Dr. appt.

Summary: Continue antibiotics until Sun, see Dr. on Mon if still draining, go into OR next Wed to clean out.

Details: It is still draining (maybe a little less, but not really). It is a little less red. She did not have a fever Tues or Wed, until late Wed night (100.3 F). She is still super sleepy, from all of the pain meds we have had to give her. She is needing pain meds more often than we can give them. It is not terrible pain...but definitely pain.

We drove down to see Dr. Klatt today. He said that last weekend when we were inpatient he thought maybe the drainage was from inflammation, but not infection. He said it's like when you twist your ankle, your body sends fluids to repair it. But the body overdoes it, so your ankle swells up. He thought maybe it was like that. There was inflammation and her body was sending fluid to repair it. But now that it is still draining, he thinks it is probably an infection.

They do the majority of these surgeries during the summer because people are like us and want to get it done when their kids don't have to miss school (like we wanted to, but it didn't work out). He said they do about 100 a summer and usually only 2 or 3 get infected. They are now putting Vancomycin (antibiotic) inside the wound when they do the surgery to try and cut down on the infection rate. Ellie was the first infection this summer, they haven't had any since last summer. Woo-hoo! Way to go Ellie! Way to stand out and be your own person! None of this peer pressure or going with the crowd for her!

So he wanted us to continue the 7 days of antibiotics (they will be done Sunday). It will either get better or stay the same. If it is still draining, we go in to see him Monday, and he will go in to clean it out on Wed in the OR.

I asked exactly what he meant when he said clean it out. He said they cut it open, and spray about a gallon of a solution comprising sterile water and antibiotics inside the wound. Then they close it back up. It would be 2-3 days inpatient. Then come home with a picc line (a semi-permanent IV) and do IV antibiotics for (I can't remember what he said...) 2-3 weeks? (Maybe)

We have had a picc line before, that's not terribly new. But yuck. What a mess! I was thinking we'd be done with our month recovery next week-ish and now we're going back in for surgery again. I feel like we're starting over. I know it won't be as bad as the actual surgery. But sheesh!

I still feel like it will be worth it once we get through it all. I would still do the surgery again. I just need it to be done so I can stop feeling so tired and stressed (I'm sure my kids would like that too!)