So much has happened since October 11th. Starting around October 18th, Alan began getting a mild fever in the evenings. his days were fine but around 5 to 7, he would start feeling run down and come down with a fever in the 99 degree range. After a hectic 10 days, Alan went to Urgent Care and was diagnosed with a mild UTI. He started Cipro and we messaged Dr. You's team. We both felt like the fluid pocket in his abdomen had to be infected again. It is the only other time he had an UTI was last December when he had to have a drain placed again.
Cipro worked for a few days with no fever! And then it came back. Dr. You put Alan on high dosage Augmentin on the 4th. The fever went away around the 6th. We got an appointment to go speak with her on the 8th. There we came up with a plan to get Alan through Band Grand Nationals and hopefully Thanksgiving.
Phase 1 was to continue the heavy duty Augmentin since it was effective in knocking out the fever until after Thanksgiving or whenever it came back. Thankfully, the Augmentin kept his fever at bay through the end of Thanksgiving. On Friday it came roaring back! We were heading back to our VRBO when he started feeling off. By the time we got back to the house, he was running around 100.5. With the nearest hospital over an hour away and not the best for his specific needs, we made the decision to pack up and head back a day early, just in case. Rebekah and I stayed up packing what we could. Alan's fever broke overnight and we were packed and on the road before 10!
Saturday's trip home was long, but mostly uneventful. Rebekah was an amazing help with getting the four of us, our stuff and two trucks. Saturday, his fever maintained around 100.2 range in the evening. Sunday, it came up early, around 1:30 but never got into the 100s!
Today was Phase 2 Day! We placed a temporary drain in the cavity. Dr. You was wonderful as always. She placed the drain in a different location than last year. She had originally planned to send the fluid sample off to pathology, but today she felt that it was completely unnecessary! The fluid was obviously infected. While there she also found a superficial fissure that she assisted with that will require some nurse skills over the next couple of weeks. We will also follow up with her in 10 to 14 days.
The good news was she hopeful that the cavity might actually collapse on itself with this larger drain in place. The goal is to completely clear out any infection and remaining fluid. IF the cavity does collapse, then Phase 3 will not be needed! SO this is where we need our prayer warriers! We covet your prayers for the cavity to collapse.
Phase 3 would be a surgery to move some gluteus muscle into the cavity to fill it and hopefully solve this fluid collection issue in the future.
Right now, we wait on the drainage to either clear it all out and pray the pocket collapses. Pray for good sleep and quick healing of the fissure. Pray that Alan and I continue to be in sync on taking care of his drain and healing.
