Miracle in the Making: Dan's journey (Day 1)

So, it's been exactly a month since Dan found himself under the care of physicians at Houston Methodist and I was working my way to Houston to stay with him. I've had some requests for his story - and people wanting to know how he is doing, so I'll do my best to tell the story & give you an update.

Why in the world was Dan in the hospital?

Well, Dan got a sinus infection while on the trip. He left on Wednesday morning; Thursday evening when we talked, he was already congested and sounded miserable. Two days later when we talked and he'd had some good rest, he sounded a lot better. (yea!) ...then, he had two nights of poor sleep coupled with the stress of getting his students ready for their last contest and traveling around to different ranches and sleeping in different hotels...and by Monday (the day of the contest), he was pretty wiped out.

He took the students to the contest that morning, and proceeded to sleep for a few hours on folding chairs. His upper lip area (the part under the nose) was extremely swollen and a blister had developed on his lip. When he awoke, his fellow coaches said, "Dan, I think you need to see the doctor." He said, "Yeah, I think I'll go to Urgent Care." They responded with, "Um, you have gotten whiter as the day has gone on; you should go to the hospital."

So, he Googled a hospital near the grounds and drove himself to the ER. That hospital, Houston Methodist, happens to be on the largest medical campus in the world (shared with several others) and is one of the best. [Miracles in the making...]

The doctors at the hospital were immediately concerned with what they saw/found. His white blood cell (WBC) count was very low. When bodies fight infections, like his was, those numbers should be higher than normal. Dan's were the opposite. His face was very swollen - his left sinus area, upper lip, and around his mandibular gland. Initially, the doctors thought he had an abscess which would require surgery.

When Dan called me that Monday, I just knew that he was calling to tell me he was in the hospital. However, I assumed it was because he had a seizure...not all of this. I did not expect talk of surgery or for them to have no idea when he might be released.

Dan just wanted to be released. His journey was long and he wanted to be home. He wanted to leave the next day with his students. He wanted to come home to me. The doctors were against this.

So, I did what made the most sense to me: I came to him. I bought a ticket that would leave the next morning at 6am, and we would figure this out together.