Downhill

Well, today went downhill pretty quickly. Dr. Kayton (another surgeon that works alongside Dr. LaQuaglia, who happens to be out of town this week) came in to check on Eli’s dressings. We removed them and unfortunately there was infection there. The same discharge as before, but not nearly as much volume. The drain didn’t seem to be working to get this fluid out. The poor kid just can’t catch a break. So it’s time for something a bit more aggressive, and unfortunately that means another trip to the OR this afternoon.

Dr. Kayton wants to check the inner stitches to make sure they are ok (hopefully the infection is closer to the skin and not that deep). Then he is going to clean out the wound and put in a wound vac. A wound vac basically constantly draws out infection and draws the skin together from the inside out to the surface. Unfortunately, this will most likely put Eli on bed rest for a while and he will have to go under sedation three times a week to have the vac sponge and dressing changed. Dr. Kayton expects that the wound vac will need to be in for at least 2 weeks. It’s possible to go back to the Ronald on a wound vac, but I don’t forsee that happening for quite a while.

Since Eli has had 3 surgeries in the last several weeks under anesthesia, there is a chance that he will end up going to the PICU across the street tonight, but Dr. Kayton doesn’t think it’s that likely and will do everything he can to get Eli back up in his room tonight. Once again, we’ll be praying hard he doesn’t have to go to the PICU and that he comes through this surgery ok.

It breaks my heart to know that Eli is going to once again be waking up to a tube down his nose. I’m ready to be done with surgeries, they are very stressful. I’m just thankful that God has all of this under control and we can lean on Him during times like this. Thanks for all of the prayers. They just came in and said we’ll be heading down in about 20 minutes. Here we go again…