Day 252 - Chatting with Ear-Nose-Throat doctors

Today would have been an awesome day for a picture, if I was thinking enough to get one.  I spent most of the day at the hospital, not because anything was wrong, but simply to spend time with Ryan.  As it turned out, it was a great day to visit with doctors.

We started the morning with Infectious Disease.  Ryan had a CT scan a few weeks ago, that showed some 'inflammation' in his lungs and his sinus cavity.  This 'inflammation' apparently looks like it's a fungal infection in is lungs, and we put him on an anti-fungal to treat it.  Of course, as luck would have it, the CT scan only works to see this specific infection when his ANC counts are really high, which they won't be until we have finished this round of chemo.  As a result, we cannot really do a follow-up CT to confirm that the infection is gone.  So, we will continue to treat him as though he has a fungal infection in his lungs for the next few weeks, until his counts recover.  The good side is thatthe treatment is simply an IV anti-fungal, which we might even use to keep him from getting an infection so it's not really a big deal. 

As for the 'inflammation' in his sinus cavity, the doctors called the ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat) doctors to come in and check him out.  The resident came in to explain that they wanted to look in his nose, to see how things were (i.e. was there any chance of a fungal infection in his nose).  She gave him the once over, checking out his throat and his nose and his ears.  Then asked the best question of the day... "So, has Ryan ever had any surgeries?"... I stopped for a minute, looked at her questioningly, and asked, "As in addition to the transplant?".  Apparently, no one warned her about Ryan's history.  We both got a good laugh over this question.  It got better when she asked if he had any pain, and he proceeded to put up his middle finger (where he had pulled off a hangnail).  After I burst into laughter, I explained that he was NOT flipping her the bird, but simply showing her his raw skin.  I hope that she gets to go home tonight and giggle a little about Ryan.

Later in the afternoon, the ENT fellow came in and did a quick scope of his nose (where they put a little camera up each nostril).  She even showed Ryan the video once she was done, explaining, "Here is your nose hairs, and here is your boogers, and here is your (insert medical term for parts of the nose)."  She was great, and he thought it was awesome.

At the end of the day, I got a followup visit with the pediatric resident, who let me know that the ENT doctors found a little bacterial infection in his nose, and they were starting some antibiotics for that (no big deal).  We also chatted about the clot 'thing'.  She agreed that we are not totally convinced that the clot was causing the swelling.  But we do know that there is a clot there, and we'd really like it to go away.  Perhaps the swelling was something else, but we really don't know.  Ahh, it wouldn't be Ryan if we knew for sure what was going on.  :)

While I was hanging with Ryan, Patrick and Kathryn headed out to the Seattle Aquarium and the Pike Place Market.  I'm glad they got to have some 'Dad and Me' time together!   And we ended the day with a 40 minute drive to go about 15 miles to get Chick-Fil-A... Ahh, how we love Seattle traffic...  I told Patrick that we needed to quit our jobs and open a Chick-Fil-A in Great Falls... he thought we might want to wait until Ryan is over the cancer thing... spoil sport...

Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts!!