4 more weeks

Allison had her follow up appointment with Dr Harrison today along with an upper G.I. study and esophogram to check on her progress with the NE tube and suction. Good news first. There has been marked improvement in the size of her lower espohagus. Instead of being stretched out to almost 10 times it's normal size, it is now shrunk back down to just about 2x its normal size. Also the normal action of the esophagus, called peristalsis (sp), is now working again. Not perfectly well yet, due to the still increased size, but enough that it is pushing stuff through to the stomach. They told us that it is also not in synch, calling is "disconjugated" meaning that the motion isnt always downward to the stomach, but fluctuates up and down. But, for the most part it's positive improvement!!
Some bad news along with it though, Allison still has the tube and suction in place. The doc wants to leave it for another 4 weeks, just to make sure that the healing continues and giving Allison's esophagus the time to re-train itself to work properly. We are however, going to start turning off the suction for extended periods of time throughout the day. Starting slowly of course, but working our way up to an hour or 2 a couple times a day.
Nursing care ends this week, but the county disabilities program manager has found a nursing service that is willing to train our respite care provider in all of Allison's medical necessities! So, we wont have a nurse overnight, but we will have someone able to come provide Amy with nap time, grocery shopping time, or just alone time. And once Jeff goes back to swing shift in July, can you say a possible DATE NIGHT every once in awhile? Wooo-hooo!
Speaking of... Jeff is on vacation for a week starting this coming Sunday. And then its just 3 more weeks of graveyard. We are entertaining a couple of ideas of what to do over vacation week, and with Allison's improvement, camping is actually at the top of our possibilities list. We've been blessed with friends who offered (read demanded) that we use their trailer at least once this summer. This may be our best opportunity to do so.
Amy's heart issues are still being monitored pretty closely, she wore another halter monitor that recorded her activity for 36 hours. As soon as we get that back to them, the Dr's will be taking a look at those results and geting back to us on how everything looked. They also adjusted her pacemaker a little bit and she seems to be improved.
Keala is still recovering from her HFMD outbreak. It was soooo horrible. She had blisters literally from head to toes. The ones in her mouth are much better, allowing her to eat again without pain, but the ones on her feet are still pretty bad. Should be just another couple days before she's all done with this mess.
Thanks for all your continued prayers. We know for a fact that they are the reason behind the positives. Now we just need to keep weathering the negatives and continue to learn from them and grow in spite of them.