surgery update

last may my brother had his seventh open-heart surgery to correct a blood-flow issue that had been putting too much stress on his liver. he also had a pacemaker implanted in his abdomen. since then, he had only been using the pacemaker to help him pump blood 13% of the time.

the kid is not a beefy guy, so in the last few months it became quite obvious that the pacemaker was no longer hiding under his ribs but poking out in what i can only describe as if someone was poorly hiding a pack of cigarettes under a shirt. it was like when people get a piercing and the skin gradually grows in such a way that it pushes the piercing farther and farther out until there is no hole anymore and the thing falls off. there were also two gumball-sized bumps on top of the bulge.

turns out the gumballs were pockets of fluid, which was building up all around the device. at yesterday's procedure they were drained for their contents to be tested. they sent the stuff to the lab, and within 48 hours we'll know if it was harmless and he will only have to worry about the leg surgery in the coming weeks, or if it has become infected (with the possibly of infecting the pacemaker and the blood that runs through it). if it is the latter, the whole matter may have to be revisited with a major procedure, which would probably get in the way of him obtaining his college degree anytime soon.

so, while he's doing well and thoroughly entertained me with his post-surgical/drug-induced antics, right now we're just waiting to see what happens.

thank you all for your good vibes and comforting words. i believe that positive energy of any kind can work wonders. and i have a snarky ps2-addicted 23-year-old in my house to prove it.

***UPDATE*****
thank you all for your well wishes; the results came back negative. now we just have to worry about fixing the gusher on his leg and he'll be set to wreak havoc in the Southern U.S. come the end of August.