Healing up

Lucas is recovering well from his surgery and all that has befallen him since. - He ended up with a urinary tract infection (UTI) and a fever of 102. We then had to switch his antibiotic to a more heavy duty one from the prophylactic one originally prescribed. The antibiotic gave him some fierce diarrhea which made his tush pretty raw. Then he had a reaction to the antibiotic and broke out in a rash. We switched to yet another antibiotic and the rash cleared within a day. He also ended up with a stuffy nose. In the midst of all this, actually before the UTI, he began cutting his 1st tooth!

When we took him in last Wednesday to have his catheter removed, there was a fistula (opening that shouldn't be there) along the suture line, so Dr. Austin decided to put in another catheter for another week and give the incision a bit more time to heal. The new catheter caused a lot more bladder irritation and resulted in frequent bladder spasms which caused a lot of discomfort for my sweet boy. (At one point we were giving him his seizure meds, antibiotics, pain meds and bladder spasm meds, all at specific intervals and several with required spacing between doses of other drugs to avoid drug interactions. It was like I was working in a hospital.)

He is now feeling much better. The UTI is all cleared up, the 2nd catheter was removed yesterday and he'll finish off the antibiotics tonight. We'll then be back down to just one med, except that Monday we'll give some Tylenol because he's having his third round of immunizations. (Will it ever end!?!) He still has his stuffy nose, but it is staying in his nose (I'm sure at least in part to do with his lung clearing screaming when I suck the snot out of his nose!) Through it all, though, as is the testimony of this amazing child, he has remained joyful, more clingy and more easily given to grumpiness, but still frequently bursting forth with joy and a grin that could light the tree in Rockefeller Center.

The fistula is still there, but it is minor. He will return for a quick-fix surgery in 6 months, one that takes about an hour compared to the four hours this one lasted. He looks pretty good "down there" compared to how he first looked when we brought him home. I don't think in a couple months anyone would know the difference (unless they saw some urine escape from his secondary hole!)

He's calling me now, so I'm off to snuggle him and get ready for dinner. Thank you all for your prayers; we know that God is listening and is acting on Lucas' behalf.