I'm Home!

I wanted to let everyone know that I am now at home. My surgeon, Dr. Thomas Newton, called me in my room this morning at 7:30 am and asked me a bunch of questions to make sure that nothing went wrong from the previous day. I answered all the questions telling him that I still felt great (with some very moderate pain). He said that he had two surgeries scheduled today and thought that he would give orders to release me by phone! That is pretty awesome of him to not make me wait all day for him to get done with surgeries at another hospital. I really appreciate all of his care... his is an awesome doctor and I will recommend him to anyone with any type of colon issues.

All I have to do now is to take it easy for the next couple of months until I go back to school. Thanks again to all of my family, my friends, my colleagues, my church family, and everyone else that called, visited, sent their regards, and prayed. I am blessed by God because all of you.

Hope to see you guys soon.

Danny

Great News

Well, I just spoke with my surgeon and his putting me on a regular diet today, and if all goes well with that I will go home tomorrow. I am very excited to be going home sooner than expected... those of you that know me well know that I don't function well without my wife and my girls in our normal routine. The doctor has given me a full green light with food as long as I stay away from sharp vegetables and hard to digest stuff like nuts and popcorn. After a period of time when my appetite is back to normal I will be able to eat anything that I wish.

Like my traumatic hospital stay last year I have been truly blessed with visitors, cards, emails, and all kinds of well wishes and I want you all to know that every single one of them means so much. I am truly a blessed man and I will never forget what God has given me.

I will hopefully be talking (blogging) from home tomorrow! Peace and blessings with you all.

Danny

It's Me This Time

Hello everyone... I thought that I should blog a little since I am feeling very well. This hospital stay compared to the last one is a breeze. I have absolutely no symptoms (except for the pain coming from the large vertical incision in my stomach. I am having a little trouble typing because I have not regained the feeling in my fingers on my right hand. For about 12 hours after surgery I was in a tremendous amount of pain... I kept asking for pain medication and they pretty much kept giving it to me through my IV in my right hand. Finally I was saved by a wonderful nurse who saw that my right hand was extremely swollen (the drugs were not going into my bloodstream, but staying in my hand... My hand was feeling just fine). Once the IV was moved and the pain began to recede everything started to get better. I still don't have full feeling in my fingers on my right hand, but I can assure you that it doesn't hurt.

I'm speeding up my recovery by moving as much as I can. I've walked four times today and am currently sitting up in a chair. I've been on ice chips since the surgery and probably will remain on them tomorrow. It will be slow, but I'm confident it will be much better than last time!

Everything is going well and I am looking forward to getting home and reclaiming my throne! I love all of you guys and thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Danny

Surgery was successful!

The doctor just updated us and Danny is out of surgery. It was a success. No more colostomy! No NG tube as of now anyway. The doc said that if for some reason gases begin to build up then he may have to have one, but I think Danny will be up moving around right away and that will help wake up his intestines. He also doesn't have any drain tubes which is good news. The doc also said that it was probably so successful because he waited a year to have the reconnect. Please continue to pray for a quick and safe healing.

Surgery has begun

Danny went into surgery about 1:45 today. We met with Dr. Newton and were very pleased with what he had to say. He said that Danny will most likely not have an NG tube down his throat and probably won't have any drain tubes. Danny was fearing both of these so the chance that he may not have them was very good news. His bloodwork all came back looking great so he is going into surgery as healthy as he can be. I will keep everyone updated.

Please pray for our friends

I decided to finally log on again and blog about Danny's upcoming surgery when I realized some friends of ours were facing serious medical issues. Ross and Mandy (see Mandy's blog on the links) had a new baby last week and since Ramey's birth both mom and baby have faced many serious medical issues. Mom and baby are both in an ICU setting in 2 different hospitals as of Monday. Please pray for this sweet family. Please pray for strength and healing for Mandy and baby Ramey. Please keep Ross and their other 3 children (Henry, Daphne, and Anna) in your prayers as well.

Danny is going in for surgery on Thursday, June 19th to reverse his colostomy. I mention the date because in many states this is known as "Juneteenth" which is also known as Freedom Day (you can google this to find out more info). So Danny has been joking that this will be his own personal holiday since he will receive freedom from the "bag".

Danny is thrilled to be having surgery, however I am very nervous. He has lived a wonderful life for the past year with his colostomy. It has not stopped him from doing one thing this past year including golfing, swimming, and travelling. So I am worried that we are taking an unnecessary risk. I completely understand why he wants it done of course. All I can do is pray, put it in God's hands and know in my heart that God is good.

I will keep everyone posted on here.

So the girls are doing great. We all survived my first year back at work. Daley just wrapped up Kindergarten and her first session of horseback riding lessons.

Daley has loved horses since she was about 18 months old and the feeling never faded. She's now taking lessons which has only fueled her love for horses. Guess we better start saving our money!

Laura is doing great. She will be 3 at the end of July. She did very well this year in day care and now that she is home for the summer she misses her school. Both girls are now is swim lessons and doing great with that. Laura is the reason we started lessons. She has absolutely no fear of the water and insists that she can swim on her own. Obviously she can't and simply sinks so we knew it was time for lessons. She's also completely potty trained now and is as smart as her sister!

I'm hanging in there as well. I taught business electives last year at a middle school in Humble. Then for many reasons, including the economy and fear of possibly losing my elective position if districts started cutting back, I decided to take another teaching test. I took the Generalist 4-8 certification test that would allow me to teach English, Math, Social Studies, or Science. After 4 weeks of studying I took the 5 hour test and actually passed! My current principal offered me an 8th grade math position and I took it. I've always wanted to teach math and am very excited!

Again, please keep our family and the Newman family in your prayers and I will keep everyone posted.