Yes, No, Yes, Yes, No??? Yes.

Taking things with a grain of salt keeps you from getting your hopes up too high. Final word, I think, until someone changes their mind again, is that YES, there is a fistula, and YES it is communicating with the small intestine. I was thinking a swear word, but I will spare you the profanity. :)

Brent had a 'fistulagram' this morning in SLC. That is when they inject dye into the drain and see where it goes. Well, it went . . . right to the intestine. So, since there really isn't anything draining into the drain, we would assume (I know, I know, never assume) that it is a very small fistula that isn't really draining anything from the intestine. And, since it is small there is a greater chance of it healing without surgery.

The whole problem right now is the active Crohn's. It doesn't want to cooperate. The quick solution to getting his Crohn's under control is high doses of prednisone, but we can't do that because the prednisone inhibits the whole healing process. It's a vicious circle.

Visits with the surgeon yesterday and the G.I. doc today haven't led to many answers. It's just a waiting game still. Of course the surgeon doesn't want to go in because that leads to a whole new set of problems. He is running a culture on the drain to see if by any chance we can eliminate any of the IV antibiotics that make Brent feel like crap. I hope so. The G.I. doc is trying to get him back on the Methotrexate, since tests were inconclusive on whether or not his problems last weekend were related to the methotrexate. It is only 1/5 of the dose he was previously on.

So, to sum it up . . . not really any changes. Patience, I've decided, is definitely NOT one of my virtues. But, we still keep keeping on. That's just what you do. Right?