Surgery Scheduled

The surgeon came by today to reassess Rowan's chest tube output. Since his heart looks really good from the cardiac cath and there are no clots, blocks, pressure issues, etc., they aren't really sure what is going on. There is still a chance that the fluid is coming up from below the diaphram. The thought is that somewhere along the line, there was damage to the lymphatic system. Think of this like a third circulation (arteries, veins, and lymphatics) in which all the stuff that doesn't come back through the veins gets back to the heart through these channels.

However, the "end all" treatment for this is a Thorasic Duct Ligation - a surgery where they stitch a few places in lymphatic ducts to try to lower the fluid output level. Let me say, that even after dealing with this for several weeks, and reading up on lymphatic fluid output, I still feel like an idiot child in regards to the way this surgery works or why it works. Needless to say, the surgeon did mention that this might not work. BUT there are definitely risks to letting this fluid continue to drain much longer.

We've been anticipating the need for this surgery for a while, so we're comfortable with this plan. We are hoping that something more definitive can be ascertained about where the fluid is coming from prior to taking Rowan to the OR tomorrow.

We'd rather go ahead and get this done than drag out the drainage, the plasma replacements he needs because of the drainage, and the trouble breathing this fluid is causing. So we feel good about this.

So Rowan gets to rest today, and tomorrow we'll see if we can't help him out a little.