Day 39 - Time will tell

     Evan's surgery this morning was completed without any complications.  The surgeon spoke with Cristy and I and told us he was going to do everything in his power to limit the incision size in our little boy's chest.  I'm happy to say he was a man of his word and removed the pocket using only two scope sized entry points.
     Because the procedure was scheduled for first thing in the morning Evan was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing and slept most of the way up and in pre-op.  We were fully expecting to be in the ICU upon completion, however because the incisions were smaller than originally thought and the bleeding was minor they felt comfortable putting us back downstairs in the Aflac (in-patient) units.  A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Raschbaum for minimizing the impact on my son for this surgery.  This should speed up our recovery as well and get him back to being a kid again.

Relaxing before the surgery.

     The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent with Evan sleeping while the anesthesia wore off.  He's got a tube hooked up to his chest that's used to draw out excess fluids such as blood, plasma and mucus.  I think it forms some sort of seal to stabilize the lung as well until the suture has time to heal.  Unfortunately Evan still got a fever late this afternoon, however doctors say it could be for any number of reason because of the surgery.  We'll continue trying to be patient to see if the fevers persist and what the biopsy shows for the tissue extracted.

Sleeping off the anesthesia.  Vitals were stable.

     Our oncology team also notified us today that they're going to push out Evan's next phase of chemo until next week.  They want to give his body more time to heal up, even though his blood counts so far have looked very good.  The consensus is weakening his immune system at this time wouldn't be wise.
     Naturally Cristy and I are very happy our boy came back in much better shape than we were planning.  Items left on our list to resolve are:

• Stomach pain
• Biopsy results of the skin rash and sores
• Elimination of the fevers
• Healing of chest and lung, including the removal of the tube
• Speak with the elementary administration about Evan's health and attendance concerns

     We still have an exciting few weeks ahead and we're very hopeful that we'll get to go home next week.  Although we haven't spoken with the staff yet I think this weekend is out of the question.  Back to managing pain and fevers for the next few days while the doctors gather more data.  Patience is a virtue I am quickly developing out of necessity.

Welcome back son!