Catching Up

Ryan came home from the hospital as scheduled last Friday afternoon.  He was happy to be out of the hospital and I was happy to have him home.  I no longer had the added responsibility of driving back and forth to visit him everyday, but having him home presents the added challenges of caring for him and everyone else at the same time.  Since having him home means no visiting hours, I haven't taken the time to update the blog before or after I see Ryan.  Ryan is here all the time, so usually if he doesn't need me, one of the kids does.

Ryan is doing better and better everyday.  His pain is very well managed and his energy is pretty good considering his limitations.  He went to the hospital Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for follow up appointments, and each time they were very happy with how he was progressing.  We met with the surgeon yesterday and he's confident that Ryan will be ready for the next surgery on September 2nd.  It's pretty awkward for Ryan to have "bridges" of flesh connecting  his neck to his cheeks, so we're looking forward to having that disconnected.  And I look forward to not having to do the wound care necessary for his flaps.  I keep asking Ryan what people would do if they didn't have a strong stomach.  But we both know it is a means to an end and having that burn scar off of his face will be such an improvement.  Not just aesthetically, but burn scars contract and pull his eyes open, cause him pain, and drastically increase his risks of skin cancer.  Having that gone will be good for so many reasons.  

His eyes are doing much better than last week too.  His right eye, in particular, developed a lot of swelling under the membrane and ophthalmology was watching it closely.  We just had to be really aggressive with the eye drops and goggles and by Wednesday, Ryan was able to get his Boston Scleral Lens back in.  His lenses provide constant moisture for his corneas and protect them, but with all the swelling they didn't fit.  Now that he can wear his lenses, he still needs drops for the area of his eyes not covered by the lenses but he's much more comfortable and can see better.

So, ten more days until the next surgery and Ryan being able to move his neck freely again.  Please keep us in your prayers in the meantime.  This really isn't fun, but we're managing.