Day 45: May 21, 2012

Day 45                                                                                                 Written May 21, 2012 9:15pm

Travis said that Dallas did pretty well overnight.  He slept so much yesterday that he didn't want to sleep last night, but overall it was ok.  Dallas ate a lot for breakfast this morning.  Almost 2 full pancakes, some bacon and eggs!  The bad thing is, once he was given all his medicines this morning, he threw most of it back up.

Dallas also did very well with his dressing change again today.  No crying, but very scared again.  He said his leg scares him so much.  So this is something we will have to talk to him about on a regular basis. 

His itching continues to get worse. 

Travis and Donna said that Dallas did PT today; he went to the 8th floor playroom.  From what I heard, he did very well and had a good time.  That's great!  Getting some more normalcy back into his life. 

When I got back, Dallas was drinking a high calorie/protien juice drink.  The resident doctor also came in and said that they have the sedation room set up for Thursday to get him fitted for his mask and do the silver nitrate where necessary.  They might also take out his tube and pick line then, but they aren't sure yet. 

Tomorrow Dallas gets to go to the whirlpool tub to get a bath!  They said that since his wounds are healing, it would be ok to get in now.  This will also wash away the dead skin and should help with his itching, at least a little. 

They are cutting Dallas' tube feeds back to 40mL/h tonight, and if his nutrition looks good, they may cut back again tomorrow night or the next.  The goal is to have him down to around 20mL/h before shutting it off completely.  

No fevers today.  However, Dallas has been very clamy the last few days.  We aren't sure if that's from his body trying to regulate his temperature, and his skin compensating for the damaged areas, or what it is.  So it is something we will speak to the doctors about. 

The more Dallas gets out and around, the more I have noticed that people, kids and adults alike, look at Dallas in a shocked way.  I know that most people don't mean it, it's a natrual reaction, but I pray that it isn't something that is going to affect Dallas' reaction about himself.  The bad thing is, I think he's already began to notice those looks.  He has said numerous times that he's not handsome.  We reassure him that he is, but he seems to have a negative self image right now.  Perhaps some psychological therapy would do him some good; maybe they can talk to him from a different perspective?  There was a psychologist coming in here, talking to him on almost a daily basis, but she hasn't been by in a while.  Perhaps it's because Dallas didn't pay any attention when she was speaking?  I don't know.  I just know that we need to ensure that he doesn't feel that he is ugly or not good enough because of what has happened to him. 

On another note, Dallas didn't eat any dinner tonight.  He said he wanted sweet and sour chicken, yes, again.  He had a chocolate milkshake and now he's saying he isn't hungry, so we'll wait till tomorrow to see if he still wants some. 

Dallas didn't have a nap today, so he should sleep good tonight.