Colonoscopy done

And it went great! She did not need to be put on the ventilator either.

Mom is having a depression colonoscopy done

At least that is what I think it is called. It is to try to get the air out of her stomach. Her colon is dilated and they are worried that it might tear. So they are doing the colonoscopy right now. They put her on the vent for the surgery because of the sedative.

Mom is being transferred

Mom is being transferred to Georgetown Hospital. Hopefully they will be able to figure out what is going on with her.

Mom update

Mom refused the medication so she is still in the same room (not ICU). Her stomach is still distended. One of the meds made her heart race and they gave her something else to made it slow down.

Mom has pneumonia again

Greg is at the hospital and just called to say that Mom has pneumonia again. And a UTI again. A different GI doc came yesterday to give a second opinion and he wants to give Mom a medication that will move her bowels but will also drop her heart rate so she will need to go back in the ICU. We are not sure yet if this is going to happen today or not.

Mom update

Sorry I have not updated all week. There really has not been too much change. Her stomach is still distended. Her bladder is not working. All CT scans are coming back normal. They think if she was moving more she would be fine. But she is not strong enough to move and the nurses are not helping her get up. She had a nose bleed couple nights ago.
She is supposed to be eating solids but doesn't want to. She is drinking more liquids.
Her memory is not so good right now. Yesterday she forgot all of our names, did not know how many kids she had. Scary stuff. When I got there last night, she knew what our (Joey, Stacy, Nicole) names were, but did not remember Greg or Jamie. The doctors think it is a hospital induced dementia just from being there so long.

April 19 Mom update

Mom's stomach is still distended. They are doing a CT scan of her head, abdomen and pelvis to try and figure out what is going on. She is also having some confusion.

April 18 Mom update

Mom's stomach is totally distended. They had put in an NG tube and she pulled it out last night. She is back to nothing by mouth while they try to figure what is going on.

Friday April 17 Mom update

I went to see her earlier. Her WBC is still at 13. Her stomach is distended again though, so I don't know what is going on.

April 16 Mom update

Mom seems to be doing well. Her WBC is down to 13 so that is awesome. Her temp went up a little to 99.9, but it is still better than it was. She ate about 1/2 of her lunch (baked ziti and veggies) so that is good. She still needs someone to help her eat or drink her water. She is not strong enough to be able to hold stuff herself. Hopefully PT/OT will start tomorrow.

Mom is out of the ICU!

She is on a telemetry unit (which is a step down unit but she is still hooked up to monitors)! I am so excited and she is looking so much better. No fever! She still has not gotten out of bed, but she is talking more and telling me about gifts that she bought for Sara Rose (that she had hidden), so I know she is feeling better. And she is getting solid foods! So things seem to be slowly but surely in the right direction. She also has a phone in this room and can talk a little on it, so if you want the number, send me an email.

April 15 Mom update

She seems to be doing better. They are looking for a bed in a step-down unit so hopefully she will be out of the ICU today. Her WBC is up at 19 and she still has a low-grade fever. But they think she is not critical anymore, so that is great.

Tuesday April 14 Mom update

WBC is down to 16 again. The bleeding from her nose stopped. She is back on a liquid diet. Her BP is high, but I am not sure what it is. I will be there tonight and hopefully have a better update.

Monday April 13 Mom update evening

The nurse earlier was wrong. Mom's WBC is up to 22. She still has a fever. Doctor just called to let me know that she is having bleeding in her nose that is going to her lungs. They are stopping the blood thinner and giving her plasma. Which increases her risk of stroke. But they need to stop the bleeding or they may have to reintubate her. And they found a gram positive infection in her blood. She is off the liquid diet again. But her pancreatitis does seem to be getting better at least.

Monday April 13 Mom update

Joey spent the night there and Nicole is there now. Nicole says that her pancreas is doing better so they are starting her on a liquid diet today. She still has a fever. Her WBC is down, but I am not sure what it is. She is starting to have some pain again and needed pain meds last night which made it harder for her to breath.

