Simply put: Things are much the same regarding Jimm's condition with minor but positive shifts. His eyes open every so often, but no one is home quite yet. The next steps up will be self-breathing, and then later, being awake enough to talk. No one has a solid idea of how soon that will be.
More technically: He remains on intimate terms with Ativan (lorazepam) and fentanyl, a sedative and pain med mix that is heavier on the latter. He is being given just enough to make him comfortable and not much more.. the thinking being, the closer he is to consciousness, the better his body can heal itself.
His ventilator has been shifted from a more long inhale-short exhale cycle, to the opposite, which is more like normal breathing and keeps the lungs inflated to a lesser degree. A good sign.
He had two wash outs last week.. Tuesday and Thursday, and will have another this Monday. No additional word from the surgical team, except that septic damage is cleaned out each time and things are checked out carefully. At least one CT scan with a contrast agent has been done to help them see organ and other details more clearly. The pancreas is still troubled, and this event has had a detrimental effect on the kidneys(which we know about)and also the liver, which is working harder to compensate- but should rebound OK. Some jaundice, or yellowing of the skin and eyes, has been expected due to improper processing of bilirubin in the weakened liver, but this has not occurred yet. The 24 hour dialysis machine continues to do a great job, and could be used more heavily in draining off tissue-bound fluids if they become a problem. So far they are not, and BP is staying up without the extensive use of vasoconstrictors like Levophed.
Regarding blood donations. This has proven to be a confusing topic. The hospital no longer takes blood donations, but rather directs folks to the Red Cross for that. Jimm is A negative. If you have A negative or O negative blood and would like to donate, from what we have heard, there is a chance that- with the proper paperwork and routing, etc.- your blood may make it to Jimm after it is thoroughly screened. This screening would take about a week by some estimates.
http://www.my-redcross.org/index.cfm/p/Contact-Us
This is the website for the local Red Cross blood services office. The 'specialized patient service department', which deals with specific recipients, is open during normal business hours so they could not be reached on Saturday. Since I am unable to give blood because of blood pressure issues, and am not Rh negative anyway, I will leave it up to those interested to look into it further and pass along what they find out. Questions and comments would be welcome at.. aweebster@gmail.com
Thanks.
A note on this blog: To facilitate loading I have put 7 posts on each page. To keep moving to previous messages just click on 'Older Posts' at the bottom of the current page and you will go to the next page of 7 posts. The best way to go to any desired post(for instance, 'Please Send A Greeting To Jimm')is to spot it in the archive list to the right of the current posts and select it directly.
BTW: Thanks to all of you who have written greetings.. they are fantastic! Please keep it up.. Jimm will love them. And it's great for all of us to see who has been checking in.. we've become sort of a community.
Thanks again.
-aw
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment