Thursday 10AM Update

I am in Austin, arriving here about 1AM this morning. I went straight to the hospital and Kell was there waiting for the nurse to finish bathing mom. When we went in, I was surprised to see some good news. The heart medicne was wrking and she no longer had the fibrillation issue ut the heart was working arythmetically. After staying there a while and talking to the nurse, we left to get some sleep. There was nothing more we could do to help.

This morning, Russ, myself and Shilla went to the hospital. Kell, Linda and Sharon Cooper joined us a little later. We had interaction with three doctors and the nurse.

• Heart (Dr Joseph Imasis)- continued to work properly but with irregularities. The doctor said that the heart was doing its job and they would continue with the medicine that has stabilized it. There have been no further issues since early last night when they started the IV treatment. Her heart beat is in the 80's and due to the medicine, the blood pressure is abnormally low but not a concern. This is all good news.
• Kidneys (Dr Byron Welch)- this doctor is new for my mom. He is one of several from the same clinic. He said that her kidneys are functioning and removing a lot of garbage from her blood. However, there is not enough fluid in her system to flush it all out. They are measuring the output and it is very low. The kidneys are trying as evidenced from the dark color of the urine. He has presscribed more salt water IV to hydrate her. He said that she continues to be dehydrated. That normally causes aches and pains, which she was complaining about yesterday. He will wait a couple more days before asking for a temporary dialysis. He does not want to to do a dialysis because it would expose her to infection and bleeding issues. An upbeat report.
• General practitioner (Dr Stuart McKennon) - This doctor is in charge of her general health. His examination this morning gave him a gut feeling that she has atrophy in her digestive system, especially the upper colon area. This he suspects causes her pain when he pushes his hand into her stomach area. It often occurs when someone is down for a long time. This is speculative at this time but he ordered a cat scan to see if there is such a problem. Right now, after talking to the kidneyt doctor, this isi unlikely. However the GP want to validate that it is not a problem. If it is a problem, the only way to fix it is surgery. If he gets a positive interpretation, he will consult a surgeon. He prepared me for the worse. If the surgeon says she has too many other issues and cannot do surgery, he will recommend that we put her into a different care category. The test is scheduled for noon. The interpretation will be done immediately thereafter. Category 1 care means that the hospital staff will take every practical measure to inprove her health. Category 2 care means that the hopsital staff will take measures to improve her health but without certain procedures, example dialysis. Category 3 means they will not take measures to fix the problem but only care for her like a hospice, giving her only drugs to relieve pain and to let her die as comfortably as possible. He said we may be faced with some difficult decisions later in the day.
• Personal ICU nurse (Dana) - I call this young lady super nurse (20 years practicing). She advised the GP to change his order and she told him why. The doctor agreed and changed to image her digestive system with a chemical that will show the lining of her digestive track. I liked that in her. She was reeally looking out for her patient!

My take on this is that we are praying that she does not need surgery. That would give us lots of hope for her recovery. The general practitioner gave her a 20% chance of recovery if she has the digestive system issue and that we choose to go with category 2 care. I am taking a positive view but am giving everyone a heads up that her time might be short. Dana told me that they would not be giving her any nutrition until after the test. Mother has not had anything to eat and they have not given her any liguid food intraveniously yet. Dana was concerned about nutrition and rightfully so. So the doctor has agreed to start IV feeding to help strengthen her. She needs nutrients!

Say a prayer for her.