GO TEAM USA

I Can't Sugarcoat This

Evan put on his Nike "Fearless Warrior" sneakers yesterday and allowed the expert PICC/IV surgical team to attempt one more removal of his line, without anesthesia.

It didn't work.

All week long, there were road blocks to the resolution of his line problems...insurance, OR schedules, radiology conflicts, procedure re-codes, case managers with the day off, shift changes, preop exams, new labs, those who wished to give it the ole college try, etc....There was the slightest chance that his line could have migrated down, by itself, during this interminable wait, so Evan agreed, under stringent conditions, to a retry, before a dressing change and a weekend wait.

The good news is that Evan is not going to be subjected to a retry. The better news is that he is the first surgical case, Monday morning.

Maybe.

Labs revealed a new problem. His glucose levels (blood sugar) have risen from a normal of 76 on Monday to a level of 376 on Friday. That's an impressive jump. Steroids have been discontinued. He is being watched.

His clotting factors, not insignificant, given the nature of the impending procedure, are not in line with normal parameters either. I am going to attempt to mentally prepare my son for the procedure, but I think it prudent to cloak my words with prepositional phrases. I am running out of platitudes and I can't sugar coat my words right now. Evan has been instructed to avoid any and all sugar- for the weekend.

Conjecture is that "stress" might be a factor for these blood levels. I'll go with that. More next week. Enjoy these last few days of summer. Please keep Evan in your thoughts. xoxo mom

Comments

[MJ from Eastside Team in Training]

Hi Mom and Evan. The entire East Side Winter team - all 33 of us - have you in our hearts and prayers. There are hundreds of us behind you, giving you strength and love, so know that you are not alone. We are training hard in support of your personal fight and the fight against these diseases.