Matthew will not be discharged today (Monday). His pain is still not under control. Although it was lower (4/10) yesterday morning and early afternoon, it went back up to 7/10 yesterday evening and night, and a lot of today, with spikes of pain up to 9/10. They have decided to increase one of his medications beginning today, which may make him tired. At the moment, he is asleep (it is early Monday evening SF time), which is the best thing for his tired body right now.
The doctor looked at his skin graft again today. Some of the skin, muscle, and perhaps tendon has died, and they will need to debride (cutaway) the dead tissue. That surgery will be Thursday, probably in the morning, which is another reason he cannot be discharged yet.
Pam and the kids and I checked out of the church cottage and will be staying at a hotel for the last two nights before they go back to Croatia. We'll spend the days with Matthew as well as getting some shopping done for clothes, toiletries, and groceries Matthew will need. The hotel is in Walnut Creek, CA, which is where I will be staying after Pam leaves. Very kind friends have offered that I can stay there, and Matthew will join me when he is eventually discharged. We will drive into SF for his nerve therapy evaluation and his broken vertebra evaluation, which will be a couple of weeks after he is discharged from UCSF.
Daniel has been sick a couple of times. The worst of it was last night with vomiting and this morning with a terrible, itchy rash this morning, which seemed to come out of nowhere. Thankfully, a shower and eczema creme got the rash under control, and ginger ale helped his stomach. Also, yesterday Ariela's Sunday school teacher from our hosting church gave us coupons for free ice cream at a creamery near the church, so we went there this morning, and we think the mint chocolate chip scoop Daniel had was surely helpful in restoring his health!
The occupational therapist took off one of the splints which was irritating Matthew's arm. He is using his sling more often now, which makes walking for exercise and going to the bathroom much easier.
Pictured above are the flowers we got for Pam, much to her surprise and joy! (Apparently, I am much more handsome when bringing flowers I just bought for her!)
Please pray for Matthew's pain to be much lower.
Pray for encouragement since it is saddening that his mom is leaving and that his discharge has been postponed.
Praise God for a fellow missionary who is sharing his hotel discount, enabling us to get a lovely room for two nights.
Thank you all for praying,
Todd
P.S. If you would like to receive our ministry prayer updates (usually weekly) by e-mail, please subscribe at www.toddlprice.gr8.com. We so appreciate your prayers for us and don't want them to stop!
