Monday

Hmmm, whats there to say...Riley continues to expel stool from his incision. The surgeon is inserting a drain today to ensure that the incision doesn't close up while this is happening. One of the connections that were made in his last surgery definetly has a leak...so if it's going to leak, we want that stool to come out of his body! via the incision is the way it's chosen right now. As long as he can "ride it out" as they said, and not get sicker, they are going to let this process continue. That way his intestines can heal and become less fragile. Right now, if they go in to repair the leak, they will likely damage other spots. More damage, means more loss of intestine. Additional loss of intestine does not lead to a very good outcome. So it will either continue to leak for a while (likely a few weeks) or it will heal (not likely). So...its guaranteed he will not be home for Christmas now. It's also exceedingly unlikely that he would be at NHRMC for Christmas at this point. I'm trying to not dwell on it. He's here, even if here isn't home yet. Otherwise, the concerns at this point are his liver function and skin and wound care. Since the stool isn't coming out how it should, they won't feed him. At all as long as this is the case. Not even the teeny tiny amounts he was getting before. The less to come out, the better right now. But those teeny tiny amounts were benefiting his liver a little. And every little bit helps. so they are keeping a close eye on his liver lab work and making medication adjustments as needed to try and compensate as best they can. We are also trying to keep his skin from breaking down around his incision since he now has stool saturating that area frequently, not to mention the area of his incision that opened up from popped stitches. The ostomy and wound care nurse is supposed to come up with a plan for this today and I'm very hopeful she will be successful. Skin breakdown is not only uncomfortable, it's an infection risk, and it can prevent him from being able to go to the operating room when the time has come.

Travis had a great weekend with Jay decorating our house for Christmas. It's definetly low-key decorating compared to our usual. The tree is up but with only about 1/4 of the usual amount of ornaments and lights. No lights on the outside of the house other than on Travis' swingset. The stockings are hung. Travis has his little tree in his room, and that is about it. Hopefully, I'll get more into it as the day approaches.