Once again to put you at ease, everything went well and we are back home resting.

If you would like to view the GoFundMe, donate, or share with others, you can do so with this link: Support Alexa’s Fight Against Cancer

Going back to 12/16 and bringing you up to date, let’s jump in.

12/16 | 1:00PM | St Johns:

Alexa has been in a significant amount of pain the last few days, and we can’t seem to minimize it. We went to see Dr. Fancher for our weekly cleaner + dressing of the wound she has on the right breast. Again to paint a picture of it and not gross anyone out, it is roughly 4” x 5” and although there is no signs of infection, it is just open and raw and not progressing to close. We think this is due to her immune system being shot from treatment over the whole year, and her body is in struggle to fight back.

Dr. Fancher administered shots to numb the area before getting to work, but Alexa could still feel everything that was happening and it was at this point that Dr. Fancher decided the next best course of action would be to send Alexa to the OR. She and her team could properly perform debridement and apply a wound vac to help keep the area dry and guide the skin inwards with the negative pressure to ramp up healing. We were going to go in today for the OR, but it wouldn’t be until 10PM, so we will return tomorrow.

12/17 | 1:15PM | St. Johns:

Starting the day off at home and Lex to it easy, while Evan did some work. Around 11:15AM Evan took Hanz over to Tom + Marie’s so they could watch him for that evening. Once back home, all bags got packed and we made our way back to St. Johns.

Pre-Op check in was at 1:30PM, and then Lex did the standard tests, questions, + prep needed. Surgery was set for 3:30PM, but we got delayed until 4:00PM then Alexa was wheeled off in bed for the OR. An hour later she was done, the wound went under debridement, which is a medical procedure that removes damaged, infected, or dead tissue from a wound to help it heal. This is important because dead tissue can trap bacteria, which can lead to infection, slow healing, and cause odor.

After debridement, the wound was cleaned, Dr. Fancher applied the AmnioEffect as well as AxioFill before redressing + placing the wound vac. Lex + Ev spent the night to assure the wound vac was working properly and for them to keep an eye on her vitals post surgery. For those wondering, we did sushi for dinner (thank you Dyl+Kels ♥).

12/18 | St. Johns:

We spent the day in Alexa’s room, very friendly staff, and we just hung around until we got a portable wound vac unit to take home. Dr. Fancher came in to chat + then we did the checklist needed to be discharged. Parking was comped (nice!!) and we scooped Hanz and made our way back home around 6:00PM to rest up, and went to bed shortly after.

Moving forward, we will be getting visiting nurses either once or twice a week, and possibly doing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, but more to come on that.

Today we will head back to St. Johns to follow up with Dr. Fancher and review the wound vac and dressings, but most important Alexa is doing well. If you made it this far, you can enjoy some photos of Hanz and his sleepover adventures with Dougal.

We will take the the week as it comes, focus on rest, relaxation, + recovery. Next week will return to St. Johns for our third immunotherapy appointment.