Rudy’s Timeline

Rudy sure does set his own pace…from day one.  It’s a little after 5am Tuesday morning and we just got back from taking Rudy to the OR.  Overnight the hole in his stomach incision got noticeably bigger and the surgical team was concerned that other things besides the chylous fluid (like his intestines) might start to push out so they ordered him down to the OR.  The plan was set around 2am but because of another late night case, the call for Rudy didn’t come until about 4:45am.  Dr. Shew will be conducting the procedure.  He is going to close the incision up tight as well as put a drainage tube into his stomach much like the chest tubes he had to drain the chylothroax.  Normally, drainage tubes aren’t used for this kind of chylous because, unlike with the chest cavity, the fluid isn’t isolated in one area and therefore the drainage tubes aren’t very effective.  In Rudy’s case, however, Dr. Shew and his team feel it’s important to get as much pressure off the incision as possible so eventhough the drainage tube won’t drain all the fluid around the stomach, any release of pressure caused by the fluid build-up is helpful at this point.  The presence of the drainage tube may even encourage a more continual flow of the fluid but, again, the priority right now is to give the stomach every opportunity to heal…then, we’ll tackle the fluid issue itself.  Dr. Shew came up to the room to talk with me personally before we took Rudy down to the OR…he is quite familiar with Rudy as he oversaw the TPN study Rudy participated in back in October so Rudy is in good hands.  The procedure should take about an hour and a half.  I’ll let you know when he is back.  Thank you for your prayers!