A sense of peace

I truly believe that things are getting better. Danny's fever this evening was only 100.5 and quickly went away without Tylenol. The fluid draining from his tube seems to be looking better. I won't get into the nasty details, but it doesn't look quite so unhealthy. Not much news for today. One of the doctors ordered another CT scan today, but again we won't know the results until tomorrow. This is his 6th scan and the first time he was actually able to drink all of the contrast (dye used for the scan) without quitting or throwing up. I was so very proud of him. He's really struggled with this before. He struggled this time, but with patience and lots of prayer he got through it. The doctors have finally done what I've been asking them to do for the last two days. They are running cultures on his stool, urine, blood, and fluid from the drain. There just has to be a new infection somewhere for him to start running fever again. He ran a fever when he first came into the ER and then for 1 or 2 days after that. Then he was fine for probably 10-12 days. Then came the intense fever again. I'm not a medical person, but I kept saying that there must be a new infection. I'll pray that the results of today's test are clear to the doctors.

He's very emotional today. He misses his children. He's full of gratitude for me always being there for him, which I appreciate, but I try to explain that I signed up for this many years ago and I'm happy to do anything I can for him. Everytime I tell him about a phone call or email I received or what someone has done for us he becomes overwhelmed with gratitude. Through these trying times God is really showing us how truly blessed we are to have such amazing people in our lives. Thank you so much for all of the comments, emails, phone calls, and cards. I've read all of the comments and emails. Sorry I don't always have time to get back to everyone, but I truly appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers.

All of this information is very confusing, but to clear his diagnosis up for everyone--he still has diverticulitis. Even after everything gets better he will have diverticulosis or little bubbles in some part of his colon. He will have to watch his diet and avoid seeds and popcorn as well as increase his fiber intake. About 4 weeks after he is discharged he will have a colonoscopy to determine how much of his colon has the divertculi. We will probably then elect to have surgery to remove a small part of his colon with the bubbles. If he doesn't have the surgery he will risk getting an infection again. We will research it further and get a few more opinions before that, but it is a great posibility that he will have surgery this summer. They could do the surgery now, but it is much more risky becomes everything is irritated and inflamed. He would also very likely have to have a colostomy for a couple of months and then have surgery again to remove the colostomy. That is why it is taking so long for him to get over this. They are trying to treat it and avoid surgery at this time. His surgeon said that at any time we are tired of the course we are on he could elect surgery to remove the abscess and repair the colon. We are not ready for that yet so he may be in the hospital for several more days or weeks.