Not only in the movies.

Since the accident we've been very impressed how the doctors address every issue. They don't make promises to us, but we always know that they are doing anything and everything they can. Chest tube to drain fluid, pacemaker to help out his heart, trach to replace the vent tube, more blood, warming blankets to raise temperature, on pressors, off pressors, more pain medicine, less pain medicine, new pain medicine, surgery, surgery, surgery. When he's very agitated, they trace every tube until they find the one that's causing the problem. With each daily report we know they are doing everything they can. Little did we know that we hadn't heard of EVERYTHING.

Are you sitting down? Dr. Duke wanted to make sure we were before he explained his new course of action. Dr. Duke has told us from the beginning that he doesn't do everything these "young uns" do.

Today Dad became a member of an elite group. You may have seen it before on House or Gladiator. On today's surgical agenda - maggots (we might prefer to call them "micro surgeons"). While I'd heard of this before, I guess I thought it only happened in movies. Nope, not the case. They order these medical micro surgeons from California, and apparently they can do what scapels and lasers cannot by eating and dissolving dead or infected tissue.

Dr. Duke was happy to report that the maggots will be able to remove necrotic tissue without nipping the healthy tissue. Sometimes he goes to remove the infected skin and it makes the healthy tissue bleed. These micro surgeons will only eat the necrotic tissue. At first we were a bit skeptical about this. Obviously we trust whatever Dr. Duke wants us to do, but after a little Internet research we are almost excited.

Here's some information we have found.

Excerpt from National Geographic:
Sherman recalls the case he saw if a woman with perforation of the bowels and an infection that had spread through the abdomen, causing death (gangrene) of her bowel wall and peritoneum. Because it became necessary to remove dead tissue every other day in a risky surgical procedure, the attending physician decided to try the maggots.
"Two thousand of them were sprinkled over her open abdomen, and then covered with a dressing," said Sherman. "Two days later the maggots were washed out, revealing no more gangrene. She healed well, and the abdomen closed, without the need for any further intra-abdominal surgery."

Dr. Ronald Sherman of the University of California, Irvine

While the thought of this might make us squirm a bit, we're very hopeful and we know addressing this issue is the next step we have to take. Plus it means that Dad will only go to surgery every other day while the "micro surgeons" do their work!