Well, today was neither a good or bad day. Pete remained stable for most of the day and at 4 pm went for his CT scan. However, the process of taking the CT was very difficult on Pete's already battered system. It took him awhile to stabilize after the procedure and he is still not able to go back on dialysis. We are hopeful that he will be able to start dialysis again sometime around midnight. We were able to identify a pocket of fluid that once drained will provide some relief for Pete's lungs and may provide some more information as to what is attacking him.
Right now we are in the forest with no clear direction as to which way to go, but we have faith that we will eventually find our path and arrive back at our trail-head.
Monday, February 28, 2011
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CT scan
So they are just finishing taking Pete off dialysis to get him ready to take him for a CT scan to try to figure out what is causing the problems! Praying it goes smoothly, his vital signs remain stable and they are able start diagnosing what is attacking him.
Update
As of this morning Pete's vital signs are improved and seem to be stable. If they remain stable they, we want to get a CT scan to help diagnose what is causing the infection.
Please pray that his vital signs remain stable and we are able to find some useful information from the CT!
Please pray that his vital signs remain stable and we are able to find some useful information from the CT!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Red Letter Day
Good news today! While Pete is still not out of the woods, we did get some very good news today.
His vital signs are all improving. The dialysis treatment seems to be helping him and we were able to run 10 hours so far without any incident. If his vital signs continue to remain stable the next step will be to start weaning him from the ventilator. The nice thing about today is we are done waiting for procedures to get done and actually got something done.
Yesterday we were worried about all of his organ functions and today we know that the heart is functioning very well, the liver is good, there is room for improvement in the lungs, the kidneys are still in failure but are starting to produce urine with the dialysis and at this time we expect full recovery even though it may be a long slow process. There is still a peritoneal infection of GI flora in connection with the original surgery, but we added a third antibiotic.
Like his nurse said when I left for dinner, it will be two steps forward and one step back; some good days and some bad. And this was a GOOD DAY!"
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers and support!!! It is greatly appreciated.
His vital signs are all improving. The dialysis treatment seems to be helping him and we were able to run 10 hours so far without any incident. If his vital signs continue to remain stable the next step will be to start weaning him from the ventilator. The nice thing about today is we are done waiting for procedures to get done and actually got something done.
Yesterday we were worried about all of his organ functions and today we know that the heart is functioning very well, the liver is good, there is room for improvement in the lungs, the kidneys are still in failure but are starting to produce urine with the dialysis and at this time we expect full recovery even though it may be a long slow process. There is still a peritoneal infection of GI flora in connection with the original surgery, but we added a third antibiotic.
Like his nurse said when I left for dinner, it will be two steps forward and one step back; some good days and some bad. And this was a GOOD DAY!"
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers and support!!! It is greatly appreciated.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
On to the next level of defense
As of this evening, Pete had a central line placed. This means that his medical team will have better access to administer multiple medications and avoiding IV sticks. This also means that we are moving to the next round of defense and we are expecting to be spending some more time in the hospital. Right now we are focusing on fighting the infection and getting Pete back on stable ground. I know we are all concerned about Pete and his welfare and I am trying my best to keep everyone informed.
Your well wishes are greatly appreciated. At this time Pete is not able to have visitors, but we will let you know as soon as he can. Pete is strong, but he has a long fight ahead of him, please keep him in your hearts.
Your well wishes are greatly appreciated. At this time Pete is not able to have visitors, but we will let you know as soon as he can. Pete is strong, but he has a long fight ahead of him, please keep him in your hearts.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Down the rabbit hole
Thursday and Friday blended into one as the testing and evaluation went well into the night. At 0700, with the start of a new shift everything went into full speed. Pete's labs starting coming back indicating that something seriously was not right. This morning Pete was transferred to Swedish First Hill ICU where we were met by a team of doctors. Almost as soon as he was settled into his room, the transport team from OR came up to prep him for exploratory surgery to see what was wrong. AT this point we believed that he just had retained a stone from the gallbladder removal and had an infection brewing as a side effect. At this point I knew Pete was ill, but did not realize the extent of his illness. I was not prepared for him to come out of his surgery sedated and intubated, with no clear diagnosis insight.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Staying Again
Thursday ended with pain not under control and signs of complications ... not good for going home so they decided to keep Pete overnight and start looking into why he is still in so much pain more then 24 hours after his surgery.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Surprise Surgery
Pete woke with severe abdominal pain on Wednesday at 4am. Pacing and antacids didn't seems to work so decided it was probably more than gas pain.
Decided to go into ER after throwing up and feeling worse. The long and the short of it ended up needing to have his gallbladder removed. The surgery that is usually outpatient and you go home that day took longer than normal...over 3 hours with recovery over 5 hours so they decided to keep Pete for the night...make sure he was OK and then send him home Thursday morning.
We were really not too worried ... sometimes it takes just a little longer to get the pain under control and be ready to go home! No problem...we'll be out of here in no time and back to normal!
Decided to go into ER after throwing up and feeling worse. The long and the short of it ended up needing to have his gallbladder removed. The surgery that is usually outpatient and you go home that day took longer than normal...over 3 hours with recovery over 5 hours so they decided to keep Pete for the night...make sure he was OK and then send him home Thursday morning.
We were really not too worried ... sometimes it takes just a little longer to get the pain under control and be ready to go home! No problem...we'll be out of here in no time and back to normal!
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