Steven's doctor appointment

I took Steven to the surgeon today to find out what we need to do about his finger. This is the surgeon who did Drew's collar bone surgery and I love him. He is so nice and he explains everything without using any doctor words.

Anyway, he said that he wants Steven to see another surgeon, who only does hand surgeries. He said that he can take care of it, but he doesn't do that all the time and since it is really serious, he would rather that Steven see someone who does it all the time. He did tell us that if we don't like the other guy or aren't happy with him for any reason, he would certainly take care of him. He would just rather make sure Steven gets the best care possible.

He confirmed the infection and said there were two possibilities that he could think of. The first was that he might be able to ride out the infection with lots of antibiotics, but since that could make it even worse and the infection could get into the bone, he didn't want to make that call. The second is that he would need surgery to "fillet open" (yes, he said that!) the finger and insert a tube along the length of it. The tube would go in near the top of the finger and come out in or near the palm. It would have a drain at the bottom and Steven would need to stay in the hospital for 3 or 4 days, so that the nurses can monitor it and regularly flush it out. Gross and yuck and ouch!

Steven's health insurance coverage runs out on April 1st, so we have to get this over with quickly! He is thinking about signing up for school, which would extend his coverage. I would love to see him going to school (for culinary arts), but I'm not sure he is ready for that at this point. To me, there is no point in going to school if you aren't going to take it seriously and I'm not sure Steven is at that point, yet. He will have to work full time or more than full time and go to school full time. He will also have to lay off the substances and concentrate on school. So, we'll see how that goes, I guess.