i probably should have put this in my last post this kinda goes into detail as to whats going onThomas Smith, has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now. He was in the heart and vascular center for awhile because there was no room in ICU. During that time had a lot of fluid in his body and it was thought he developed pneumonia, among other things. He was in the hospital for three weeks misdiagnosed with cellulitis then home for a week before having to re-admit. He could not walk and was bleeding from his feet. (He lost 2 pints of blood.) Here are some things he’s developed since he’s been in: •He cannot see well. His vision is blurry •It was thought he had edema and pulmonary edema, then pneumonia. They haven’t discovered the reason for his lung trouble. •His body is not making albumin and his GI tract is not absorbing the IV albumin •He is anemic and extremely nutrient deficient. He is being fed TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) via IV. He is not allowed to eat food because his oxygen level is too low and they need to keep the oxygen on him. •He was on a nasal oxygen cannula, then moved to a bi-pap because his oxygen saturation dropped twenty or more points in 30 seconds and his lips and fingertips turned blue This is what has occurred today: •He was moved to ICU •He is now on a ventilator •His lungs are inflamed and they don’t know why because all the fluid that was in his lungs has been drained off. •As a last resort they will take a small piece of his lung and look at it under a microscope to determine why his lungs are still inflamed. They can do this one of two ways: 1.) they can put a scope down the tube and use a needle, but this is risky because of his need for oxygen: they don’t want to insert air into his lungs which may happen with this procedure, or 2.) they can consult with a surgeon and will make an incision through the side of the chest cavity and take a small piece from there. •They’re still having problems giving oxygen. His saturation is 98 and that’s on high pressure with the ventilator. •We had to give consent for them to insert an arterial catheter (A line). They can monitor the blood pressure better that way. Bleeding can be a problem, but they’ll have to do it anyway to get the piece of lung through one of the two procedures. The doctor says things are probably not going to be much better because his body’s not absorbing the nutrients he needs. They are scratching their heads and keep trying different procedures to see what works. Pray for Thomas (Tommy) and for my family. We are all very tired and the stress is taking its toll on our bodies, minds, and emotions
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 23:51:29 +0000
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