A Monday update on Dwayne

Dwayne is doing really well, though we are still waiting on "output" to determine that his internals are functioning again. The nurse says she can hear rumbling, so we're praying that it will be soon.

Walking is supposed to help, so Dwayne walks a lot. Today, the doctor said that he could suck on hard candy, hopefully again to encourage the internals to take notice and get "moving", so he went with me to the hospital gift shop to get hard candies. That was quite a walk, including going down the elevator and a long circular route on the first floor of the hospital. We even went out into an enclosed garden area to enjoy the sunshine for a little while. That was a lot of walking, so he then had a nice nap as well.

Later in the afternoon, we did the same walk on first floor again (minus the gift shop since we had already gotten the hard candy and the trip outside as it was rainy). We had been talking about the "Nittany Lion" which is the mascot of Penn State, and there was a statue that we passed.

Dwayne with the Nittany Lion in the Rotunda of the Milton J Hershey Penn State Medical Center.

Dwayne's IV pole needs to go with him wherever he walks - it is just out of the picture on his right side. He does a great job of getting it over obstacles like into the bathroom, onto the elevator, and into the garden area that had a wooden deck-type of path.

He is doing really well getting up and down on his own. He is having some pain at the surgery site but it is reasonably well controlled with meds. He is also using the breathing exerciser to ensure that he is breathing deeply into his lungs to avoid any pneumonia issues; he is so good about doing that even though it hurts to breathe that deeply into his lungs (as it impacts his surgical site).

We appreciate your continued prayers. To close, I'll copy in a comment that Dwayne put on Facebook:

Thanks to all who have prayed and asked about about me.

To be truthful, I must consider my answer.

If I were to respond, "I am good", I would be lying, since only God is good.

If I were to say, "I am well", I would be deceiving you since I have various ailments and health issues and now this.

If I were to respond, "I am fine", that too would be deceitful, for all is not fine.

My truthful answer to you is, "I am blessed beyond what I deserve or could even imagine."

Thanks again for asking and I hope you will think about this next time some one asks, "How are you doing?"

I am so blessed to be married to my sweet Dwayne!