Monday 1/27/14

We've gotten into our routine around here.  Get Eric up for school, (he's NOT a morning person) breakfast, make him a pbj for lunch and "try" to get him out of here before 8.  School starts at 8:20 and it should take him about 13 minutes.  But it's a big school with a big parking lot.  I tell him not to speed......yeah, it's probably happening.  His first class is AP English (which he is good at) and it appears she is a bit lenient on the arrival.  Lucky for him!

Then I make Doug his Isagenix shake and we leave for infusion around 8:40.  I still drop him off at the door as walking is a slow process considering he's still in pain in his abdomen and bottom.  Since he's only on one antibiotic (Invanz) the infusion itself only takes about 15 minutes.  But first you have to do the check in, vitals, history of meds in the last 24 hours, weight, etc. We are only there for 30-45 minutes weekdays.  Weekends run 1-1.5 hours but he has a bed to nap in so it's all good.  We have come to love our infusion nurses Jennifer and Alisha and PC Jeff..

Monday (1/27) after infusion we had an appointment with Dr Treptow.  He reviewed the C.T. scan with us, like pulled it up on the computer so we could see it and he explained which organs we were looking at, the anastomosis, the staples and the pocket.   The pocket was a little smaller but it is still 6.3 cm by 3 cm.  And that was smaller!  Measure that with a ruler, that is one big cavity.  No wonder he is in pain!

The disruption in the anastomosis (resection site) is still there, but actually that is a good thing.  Right now it needs to be there as the pocket is still draining fluid and it is draining thru the disruption site and down thru the rectum.He said the drainage is not necessarily infection. The pocket needs to fill in with tissue in order for the anastomosis to have something to adhere to.  He drew pictures, we are visual people!  :)  BEST case scenario is for the pocket to heal and fill in with tissue, for the anastomosis to heal and then he could do the ileostomy reversal.   What we DON'T want is for the disruption site to heal (scar tissue) before the pocket fills in.  That's a sure way for a repeat of the month of December.  And suffice it to say we really don't want a repeat of that!

Dr Treptow doesn't want to do a C.T. scan every month "just to see" as he doesn't need to be exposed to any more radiation.  So he wants us to monitor it every 2 weeks, and just do a physical exam (yeah, use your imagination.  Can you say uncomfortable?)  Pray that the pocket grows tissue and HEALS and soon would be good.  :)  It may be a few months before he orders another C.T. scan which is fine.  It appears he will have the ileostomy for awhile, possibly 6 months or more.  Doug was really discouraged after this visit.  He was REALLY hoping the pocket would be filled in and a lot more healing have taken place.  It was a rough afternoon / evening of frustration.  I asked for prayer on my facebook and boy howdy did all of you respond!    He was much better (attitude wise) this morning.

So we are praying for healing of the pocket, completely first.  Then healing of the anastomosis.  In that order would be perfect.

Thank you all for your prayers.  The journey continues!

Jan, Doug and Eric