Friday Update - A Step Forward..A Step or Two Back

Today there is not much change. The upside...nothing is a great deal worse. Debbie feels like they move an inch forward and then move one or two inches backward. His health picture is very complex. Debbie is still very concerned.

Cardiac output numbers are pretty good considering everything that's going on with his other systems. He is still drug dependent to keep his blood pressure up and he is still sensitive to movement.

He had a CT scan of his intestines last night in the middle of the night which showed no obvious signs of bleeding or blockage. They are still trying to encourage motility, but feedings are shut off for now.

The pulmonary picture is worse today. Xrays show that his lungs are worse than yesterday. He has lots of fluid which is directly related to renal issues. There is possibly some new pulmonary hemorrhaging. They have changed vent settings to try and help that.

There are continued problems with dialysis. The longest block of time he has been on dialysis is 22 hours. The catheter is clotting and they have to readjust. It is currently off and they are going in a little different direction. This afternoon or tonight they will guide a catheter into his neck for dialysis. That means another trip to the lab...more movement...etc. This really needs to be successful as he has more edema today.

The infection status and hematology are all closely related. His hemoglobin levels are low in spite of the fact that he's been given some blood over the last week. They are wondering about a new bleed somewhere.

He's not on any other anticoagulants except for plavix and aspirin. They are unable to discontinue those because he needs them to keep the cardiac issues at bay.

Another possibility for the low hemoglobin is an infection that is not showing itself. He has no fever and his pancreas and liver numbers are fine. In fact, those numbers are trending in the right direction.

Specific prayer requests:

1. Pray that they can get dialysis going and keep it going for more than 1 day. A good 48-72 hours should help a lot of his other systems and get some of the swelling down.
2. Pray that he continues to be protected from additional complications. We are thankful to have gotten this far without infection recurrence and hope that it stays that way.