More Infection!

Last night, after I got to the hospital, we decided to take a walk. These medical types are BIG on walking, don't you know? So, we unplugged the IV pole and He and I and the pole wandered off to walk the, by now, very familiar hallway. We arrived at the furthest point in our little stroll, and He sat down in a nearby chair to rest a few minutes before walking back to the room. As He sat there, I noticed that there was blood dripping onto the floor.

Yikes!

I looked at the dressing from the previously opened incision, and it looked just fine. I really couldn't tell what was going on. So, we gathered up our parts and pieces and high-tailed it back to the room... grabbing the nurse along the way. When we got Him back into bed, and she was able to take a closer look, it appeared that one of the trocar sites was inflamed, swollen, and very hard. She peeled off the steri-strip, and it just gushed blood and pus. Ewwwwww! She put some guaze on the opening to catch the continuing drainage, and went to call for a doctor. Two residents came and opened this one up as well -- a miserable, horrible, terribly painful process.

So today, He has two open wounds in His belly, lots of packing, and big dressings. The surrounding area is much less hard, less red looking, and no longer hot to the touch. That's all good. This morning, I was still there when the surgeon came in to see Him. The doctor did a very serious "pep talk," explaing that while all of this mess is frustrating and very disheartening, it is not life threatening, and does not appear to be leading toward a need for further surgery. It will certainly slow the recovery process, but all of what we hoped for when we went into this is still going to happen. It is just going to take awhile to get this cleared up and the healing done.

It was, as a result of all of that, another long and not very restful night. Sleeping is vastly overrated -- right?

swan