Day 53 - Deja vu

     Evan continues to make progress in his overall health.  The lesions on his skin are fading away.  His stools are starting to firm up which is a good sign in determining if his c-diff is clearing up.  The stomach problems that have plagued him also seem to be less frequent and not nearly as painful.  We're still seeing fevers, but they're not peaking as high as they were a week ago and the sheer number has decreased.  All in all I'm very comfortable with the direction we're heading....

Receiving some dedicated cleaning of his opened lesions.

     ....does this all sound familiar?  Evan was at this point a few weeks ago before the fungal infections reared their ugly heads and took us off the rails.  To say I'm still a bit uneasy would be an understatement.  This isn't to say that I would change anything regarding his health plan, but his immune system is still re-learning how to fight bacteria and fungi.  Combine that with the chemo plan that we're still following and his improving health is far from a sure thing.  The doctors have also started the reduction in his morphine drip.  We haven't seen spikes in his blood pressure yet, but we'll have to watch it closely.
     There was talk by the medical team of performing the first of three spinal taps this week, however Cristy and I found out today the Anesthesia/Surgical team has some concerns with this and isn't willing to move forward.  The CT scan that we did last week still shows congestion in his lungs, not to mention the still healing surgical site in his lung, and they won't approve sedating him until that clears up.  We'll have more updates on this later in the week.

Getting out of the room for an afternoon.

     Add the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Evan's list of cartoons/toys that he enjoys.  Cristy spent the last couple of evenings crocheting him a Donatello mask.  He was definitely pleased and it brought a tear to my eye seeing him get so excited.  I'm so thrilled to see that despite all he's been through he's still able to smile and be a kid.  As my family and close friends are aware I've always parented him like a much older child, but this experience has caused me to take a step back and try to allow him to be a kid.  I know being in the hospital keeps us close to his healthcare professionals, but being home will breathe life back into his psyche.  I'm torn on which one I'd prefer more at this point.

Evildoers beware.