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??