Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Update # 162

8 Years

Okay, apparently, “every morning” may not be quite accurate for an update. Guess we’ll just leave it at “daily”.

Critical but stable in a drug-induced coma continues to be the terminology. This is as serious a pneumonia, or several strains, as anyone can get. Jeff’s situation is still day to day But the next words are – a little better, small improvement, numbers look good.

We had been told that yesterday respiratory would begin weaning Jeff off the ventilator. Numbers are borderline so to let Jeff really be ready they decided to wait till today. Again, this morning was the same conversation – numbers are better but near borderline and we want Jeff to be ready so let’s wait till tomorrow and see. Or could even be the end of the week. No problem for us. We were told that 10-15% of patients taken off the ventilator have to be put back on. Jeff would not be a happy camper so don’t rush anything.

Jeff has been receiving quite a bit of fluid to help prevent kidney failure. Yesterday they thought he was now safe so Lasix was given to take off this extra fluid. Worked – I could actually see Jeff’s stomach decrease in size. Nightly weighing showed a loss of 6 pounds. And today the dose will increase to remove more fluid.

A major decision yesterday was to resume the breathing treatment. This was the one Jeff received and then went into distress which put him on the ventilator. But this is the medication that is the best to treat the RSV. This time a medication will be given before the treatment to help the airway stay open to accept the med. So far so good. We had to begin again at #1 of 15 but Jeff has done well with 3 at this point. 2 hours on, 6 hours off estimate Saturday for this plan to complete. We have to gown/glove/mask for 3 hours. An additional hour after the treatment is a precaution. During the night those 3 items keep you extra toasty warm!

The heart monitor will beep every so often showing some signs of a-fib for a tiny moment but the heart meds are continuously there to get him back in rhythm. Some heart function is lost and cannot be determined if due to chemo or maybe RSV even has attacked the heart. Again, regaining what is lost is unknown in the future.

Jeff received an IV bag of IVIG yesterday. An immunoglobulin to help his body recover. Some of you may remember he received one of these when he had Sepsis in 2006.

One good news, bad news item. Even though the bed does some turning of his body, the nurses like to turn him a bit more. Yesterday and twice during the night, when he was turned, the ventilator tube became blocked by a mucus plug in his lungs. The nurse had to take him off the machine and manually bag him. This gave a bit more pressure to break up the mucus plug and allow air to again go through the tube. Good that the breathing treatment is loosening the mucus, bad because manually bagging puts a bit more pressure on the lungs. Plus the strain of no air puts his numbers in wacky mode.

A medication is also starting to raise Jeff’s blood sugar. So they check his level several times a day and he receives an insulin shot. Numbers are coming down. This also happened during his transplant with one of those drugs. When it stops, his blood sugar to return to normal.

Less antics and more rest is what Jeff is doing. He still communicates with thumbs up, wave, or head nod. But the most response was at 6:00 PM yesterday when Dr. DiPersio walked into the room! When he heard that voice, Jeff tried to open his eyes and held out his hand for Dr. DiPersio. After giving me a big hug, Doc gave one also to Meridith. He told Jeff to rest and he’ll get him well. Dr. DiPersio said this is serious and the breathing treatment is what’s needed to beat this RSV. Guess who’s susceptible to RSV – transplant patients – and Jeff’s lungs. Yes, usually there is no problem with the breathing treatment but Jeff just happened to be at an edge of distress that this put him over the edge. He told us to hang in there and gave us gals another big hug before leaving. This was Doc’s first day back after that conference and this was after he did his day in the office. He’s always by Jeff’s side!

I think that has things current. Sometime tomorrow I’ll send more info.

Please continue your prayers. We all feel your love and truly appreciate it.

love,

Marcia