Wednesday AM report

Finally got to the hospital around 9.45am after being delayed with two flat tires. While fixing the tires, I learned that Bill had a bacteremia through a call from a nurse. Basically he has a bacterial infection in his blood which they are treating with a strong antibiotic administered through IV.

As I got into the room, his calm and collected Filipino nurse Laura informed me that I should wear a gown and gloves because of infection possibilities. Bill's room is now considered an "isolation chamber". It freaked me out a little. She did say his fever was down from 100.7 to 99.3, a good sign.

Bill was soon taken to get dialysis. I decided to remain behind to talk with doctors. It was disheartening that I could not recognize any of the doctors' names on the roaster. Apparently attending doctors rotate every or every other weeks and Dr. Morris, who was the attending for Bill's overall coordinating team had signed off. Luckily, Dr. McKinney, the intern, was still part of the team. I asked to see her and she soon appeared. A young white woman with brown hair in pony tail (maybe in her mid to late 20's), she has quintessential American traits of cheerfulness, eagerness to be helpful, reasonableness.

Basically what I learned from her are:
1. Bill will remain in the hospital until his bacteremia is treated. This may take one to two weeks. They are trying to figure out how he got the infection. Most likely culprit: Infection in the shunt line for dialysis in his neck.

2. They still do not know definitive cause of his kidney failures. They hypothesize an oxygen deprivation (from when his heart was not pumping well a month ago) exacerbating an already compromised kidneys from scleroderma fibrosis.

3. Bill may or may not need dialysis permanently. Time will tell.

4. His hands. Orthopedics determined that blood is flowing very well to the hands. The only problem is Sclerderma-caused spasms in his blood vessels in finger tips. His blackened finger tips will not come back. He may need to have them amputated. He may benefit from having blood vessels to finger tips disconnected to prevent spasms. This may deter worsening of Reynauds syndrome.

5. His swallow--A big problem, since this functioning is not recovering as well as they had all hoped. Dr. McKinney said that brain malfunction may be involved. They have pretty much ruled out weakened muscle (from the feeding tube having been in the throat passage too long) at this point. They do not know if his swallowing function will recover. This too, time will tell.

I am still waiting to see the nutritionist. Dr. McKinney's explanation of his weight status was very unsatisfactory. I will write a separate blog on this issue as soon as I learn more.

Hope you're all having a great day!