On the Road Again

Well kids it's been 5 months and it's time to go back to Mayo Clinic to check in with doctors, and hopefully do take down surgery and get rid of Julie's illeostomy. Here's a quick recap of what's been going on since the last blog post.

When we left Mayo they had done a temporary illeostomy that would let Julie's colon rest for several months in hope that it would repair the problems and put Julie's Crohns into remission. The illeostomy required Julie to wear an ostomy bag that was adhesive to her skin. If you know Julie, you know that she has about the most sensitive skin in the whole world and she if very jealous of anyone who gets to be sporty fresh, or have clothes that smell like spring rain or anything else for that matter. Sooooo... her skin was not a big fan of the combination of an adhesive patch and 100+ degree days. She ended up with an infection around her stoma and some skin breakdown, which landed her with a twice daily trip to infusion therapy at the hospital so take IV antibiotics. Since she's on Remicade which messes with your immune system, they wanted to attack with the big guns just to be safe. Once the infection was cleared up and our friends the stoma nurses at Mayo came up with a non-adhesive plan, things have been pretty smooth sailing. She has had no symptoms and all blood work has been excellent. So right at the moment we are feeling like the chances of take down surgery on Wednesday are pretty promising.
They will do a colonoscopy and a few zillion other test on Monday and Tuesday just to make sure that we are ready, and if all looks good they will do surgery on Wednesday. Julie has an appointment with her surgeon and gastro guy late Tuesday afternoon and we will get the yay or ney then. If they do the surgery she will be in the hospital for between 3 and 7 days, just depending on when she poos. So for now, we would appreciate prayers that surgery is a go, and then later pray for poo. Boy, aren't you glad you are friends with our family. You get to pray for all kinds of fun stuff!
In the meantime, we have been doing a little sight seeing today. Checked out the bridges of Madison County in Iowa. Dad of course took lots of pictures, we'll post later. Tonight we are headed to Wausau, WI to see our buddy Marti. She owns a pottery studio called Clay Corner Studio. We are excited to see her and her shop. Will spend the day tomorrow in Wausau and then head to Rochester in the evening. Julie's first appointment is for blood work at 6:40am. Woo! Nothing like getting your blood drawn first thing in the morning!
I'll keep you posted as stuff happens here.
Love to all,
Robin