Wondering and Waiting

On Monday morning, Samuel had a drainage tube placed through his back and into his right renal fossa. The long tube has a JP drain at the end of it which applies a gentle, constant suction to draw out the fluid collection. Before putting in the drain, the docs used a needle and syringe and were able to draw out 50 milliliters of a very thick pus-like substance. Studies done so far have not been able to identify it. They have set up cultures and are waiting to see if something will grow, but under the microscope, there were no signs of bacteria or white blood cells. This would seem to indicate that the fluid collection is not an infection. At the moment, we do not know what it is, where it is coming from, and why it continues to reaccumulate. Always too many unanswered questions! Until we know for sure, Samuel is receiving two intravenous antibiotics.

Samuel had dialysis first thing this morning and got a migraine-like headache early in the session. I have to say he looked awful. He spent most of the day sleeping. He was a little more interactive this evening, but still feels terrible and is not interested in food. Walking is very hard for him....too many things hurt. I'm not sure what the docs have planned for Samuel. For now we are just waiting.

Katie is beginning to feel a little better. The antibiotic that she started on Sunday seemed to make her sicker, so on Monday they switched to a different one. She is slowly improving.