Tuesday Update - Slow Progress

Jerry is making some moves in a positive direction today. Progress is slow, but it is progress. It wouldn't surprise me if even being sedated he knows that it's Debbie's birthday.

She sounded a little more upbeat on the phone today. The past two nights she has been able to leave the hospital in the evening and sleep through the night. Not surprisingly, she has gotten to know everyone from respiratory to housekeeping. Always making friends.

Here is Jerry's health update by system:

Respiratory status: Yesterday's broncoscopy showed that the pneumonia seems to be resolved for now. The preliminary staining shows no infection in the lungs. It also showed that he probably does not have ARDS. If he does, it is not severe. He does have quite a bit of pulmonary hemorrhaging which in part is due to his compromised renal function. His body is having a hard time getting the fluid out of his lungs.

Renal status: They started a very slow, gentle dialysis, and it seems to be doing it's job.

GI: He's now getting some nutrition and that is going well. It has potentially helped the pancreatitis situation as that has also improved. They don't think the pancreatitis is acute.

Cardiovascular status: His heart seems to be profusing better and his blood pressure is holding pretty well. This morning when Debbie arrived he was off blood pressure meds. He is very sensitive to movement, though and his blood pressure goes down some when he's moved. This afternoon he is back on some blood pressure meds for a little while, but they are already titrating that down.

The Infectious Diseases team is not changing anything with his antibiotic treatment. He has 3 more days on his current course of antibiotics.

Specific prayer requests are to get him out of the woods with the complications. The complications of the heart attack are what is causing him the most difficulty. His heart seems to be holding up well. It could take a while, but we're hoping that he continues to move in the right direction.