Hospital Notes 4/12

Nurse called me at 2pm to come over because Mom was refusing breathing treatment. I talked to her and she said that she would have the treatment when they came back.

2:45pm- Stacy
BP 144/68. Dr. Chanalis (ICU doc) ordered to have lasix started again for swelling. He looked at the chest x-ray and said no pneumonia or infection. Ordered bloodwork to check about pancreatitis. Said she could have a sip of water to wet her throat and mouth.

April 12 Mom update

Mom still has a fever going from 99-101. Her WBC is down to 16 so that is good. I am here now and the doctor said that she can have a sip of water, and so now she is able to talk a little better. The current theory is that the pancreatis is making her fever stay up. She also has the sinus infection. And this doctor said that she does not have pneumonia. So who knows if she has it or not. I will bring my computer back later to post some more hospital notes.

Hospital Notes 4/11

8am- Greg
Temp 101. BP 150/74

11am- Stacy
BP 150/65. Dr. Jaeger's partner came by. He is taking her off the Reglan in the hopes that it will help make her less anxious and confused.

12pm- Stacy
BP 156/71. HR 103-123. Blood sugar 211. Mom seems to be retaining fluid in her hands. I asked the nurse to check and see if she is still getting a diuretic. Waiting for answer.

1:30pm- Jamie
Infectious disease doctor came and said that they weren't sure if she has ventilator pneumonia or not. He is switching one of the 4 antibiotics to see if he can target it better. He did say that she got the bug here. Fever is down but blood pressure is high. Respitory therapist gave her the nebulizer. Still having bowel movements. Being given tylenol for being warm. No pain though.

3pm- Jamie
Intensivist ordered a catheter to be put in. While doing so they changed her bedding. When being moved, she complained of body aches and her heart rate went up to 143. Clearly this is not thing she wanted.

6pm- Jamie
Dr. Schoenberger's partner saw her and said she had a bit of mucus in her lungs, but just encouraged her to cough. They had to give her insulin for her glucose of 176.

10pm- Jamie
Couldn't sleep so they gave her anti-anxiety meds. Her BP was high and they hoped it would bring it down, which it did, slightly.

12am- Jamie
Tylenol for fever 101, insulin for glucose 194.

Saturday April 11 Mom update

Mom looks good today. She still has a fever on and off. Her WBC is down to 18.2, so it is still going down. They are also going to take her off the Reglan.

Mom has been extubated!

4/10 2:40pm
The tube is out and she was getting oxygen and moisture through a face mask. They are able to lower the oxygen because she is doing well. The hospital bug is acinetobacter. She is now getting oxygen through a nasal cannula.

Mom's eyes are open!

She is still on the vent, but they took her off the sedation and her eyes are open! They are going to try to take her off the vent in an hour, I am so excited! However, she is awake and seems to be really confused (of course) but I am just so excited to see her eyes open.

She also has sinusitis, which is the infection, and why she had the fever. And she has some hospital bug, we have to wear gloves and gowns in the hospital. I can't remember the name of it, but it showed up in one of the cultures. And her white blood count is down to 19! Yay! Oh and she has a mild case of pancreatitis. But things are looking great.

Update from the hospital- Thursday Night

So I am here at the hospital and Joey and Nicole took a bunch of notes today, so I am going to post them here. We have been taking notes and I am going to go back and enter them in the blog to make sure we do not loose them.
8:30am- Nicole
I talked to Dr. Ganti this morning because her white blood count was up again. He is going to talk to the infectious disease doctor to see if she could have a drug fever and also if some of the meds could be causing higher white blood counts. She reacted very well when the nurse shined the light in her eyes, so that is good. There is a stool sample that is sitting on the counter which is weird because it is from the other night. They also bathed her.
11:04am- Nicole
Nurse said she has been having two bowel movements a day (which is great!) Respiratory therapist said as soon as they get her fever down they are going to test taking her off the respirator and giving her the C-PAP which will basically be letting her breath on her own. They lowered the level of oxygen that she is getting. It is now at 40.
11:49am- Nicole
Nurse said she doe have an infection in her lung.
12:15pm- Nicole
Mom has a fever of 103. The nurse gave her tylenol and put ice packs around her body.
1:23pm- Nicole
Mom has a fever of 102.7. The lung doctor said they presume that there is an infection in her lung, but it is not proven, so the information from before was incorrect.
4:00pm- Joey
Her fever is 101.6. She has ice packs. Dr. Corvella came and examined her. He said that she is still very much a mystery. All cultures keep coming back negative and her heart rate/blood pressure/ oxygen and respiratory levels don't seem like she has a massive infection. Her belly does not feel like there is infection or abscess. They are looking into why she still has such a fever. There could be blood clots in her legs or an abscess in her stomach. They are going to do a CT scan of her chest and abdomen again. I asked if there was a chance that the abscess was missed on a previous CT scan and he said that it is possible, maybe it was too small at the time and now it is bigger. I asked if her lungs are still a problem for taking her off the vent and he said that her lungs are good (well not good but okay) enough for her to come off the vent or to start weaning her off but with the fever they have to hold off. Fever could be caused by one of the medications. If next tests come back negative, or shed no light they will start taking her off medications one by one to see if one of them is causing the fever or white blood count increase
5:45pm- Joey
Dr. Mathers (infectious disease) came by and gave the same story
6:30pm- Joey
Dr. Feltcher (surgeon's partner) came and gave the same information. He added that her blood test shows a small level of pancreatitis. That maybe the CT scan will show it swollen and we might know a bit more about what is going on. I asked if she was being tested for MRSA and VRE and he said that since no cultures show any bacteria that these issues can not be there. He did also mention that since she has been on such strong antibiotics that some blood cultures will be prone to showing no bacteria because they kill everything.
7:50pm- Stacy
Mom's fever was 100.6. Her blood pressure is 95/51. The nurse (Enrico- I think) just told me that Mom will be going for a scan of her head, chest, lungs, pelvis and abdomen tonight. Dr. Feltcher thinks that she may have pancreatitis.

Can't seem to get rid of fever

Mom's fever has been high all day. At one point it was 103! Still no idea what is going on with it.

Thursday April 9 Mom Update

Sorry for the late update. Mom is still on the vent. She still has a fever and her WBC is up to 22. They are still not sure what is wrong. Her kidneys are looking better every day and she is not swollen anymore. Her stomach is not distended either.

Hospital Notes 4/8

11:30am- Nicole
Dr. Hertiz (ICU doc) said that they were going to start tube feedings very slowly. If the feeding doesn’t go anywhere then they will stop so no more stuff will get stuck in her stomach. She has good bowel sounds. The intensivist is happy with the last 24 hours. The surgeon said her stomach looks good, it is much softer. They have to get more fluid out before they can wean her off the ventilator.
3:00pm- Joey
HR 89-100, BP 106/63, PO2 93
10pm- Joey
HR 93-103, BP 128/75, PO2 94. She has been coughing which the nurse said is good because it will help to loosen the phlegm out of her lungs.

Wednesday April 8 Mom update

Nicole is at the hospital right now. Mom's fever is finally down this morning, so that is good. The GI doc was there this morning and said that he still can not hear anything moving in her bowels so that is really disappointing. Nicole is on the phone and all of the cultures are coming back negative so far. While it is good that she does not seem to have an infection, it also means that they don't know what the hell is wrong with her. Will post another update later.

Hospital Notes 4/7

7:40am- Joey
HR 72-87 irregular, BP 112/59, PO2 96. Fever 100.6. Belly looks much better. General swelling is down. Dr. Schoenberger was here and noted that her belly was getting soft.
11:00am- Joey
HR 66-87 irregular, BP 94/56. PO2 96
12pm-Joey or Nicole, I can’t tell
HR 72-82, BP 99/54, PO296. They came and took her blood sugar and it was 214.
3:00pm- Joey or Nicole, I can’t tell
HR 89-106, BP 117/70, PO2 94. Nurse told me that WBC was 20 and chest x-ray looked the same
8:20pm- Stacy
HR 98-102, BP 130/69, PO2 95, temp 101.5. Respiratory therapist came to suction mom, bright red blood came out. They will keep an eye on it. When I got here, she did not have a blood pressure cuff on. When I mentioned it, her current nurse was already getting one, but did not know why she did not have one before or where hers went.

