02 September 2007

Medical diary, continued

I met with the surgeon again this week, for the last appointment before the surgery. The surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, 11-Sep-2007. The surgeon is going to try to follow the tract that the discharge is using to get out of my abdomen (there's still one small opening that it comes from) back to the source. On the way he'll remove any nonviable tissue (that's the debridement part). We expect that it will end up originating at the synthetic mesh. Once he gets there he'll try to remove anything that's involved, including potentially part of the mesh itself. Instead of plain saline for the flush, he's also going to add some antibiotic solution. Right now the surgery is scheduled as outpatient, but it's going to be in the main OR instead of the ambulatory center in case it becomes more involved and I need to be admitted.

This coming week is going to be plenty full of medical visits. I get my PICC line dressing change by the infusion company weekly, which is pretty minor. The infectious disease specialist wants one more follow-up before the surgery. I've got to go in to the hospital to do the pre-op workup (bloodwork, etc). And my family doctor also wants a visit to check on the diabetes.

The new diet has actually been pretty good, and actually makes sense. The goal is to have approximately 45% of calories from protein, 30% from carbohydrates and 25% from fat. In the beginning phases there's a food plan for each day, which includes all meals and snacks. An important part of a diabetic diet is to include healthful snacks between meals to prevent blood sugar spikes and valleys.

Another important part of the lifestyle modification is more physical activity. More on that later...

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2 Comments:

At 07 September, 2007 09:53, Blogger Mike Stavlund said...

Thanks for these updates, Ed. I'm so sorry to hear about your continued travails. Please know that I'll be praying for you and your wonderful family on Tuesday, and please post more updates when you can.

 
At 11 September, 2007 20:37, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thinking of you today.
Stacy

 

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