Confined Day 4

FINALLY!!!! We finally have understanding of why they want him to be inpatient, what the plan is (not sure they had one before our pushing back the last two days), and feel good about it. FINALLY!!!!

Dr. You flat out admitted to avoiding us yesterday because she had no answers for our questions. I love the raw honesty we have with her. While she and Ryan (her PA) were here, Kate (Shay's APN) came by. The 5 of us had a lengthy discussion about us and probably insurance struggling with him being inpatient with NOTHING being different than the last two months of flushing his drain at home, except for the nurses doing it instead of me and him working from a remote office and not sleeping in his bed.

Kate had clear guidance from Dr. You and us on what she needed to connect with Dr. Shay on. Dr. You was waiting to hear from Dr. Fournier. Kate came back after a little bit with better explanations. Dr. Shay will order another "clean out" of the cavity if it turns to looking infected again, like it has in the past. It will get done faster being inpatient than if he was at home. Plus they are down 5 ORs, so inpatient infections get a higher priority. They also put him on IV antibiotics to see if that will help it stay clean.

After a nice visit to the observation floor in the other tower, Dr. Fournier and Dana (his PA) came by. It was so nice to see them. This is the man God used to save Alan's life. We had been questioning if something else was causing the infection. He looked at the scans from November and December. And showed us, how the fingers off of the cavity have lessened and he is not concerned about that. BUT there are some air bubbles on the December scan that are close to some small intestine. So tomorrow morning, Alan will have contrast inserted in his drain to see if the contrast gets into the small intestine. He also emphasized the need to keep Alan inpatient with the OR limitations. The relief we both felt at seeing Dr. Fournier and knowing he was going to be looking at the results tomorrow was great. I got a HUGE hug from Dana as they left.

A little bit later Dr. Shay came by. He is pleased with the plan and very encouraged with the drain output. We appreciate his understanding of all our questions!

Current Plan:

• Contrast Test tomorrow
• Continue to watch drain output
• Fix any problem that arise
• Drain output changing to looking infected again
• Contrast shows a problem
• Muscle movement surgery (tentative for Tuesday, 2/6) so long as the previous 3 are all good

Prayers please. The length of this is wearing on Audrey and I. Please pray for our dynamics as we continue to weather this. Pray for Alan's cabin fever and that he continues to be able to put in full days of work while here. Pray for the above plan. 

Thank you all again for the offers of help. I still really don't know what we need. I told a couple of people yesterday that I am in full on manager mode. I am simply focused on getting done what I can for him and for her, first, then fitting in work, etc. Don't worry I haven't cooked. Although I have been able to delay start some laundry... Truthfully if I have a need that I see someone else can do I will say something. I did today about needing a small blow dryer. And I may end up asking for help getting Audrey to her NCL meeting on Sunday. But right now, I am mostly living hour by hour.

- Mel