Another Mom update

Just got back from the hospital. Mom still has a fever. Around 101. When I got there she did not have a blood pressure cuff. The nurse did not know why but was getting one to put on her as I asked. Her blood pressure looked much better. I saw her kidney doctor and he said that her kidneys are still improving, even with the Lasix, which is great! The respiratory therapist came while I was there to suction her lungs and give her medication. She pulled some bright red blood out, so I am not sure what is going on with that, I will have to ask the doctor tomorrow. She said it was not on any note, so it seems that it is the first time that it happened. She is also now getting the Vitamin D that she needs (Dad mentioned it to the doctors yesterday). I think that is all for now. Oh and Mom's bowels have started moving again so that is super exciting!

Mom update

Mom had a fever most of yesterday (around 102 degrees). It is down to 100 today so that is good. Her WBC went up again today. It is now 20. There seems to be some confusion with the doctors. While I was there yesterday the intensivist came in and said that she thought Mom was on Lasix to help with her edema. She was not on it, but they did start it yesterday. Then Joey talked to a doctor who said they were not starting it but they really did so it is confusing. Joey is there today and says that she does not look as swollen, so that is good at least.

Hospital Notes 4/6

3pm- Joey
White blood cell count has been up all day. Fever all day too. It is currently 102.2. Her heartrate is 100-120, PO2 is 94 and blood pressure is 180/88.
3:45pm- Joey
Heartrate is 95-125, BP is 160/76 and PO2 is 94. Dr. Feltcher was in. He said that the BP wasn't great but it is better high than low right now. I asked what tests are being run and he explained that they test for heart/lungs/kidneys and several common infections. Everything is looking better except for high WBC and fever. I asked him about the pancreas and even though he wasn't concerned he said that he would order an extra blood test for that function. He told me that extubation is a good way away because first they would have to stabilize her prior to giving her a diuretic to get rid of the fluids. Then once the fluids are down, we can take her off the vent.
4:55pm- Joey
Dr. Mathers stopped in with the same story. They did an EKG and everything looked the same as it has been showing the irregularity. Her heartrate was 96-120, BP 155/76, PO2 94
6:15pm- Joey
Nurse came in and explained to me that she was giving her the diuretic. So apparently one of the doctors this afternoon said that they should start the diuretic so they did. Even though Dr. Feltcher said that they couldn't start them.

Mom has a fever and WBC is up again

So I just talked to Nicole and Mom is now running a fever. They gave her some tylenol, so that should help. Joey was there last night and it seems that her heart rate was higher than it had been and her blood pressure was high too. Dad is going to try to talk to the doctor and find out if they have any idea when they can extubate her.
Her WBC is also up to 18.5

More positive updates

Mom is off the blood pressure medication! Also her WBC (white blood count) is down to 13.5, all good news. She is still on the vent and I am not sure when she is coming off (hopefully soon). I am hoping to get to talk to her doctor today. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Moving very slowly forward

I am posting from the hospital again. Mom's white blood cell count is still going down, so while they don't know what the infection is, the antibiotics that they are blasting her with seem to be helping. Greg was here this morning and talked to her kidney doctor who said that her kidney function was getting better. And he also talked to Dr. Ganti (primary doctor) who also says that she is making progress. She is still on the ventilator and I think that they are giving her some time of liquid nutrients right now. There is a new bag up that was not there before and it says- Central Formula: Amino Acid, Dextrose, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Acetate, Potassium Chloride, Potassium Acetate, Calcium Gluconate, Magnesium Sulfate, Multivitamins, and Trace Elements. I am not exactly sure why they are starting this now, I guess because she has been on the vent since Wednesday, and will probably be on it through the weekend (at least).
Oh Greg said they also took another x-ray of her lungs, so hopefully I will get those results soon. And her blood pressure is getting better, they were able to lower the blood pressure medication a little. Will post another update later.

