Thursday, July 10th

Morning update: Dave's white blood count is at 6,900 (with the help of medicine)!!!! His temperature is at 100.6, this is better than yesterday! Dave did SLED dialysis for 4 hours yesterday and then clotted so they hooked him up for another round and he clotted again after another 4 hours. So a total of 8 hours, the clotting is normal, this is how they determine when to stop the dialysis unless of course his body clots too soon then they hook him back up again. :) Dave started SLED today already. Please pray Dave will be able to tolerate the dialysis today. The doctors were concerned because his blood pressure is so low and dialysis tends to drop it further. Dave is going to be on the by-pap (breathing) machine today for 2 hours, have it off for 2 hours, and then back on for another 2 hours. They are doing this to hopefully prevent from putting him back on the ventilator. The by-pap makes Dave very anxious. Please pray he will be able to tolerate the discomfort. Last night they started Dave on a small dose of liquid food through his gastric tube. This did make him a little bit nauseous but he was able to keep it all down! They have decided to give Dave a little bit of ice and water each hour and then every couple of hours alternate with Diet Dr Pepper! He has been asking for pop, but obviously told absolutely not! They don't look for Dave to enjoy the pop, but at least he will get the small satisfaction of being able to do something he could before the accident. The nurse told us yesterday that Dave produced twice the amount of urine on Tuesday and Wednesday that he had been producing in previous days, PTL! Please keep praying his kidneys will begin to function as they should as they are still labeling the situation as acute renal failure. Dave had occupational therapy again yesterday. The OT asked Dave to do 10 of each exercise. You know Dave...he did 11 of each exercise, what a guy!!!! Thank you for your continued prayers. Dave is making baby steps with the Lord's help.