Alex is home again....resting and healing. He is clearly feeling much better as he even was up for going out for dinner with Brett and Carol last night! Brett came over to finish the mowing/edging of our lawn (meaning that it looks about 100 times better than usual!) and Alex opted to go out to eat rather than eating at the house! It seems to make a big difference when he gets out of the house for at least a little while every day.
We are now packing his newly opened wound on his belly with different material and they tell us it should be healed in 6-8 weeks. He is also soaking his other wounds in the bathtub a few times a day. We are scheduled to return to Cleveland for follow up on Sept. 4th and have several follow up appointments scheduled between now and then with his KC nurses/doctors. Alex was really looking forward to going back to work next week, but will now need until the end of August to recover from this last surgery.
Thank you all again for the prayers and encouragement. We know Alex is getting better day by day and are working on patiently awaiting the day he will be 100% again. Love and blessing to you all...
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Surgery...part of the healing process
Alex made an emergency trip into Dr. Graham's office (KC surgeon) yesterday after severe pain in his bottom throughout the weekend (much like the pain he was experiencing before surgery). He had an abscess that needed to be drained and gave us the option of doing an in-office procedure under local anesthesia or under general anesthesia in the hospital the next day. Alex opted to be knocked out (who can blame him?) and we decided that would give the doctor a chance to take a more thorough look. Here's what we found out...
1. The painful place was a large horseshoe shaped abscess that went deep in his pelvis and back around to his tailbone. Dr. made two incisions to drain infection and placed drains. It was a very good thing Alex followed his gut to go into the hospital for the procedure as Dr. Graham said that what we saw in the office yesterday was "just the tip of the iceberg" to a much more extensive area of infection.
2. The small holes that we were packing on his incision line were all connected much deeper than Dr. Graham expected. He opened up two large places on his midline incision from the previous surgery so it could heal better from the inside out. He said it would likely have never healed if it was not re-opened.
Alex's bottom already feels much, much better...less pressure and much more comfortable to sit/lay on. The abscess is from his previous disease that is not connected any longer. The infection is trying to find its way out. We will probably be in the hospital until tomorrow or the day after, just to make sure everything is okay before we go home.
1. The painful place was a large horseshoe shaped abscess that went deep in his pelvis and back around to his tailbone. Dr. made two incisions to drain infection and placed drains. It was a very good thing Alex followed his gut to go into the hospital for the procedure as Dr. Graham said that what we saw in the office yesterday was "just the tip of the iceberg" to a much more extensive area of infection.
2. The small holes that we were packing on his incision line were all connected much deeper than Dr. Graham expected. He opened up two large places on his midline incision from the previous surgery so it could heal better from the inside out. He said it would likely have never healed if it was not re-opened.
Alex's bottom already feels much, much better...less pressure and much more comfortable to sit/lay on. The abscess is from his previous disease that is not connected any longer. The infection is trying to find its way out. We will probably be in the hospital until tomorrow or the day after, just to make sure everything is okay before we go home.
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