Mom update

I am here at the hospital now. Her white blood count (while still elevated) is starting to go down. Her kidney function is getting better. She does not have a fever right now. She is still on the vent with the OG tube. They have drained a bunch of stuff from her stomach. Right now we are trying to make sure someone she knows is at the hospital at all times because she is sometimes waking up out of the sedation and gets freaked out (Obviously- she is on a vent, and they had to restrain her). So we are able to calm her down if someone she knows is here. They still have no idea what the infection is, all of her tests are coming back negative. They have her on really strong antibiotics that seem to be helping. I just spoke with her pulmonologist who said that he thinks she will be on the vent through the weekend at least. It is too hard for her lungs to do it's jobs with the pressure from her stomach pushing against them. Thanks for all positive thoughts and prayers, they are very much appreciated.

Mom's kidneys seem to be working

Just talked to Dad and Aunt Robin, Mom peed in the wee hours of the night so her kidneys are working again! Yay! Still bowels not moving and other stuff not good, but it is something positive.
She also woke up briefly and was trying to tell Dad something but everything she was writing was scribbles. She is now back asleep. The OG tube has sucked a bunch of crap out of her stomach and Dad says it is not as distended as it was, so that is another good thing. It looks like the next 48 hours or so will really tell us what is going on, but I am feeling much better about it.

When we talked to the surgeon last night he was saying that he thought her kidneys were not working because she was not getting enough fluids. They slowed down on the fluids because she was having a hard time breathing. So now that they are pushing fluids again her kidneys seem to be working again. Her heartrate is still irregular and her blood pressure is still low. And they are still not sure where the infection is.

Thoughts on mom.

I am honestly having a hard time figuring out the seriousness of what is going on. One doctor told me to have the family who lives around here come by to see her tonight, just in case. The other said that we need to give it 48 hours and then reassess. So I really have no idea. So we had family come by to see her, just in case, but I am really hoping that it will still get better.
Both doctors say that she is in really critical condition though. But she is strong and if anyone can pull through this, it is her.

Mom seems to be stable

I am home and putting Sara to bed. Mom seems to have enough things doing the work for her (vent, cath, etc) that she is stablish, if that makes sense. I am going to try to get a little sleep and go back later or if anything changes. Dad, Joey, Nicole, and Jamie were visiting today, and Aunt Robin, Aunt Lois and Dena Hirsh all stopped by to see her too. And Greg too. He brought Sara to play in the waiting room so I think that was nice for Dad and everyone but Sara was not able to see mom.
my brother, sister, my 2 aunts, my dad and greg were all there tonight just on case so everyone got to see her.

They had to put her back on the vent

Mom is back on the ventilator. When she came back from the CT scan she was not able to breath on her own. She is not doing well. The CT scan showed that her bowel is not moving but there is no obstruction. She is still not urinating. Her blood pressure dropped and heart rate is irregular. Dr said she is in critical condition right now.

NG tube did not work

They were not able to get it in. She drank contrast and is now going for a CT scan. Her white blood count doubled today (up to 29)
The NG tube didn't work she drank contrast and will be going for CT scan later. Her white blood count doubled today and they are not sure where the infection is. She is not urinating so it looks like her kidneys are not working right. Her blood pressure is really low and she is having an irregular heartbeat.

They are trying to put in an NG tube

On my way to go see mom. Mom's stomach is really distended. They are going to try to put a NG tube in to help drain her stomach. She is having a really hard time with breathing and they think she may have a blood infection. She called me this morning at 2:45 and said that she was having a hard time breathing and wanted me to come over. So I stayed at the hospital from 3am- 4am when Dad got there.