Friday June 26, 2009

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today, Daniel is 'working out' with the breathing interval
exercise routine. He originally started with 4 hours on his
own, 4 hours with the ventilator assist. When we arrived
Chuy indicated that Daniel had no problems with the 4 hour
routine, so they tested him to see if he could push it to 10
hours. Well, he handled the first 10 hour interval and that
seemed to be stretching his endurance, but with the interval
of rest he came back to tackle another 10 hours.
For those of you that have run cross country or track you
readily see this as a conditioning regime or 'workout'. The
purpose of which is not only for muscular conditioning but
for conditioning the body/lungs to perform in a 'anerobic'
state, that is with less oxygen. For Daniel, the muscular
conditioning will come later in physical therapy.
This regime also increases the lung capacity, increases
the strength and pumping capacity of the heart, and
increases the blood carrying capacity of arteries and
veins (making these vessels more pliable).
Kindred Hospital has been a pleasant surprise. The
facility has the techinical equipment required by Daniel,
there is a respiratory technician on staff 24/7, the nursing
personnel are caring and professional. Daniel is in a
private room and the atmosphere is pleasant.

The swelling from the bone flap replacement surgery is
slowly going down. Daniel has his eyes open for long
periods of time, then he nods off for 15 minutes.
Daniel is looking better and there is a sense that it is
only a matter of time now. This phase of Daniel's
recovery is not without anxiety. As long as he
remains healthy, time will take care of the rest. Keep
in mind that he hasn't had any chronic problems with
organs. He has that in his favor.

Take care of one another.......

¡Presente!
Chuy Miranda ~ Cathy, Olivia, Danielito, Nayeli
Michelle ~ Margarita, Victor, Cristina ~ Che
Amelia Pulido ~ Chino (Jaime) and family