Reed’s follow up at ACH

Friday Reed had a follow up appointment at ACH. About a month ago was when he had the discharge coming from his incision, and after we saw them, they wanted to see us back in a month to check on things and see how everything was going.

Our appointment was 10:45 so we headed out around 7:45. Reed was excited to watch TV in mama’s car. haha! 

We got to the hospital and checked in and thankfully didn’t have a long wait in the waiting room, like the last time I had to take him and we waited an hour. They called us back. Since all of this has happened, Reed has gotten very clingy in doctor’s offices. Once we’re in the exam rooms, he doesn’t want down, doesn’t want to play, and just wants to be held. So we tried to occupy a little time by taking some selfies. 

The doctor came in and asked how everything had been going. I told him we check the incision site daily and that it really had been looking so much better. He came over and asked to take a look, and the second Reed leaned his head back, my heart sank. Along the incision, about the size of watermelon seed, was a bubble filled with green stuff. I looked at the doctor and said, “that was not there last night.” He said that these things can be tricky and he needed to see what it was. So, I held Reed down, and he squeezed it, kind of like popping a pimple. He said it was very helpful for him to see what was coming out of it.

Well, my friends, the cyst is back. I really wasn’t expecting that. I truly thought this would be a quick in and out appointment. I really am not surprised that it’s back, but I AM surprised at how quickly it’s returned. It’s been two months from surgery. The doctor said he really feels it’s best to get 3-4 months past his original surgery. This gives the cyst matter a chance to form a more compact mass that’s easier to remove. He sent us home with a prescription for an antibiotic. If we notice the scar starting to get puffy or red, we can fill it to ward off the prescription. We also have contact info for a nurse there that we can use to text or email pictures so they can treat us without having to drive down there. So, those are positives. Right now, he’s scheduled for surgery again on December 30th. He wanted us to wait until mid-December or early January, and I didn’t want him to be miserable for Christmas, so we’ll do it the Monday after.

Some specific prayer requests:

- For Reed to not be in any pain

- For Reed to remain free from infections until his surgery

- That this surgery will be the last one he needs (I asked his doctor once what was the most number of times he’d had to operate on one of these cases, and he said he had one patient that needed SEVEN surgeries.)

Thank you to each of you who has supported us on this journey. While Friday left me feeling defeated, I’m grateful for a number of things. I’m grateful that bubble of gunk showed up while we were there. I’m glad it wasn’t next week after we’d already been. I’m also grateful that even though it may take a while, this IS fixable. He WILL be well – it’s just a question of when. I appreciate everyone who has loved on our family through this process and ask that you continue praying for our sweet boy as we prepare for another operation.