January 23rd, 2011 by MIchelle

Since Conor and I left this morning, the Doctor stopped in to talk about the surgery that is now scheduled for 7:00 AM tomorrow morning. As I’ve mentioned before, the surgery that Danny will undergo will be to take the bone flap that is now under his skin in his stomach and put it back into place in Danny’s skull. The procedure will take 3-4 hours. The bone flap will be secured into place using titanium plates and screws. There is a section of the skull, near the ear, where the initial cut is not clean. This will be secured using a plaster (I am not using the medical term, it is a plaster like substance) that veins can actually grow into and through. The plaster  will form like bone. This surgery is not one that is rushed. There is no concern about danny’s brain swelling and therefore it is a longer surgery because they can take there time as opposed to the craniotomy when the doctor is worried about relieving that pressure as soon as possible.

This is the only surgery that Danny has been aware of. We’ve told him that the difficult surgeries have already been done and not to worry, but he is still concerned, as he should be. They tried to give him a shower today, but he refused because he was having trouble with his breathing again. I think that the breathing might be related to the stress of now knowing what he is about to go through. I could be wrong, but I would be scared too.

The Doctor said Danny might be up and walking a few days post operation. With the bone flap back into place there is much less concern about him hitting his head in the area where the skin is covering his brain. This is when the physical therapy and other therapies will really start to pick up.

It’s really exciting to know that Danny will be able to get out of bed and start moving around more. I am still in awe of the condition that he is in considering we had no idea how he would come out of the first two operations. Danny could have had to relearn how to do everything from swallowing to holding a pen. The fact that he is typing, conversing, and playing catch like all of this never happened is absolutely amazing. Nurse Cindy was really impressed with how quickly he was recovering. I am in awe and so incredibly happy.

That’s all for now, but we’ll keep you guys in the loop with how everything goes tomorrow. Thanks again for the continued support! Although Danny doesn’t really understand everything right now, soon enough he will be blown away by all the positivity coming his way.

-Michelle