Drain News

Kevin saw his surgeon yesterday. We were hopeful about the status of his drain because so little is coming out of it; Kevin doesn't even empty it every day. There's about a dribble every-other day. So we were going to push for its removal plus a decrease or stoppage of his antibiotics which still leave him queasy.

Before the appt Kevin had a procedure done with contrast fluid and pictures. The results are not good. He has two leaks in his small intestine. One is where his intestine was resectioned. We don't know whether it healed previously and the drain irritated it to cause it to open, or if it never healed (or was not resectioned) properly. But there we have it. The drain stays in. BUT, because Kevin's body has formed a tract for the fluid to go right out the drain and it's not throughout his abdominal cavity, he can stop antibiotics. We are hopeful this will have a positive effect on him.

So the drain issue will be revisited in FOUR MONTHS. Worse case, if Kevin's body doesn't heal on its own and we still see drainage, Dr Choi will think about surgery EIGHT MONTHS from the date the drain was placed. Dr Choi could obviously tell this was not the news we wanted to hear and said since the drain is staying around we might as well give it a name. Any ideas??

Kidneys

Kevin had an appointment with his Nephrologist yesterday. His kidney numbers are now baseline normal for the first time. His creatnin is 1.0. Excellent.

I spoke to the kidney Dr about Kevin's chances of his acute kidney failure turning into chronic kidney failure down the road. He said because Kevin is young and healthy he feels he has completely recovered and citied the kidneys' remarkable ability to heal. However, if Kevin gets very sick sometime in the future, his kidneys could relapse for a time.

Improvements

By all accounts, Kevin is doing much much better. He is able to venture out on little trips though he still won't go shopping for clothes. We both hate clothes shopping on good days, I know he doesn't want to do it, but eventually he will need clothes that fit.

Kevin is planning on being back at work on Nov 28. He will need to go in to work the first day to do some stuff to his computer and present his Dr's release. But after that we anticipate a lot of time, at least the first week, will be from home. He is still weak and mornings aren't great for him.

His next appointment with Dr Choi is Monday Nov 21. I will push hard to get Kevin off his antibitotics - at least a reducation in dosage. It's terribly frustrating that his body is making improvements but the meds are holding him back.

Family Update

Some recent happenings:
The last time Kevin was in the hospital the girls had a four-day weekend. Because the girls have missed having a bit of fun this summer plus missed extra time with their friends during the beginning of the school year, I had each girl invite a friend over for a sleep-over. I know, I'm awesome. All the girls and friends got along and it was fun. I took the living room couch so each girl & their friend could have their own room. Because I'm awesome.

Mina & Bryn, Jessica & Alaina, Claire & Maia

All the Halloween costumes were store-bought this year. However, Claire & Bryn's, which were bought on-line, were both way too small. So I had to look at how the costumes were constructed, buy matching fabric, and add panels to the bodices and also enlarge the skirts. It was quite bothersome, but I did find a fabulous and easy circle skirt pattern that was way helpful and that I will be using more often. I wish I had it when I was making my disastrous poodle skirts last year.

Alaina is a Spider Countess

Claire is a witch - first witch we've ever had.

Bryn is a rose - oh, excuse me, an upside-down rose.

The week before Halloween, Claire had a concert at school. The name was "Mighty Minds" and it was all about how smart kids are and how they should do their homework and study for tests. A few children were chosen to be Mighty Minds in the concert and they got extra songs and lines. Claire doesn't like to do any of that, but she wanted to create her own Mighty Minds character. She chose "Mighty Cursive Mind" since she started learning cursive this year and loves it. Thankfully, I made her a superhero costume two years ago and, after much digging, found all the peices. I still had to make a new shirt and skirt and mask. It was the boots I didn't want to have to make over again. Those things took me 2 weeks and a call to my mother to make.

Notice the cursive "C".

I added a cursive "C" to the old cape.

The weekend after Halloween, Kevin's extended family planned a trip to Mason City to visit Great-Aunt LaVonne. She is Great-Grandma Beaman's sister. LaVonne usually comes up for Thanksgiving, but she is slowing down and isn't going to come this year. So we met at Bonanza for lunch to see her. (It was a surprisingly nice Bonanza!)

Great-Great Aunt LaVonne with Alaina Bryn & Claire

Aunt Debbie & Uncle Jim, their kids Ben & Chad, and Chad's family were there. Chad & Amy have a darling little girl, Gracey, who we haven't seen for over a year. They had fun playing together. Thanksgiving will be extra fun with her.

Alaina and Gracey

Claire and Gracey

Another huge event was Bryn's lost teeth. Kevin pulled the first one but Bryn pulled out the second one herself!

One tooth gone

Two teeth gone

And a post about our family wouldn't be complete without Baxter. I love him.

Baxter is waiting for Claire & Bryn to come home from school.

More Pills - Just What He Wants!!

Kevin has started back on blood pressure/heart rate medicine. As you may recall, he was on a LARGE dose (freaked out the pharmacist) before, and his blood pressure was quite low. Then, when we asked his nephrologist about it, he just took him off the Rx instead of reducing the dosage.

Kevin still has quite high blood pressure and heart rate. Dr Choi suggested we go to our Primary Care Dr to take care of it. So Kevin has that appt yesterday and his numbers were: bp 125/95 and hr: 120. Very typical of him. And very high. So he'll be on that for a while. Side effects - dizziness, fatigue, nausea.

I also got Kevin some probiotics. Dr Choi suggested Kevin start eating a yogurt every day, which he has been doing, and the Primary Care Dr mentioned what a tough combination of antibiotics he is on. So we added the probiotics, with the yogurt and probitoics taken two hours apart from the antibiotics. I'm threatening to get Kevin an hourly pill box.

Last Dr Visit

Kevin had an appointment with Dr Choi on Friday, mostly because his drain has a very low output and the stitch holding it in place came out. So the drain was stitched back in place with Dr Choi estimating it was taken out another ~1.5". He said it is about halfway out now and thinks what little is coming out isn't the leak anymore, it's the abscess. So - the intestinal leak has appeared to have healed, it's only what is left in the cavity is draining. The amount of fluid has really dropped dramatically, only trace amounts each time it is emptied. The next appointment is in a month - UGH.

Kevin just had a very busy Friday - he met coworkers for lunch and wore his pre-op jeans that he had to constantly hold while walking to keep from falling down, he helped his father install a new mailbox because our neighbor backed into it (he wanted to do the whole thing himself but I wouldn't let him - I'm terrified of him getting a little cut on his finger then bleeding out within minutes), and he showered and went to Iowa City. A lot of activity in one day. And he handled it quite well. I'm ecstatic at the progress he has made this week!