Day 315 - Rough day

Today was a rough day for Ryan.  Around 8-9am, the wound on his belly ruptured, which hurt.  He called me at school (and dad, and grandma and probably a few other people), trying to get us to fix it.  Of course, that couldn't really happen, and he was hurting so bad it was hard to understand him.  I talked to the nurse, and she was giving him oxycodone and Dilaudid, but it took a while to kick in.  Oh my goodness, it sucks to hear your kid on the other end of the phone, in pain, and know that there is nothing you can do to fix it.  Patrick got over there and held his hand and gave him hugs, which helped a bit, but I'm sure it still really hurt.  Once the 'fistula' ruptured, some of the pain eased, thank goodness.  But it was still pretty rough.  He really wanted to go home.

This afternoon, once the initial pain wore off, and the pain medication was given often enough, he finally calmed down.  He even posed for pictures with Patrick (I think there was some bribery, as the first 8 pictures were not this pretty).

The doctors believe that since his liver enzyme numbers (AST and ALT) are coming back to normal, and his ANC is starting to come up, these are all contributing to his wound on his belly opening back up.  I'm not quite sure I get the logic, but they seem to think that the pain he's had for the last few days was the intestine working it's way back up to the surface, so it could break through.  (For reference, this happened the first time around June 19th of last year... It's been an ongoing issue since then.  If you're interested, here is the link to the first time this happened June 19th)

So, by the end of the day, things seemed okay.  He was still a bit upset, but was able to calm down enough to rest.  Hopefully, things will improve by tomorrow.  The last time his belly opened up, it took about 2-3 weeks to heal, which impressed the doctors.  But, it also meant a 4 week delay in our schedule.  Ugh... Patrick said we might get finished by August.  I'm trying to be more positive, and say June.

Thank you all for the continued prayers and good thoughts!

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