"People Die From This"

Sorry. Dramatic. This is actually a happy post. The above quote comes from our new hero, Dr. Ahmad (he with the Scottish lilt), who performed the agonizing and nerve-wracking surgical clean up, last night, on Jen's ravaged-by-infection abdomen. If you are squeamish, cover your ears for this one: He drained over a liter of green puss out of her last night; it had the viscosity of yogurt. The pressure was building up so much that it was literally about to burst out of her body.

People die from this. In this instance, though, Jen's youth and vitality perhaps saved her life. Regardless, immediate surgery was absolutely obligatory.

Luckily, Ahmad is happy both with his own work, and--moreover--with Jen's progress. A few possible problems remain that could result in anything from longer stays in the hospital (she's currently slated to be here for 7-10 days from now), to more surgery. But one of the big ones--which he terrified Jen's sister, Brandee, and me with last night--was the possibility of systemic swelling. This occurs in some people as a result of the jostling of the organs required by a procedure of this type, and can land them in the ICU on a ventilator and dialysis machine. The point: Jen seems to be well beyond this danger.

Most of us know how Jen relates to liquids--she likes them. She likes to drink them, especially water, a lot. Dr. Ahmad left her room after granting her the gift of progress from a mouth swab as the only liquid allowed, to ice chips. Tomorrow, however, she gets to graduate to "Clear Liquids." Jell-O here we come!

She loves her swab!

 

Dr. Ahmad's drawing of her infected abcess--the long, dark area.