Update Sept 25th

Things went well during surgery last night, tightening and grafting the bottom part of the surgical wound site. Grafts were taken from the thigh.. from a smaller area than last time when they came from the side of the abdomen. This procedure is seen by the docs as one of the last major hurdles prior to rehab. As said before, if our boy can stay free of debilitating infections, they may begin talking about the possibility of that major move away from the hospital. In rehab he will be much more aggressively removed from the vent and receive increasingly intense PT.

Those direct questions to Dr. Dexter that we spoke of recently included:
-Are his stomach and intestines intact? Yes, and he may eat normally in time.
-What is the status of his pancreas? There is only a residual amount of the pancreas left, so he will be diabetic and need insulin.. his need for digestive enzymes and other aids of that sort will have to be determined after further study.
-As for other procedures such as fistula and hernia repairs, and realignment of displaced organs.. some may be elective, others become necessary. We'll know more later.

Today Jimm was on the vent to let him rest, getting meds for pain as needed, in a pretty good mood, and more awake than he had been over the weekend.

aw
(day 120)