved into his stomach directly after all. Daniel keeps removing the current tube out of his nose and this can cause major problems. The constant removal and re-inserting of the tube can cause infections, which the doctors want to avoid. It is also dangerous inserting the tube since it goes through his nasal cavity and is so close to the brain and the tube could cause damage to the brain if inserted incorrectly. Having to put the tube in often adds to this risk. So, it looks like Daniel will be getting this feeding tube in the stomach. Let’s be praying that he’ll learn to eat orally again and soon to not have to worry about this!

Another set back seems to be his liver. Patti couldn’t remember the details, but there is something wrong with his liver and the doctors are not quite sure what it is. They are running tests and will hopefully have the results back soon. They think that the liver may not be processing correctly due to all the medication in him and if this is the case, then it can be easily corrected. The doctors also believe this may be one reason why Daniel is lethargic, too.

Great news to report, Daniel is making improvements physically. When the nurses get him out of bed, he actually helps them moving and pushing. This is a great improvement since he has hardly been moving prior to this. As to his physical training, it is going well and it is working him. After a day of the rehabilitation, Daniel is literally exhausted. Patti was able to see some of it yesterday and she said she can understand now why he’s always sleeping when she sees him in the evening. He’s pooped! It’s good to see that he is putting all his might into this, as well all knew he would.

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