Date sent:11/19/99 09:41 PM
Good to Go...

Hi... Can you stand one more message today????

So, we have spoken with both Dr. Ashbaugh (from Infectious Diseases) and Dr. Black. They both agree that Dan is good to go.

Dr. A. says that Dan will stay on the IV antibiotic for six weeks total at minimum. We will CT scan again in about 3 weeks to make sure the infection is resolved. Sounded like the possibility that it won't be 100% resolved by that point is real, so, not to be surprised if it takes awhile. He also said that if Dan has any worrisome symptoms (even something that appears to be a common cold...) to get it checked out, ie scanned.

Dr. B. says he agrees with Dr. A about getting scanned in 3 weeks, and then scan again in 6 weeks after the 3 week one. When asked about MRI for the tumor, he said that while the abscess and associated edema are present, MRI for the tumor won't tell much, the edema would be confusing. (During other conversations on this trip he has also said both that he expects it to be a long time before the tumor returns and that having the abscess is also beneficial for treating the tumor margins, and so will likely help prolong recurrance... so he is not worried about that scanning at the moment.) We will have the stitches taken out in about a week, and the picc line will come out when they feel like the abscess is fully cleared. Finally, he said we could take the drain out in about a month... when I choked on that, he said that it is safe to be there indefinately, and that it is better to be there than not to be there (ie he would have taken it out tonight, and let Dan go tomorrow anyway if we wanted, but he preferred (as did I) to keep the drain in)... but realistically, we could come back sometime in the spring or summer to take it out, at our convenience... as long as Dan stays healthy.

So, we will do the discharge information session tonight with the nurse. They will try to time Dan's IV treatments tonight so that he will get one extra by the time we leave at 9:00 am tomorrow morning. Then, we put our bags in a cab and take off. Toni picks us up at CMH, Phyllis will bring the kids home when we get there, and the IV homehealth group will meet us at home to get Dan started on his next treatment, and Phil, will be in on Sunday.

Overall we are pumped and ready to go. Thank you for hanging in there with us on the rugged journey.

We prepare to make the next steps....

With Love, Hope and Appreciation, Abi and Dan