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So, the doctors just came through Ben's room on rounds. Here's where we stand:
Ben needs to keep the PICC line in for another seven days, until he has had one particular antibiotic for ten full days. He does not need to remain in the hospital for all of those seven days, and in fact arrangements are now being made for an overnight home help nurse for next week.
Starting tomorrow morning, Ben will be taken off of the IV nutrients during the day in order to encourage his appetite. So basically starting at 6am tomorrow he will be untethered during the day.
Ben has been started on solid foods as of today, with the exception of peanut butter. His pancreatic numbers today were absolutely normal for the second day in a row. He will be tested again on Sunday to see where he is at, and if the numbers remain good after two days of eating solids, he can add peanut butter back into the mix.
Ben has been fever-free for over two days now, which is one of the major things the doctors were watching. This is very good news.
Ben was switched from Prozac to another anti-anxiety drug about two weeks ago because of a possible link between Prozac and pancreatitis. Deeper research has shown that the link is *extremely* weak, and there is absolutely no link between Prozac and stone formation. Given that the new medication has consistently caused night sweats and possibly the fever, and given that it is almost certain that the Prozac was having no negative side-effects, starting tonight Ben will go back on his normal Prozac dosage and the other medication will be discontinued. Hopefully we will see a corresponding disappearance of the night sweats.
The solid consensus at this moment is that *if* the fever stays away, and *if* his pain level drops or at least does not increase, and *if* his pancreatic numbers remain steady while he is eating solid foods, then he will be released from the hospital on Tuesday with a night nurse to watch over him at home for an extra four nights. The PICC line will be removed next Friday, which is a very simple procedure (for that matter, all we would have to do is take our eyes off him for three minutes on Friday morning and Ben would take care of it himself).
The doctor agrees with our position, that we need to give his school a chance to work on his diet before resorting to a feeding tube. Ultimately we may have to go there, but the behavioral therapists will have a solid shot at it first.
Now, that seems like a whole lot of "ifs", especially given how things have gone for the last month, but I have to say - this afternoon is the first time I have seen Sara upbeat about the prospects since this whole thing started. The doctors are optimistic, I am optimistic, and Sara is at least guardedly optimistic. I think we really are in the home stretch, folks.
Ben needs to keep the PICC line in for another seven days, until he has had one particular antibiotic for ten full days. He does not need to remain in the hospital for all of those seven days, and in fact arrangements are now being made for an overnight home help nurse for next week.
Starting tomorrow morning, Ben will be taken off of the IV nutrients during the day in order to encourage his appetite. So basically starting at 6am tomorrow he will be untethered during the day.
Ben has been started on solid foods as of today, with the exception of peanut butter. His pancreatic numbers today were absolutely normal for the second day in a row. He will be tested again on Sunday to see where he is at, and if the numbers remain good after two days of eating solids, he can add peanut butter back into the mix.
Ben has been fever-free for over two days now, which is one of the major things the doctors were watching. This is very good news.
Ben was switched from Prozac to another anti-anxiety drug about two weeks ago because of a possible link between Prozac and pancreatitis. Deeper research has shown that the link is *extremely* weak, and there is absolutely no link between Prozac and stone formation. Given that the new medication has consistently caused night sweats and possibly the fever, and given that it is almost certain that the Prozac was having no negative side-effects, starting tonight Ben will go back on his normal Prozac dosage and the other medication will be discontinued. Hopefully we will see a corresponding disappearance of the night sweats.
The solid consensus at this moment is that *if* the fever stays away, and *if* his pain level drops or at least does not increase, and *if* his pancreatic numbers remain steady while he is eating solid foods, then he will be released from the hospital on Tuesday with a night nurse to watch over him at home for an extra four nights. The PICC line will be removed next Friday, which is a very simple procedure (for that matter, all we would have to do is take our eyes off him for three minutes on Friday morning and Ben would take care of it himself).
The doctor agrees with our position, that we need to give his school a chance to work on his diet before resorting to a feeding tube. Ultimately we may have to go there, but the behavioral therapists will have a solid shot at it first.
Now, that seems like a whole lot of "ifs", especially given how things have gone for the last month, but I have to say - this afternoon is the first time I have seen Sara upbeat about the prospects since this whole thing started. The doctors are optimistic, I am optimistic, and Sara is at least guardedly optimistic. I think we really are in the home stretch, folks.