ICU Update, 4pm

Hi Readers,

Anne is doing better.  She is in and out tho, confused sometimes, etc..  The infection is being treated, and her BP is good.  She has good color in her face.

An unfortunate thing is that she's going to have her medi-port removed tonight.  It will be done in Surgery so she can be sedated.  It could be done bedside, but that would be with more of a local anesthetic, and more painful for her.

Aside from that they have found some fluid around her abdomen from the Hernia repair surgery.  It is normal to have this, but they want to extract some and test it for infection.  In fact, they will try to remove most of it while they are at it, using a needle.  This will also be done tonight while she's in Surgery having the port removed.  It's a "relatively small thing" to remove the medi-port, but I don't feel good describing it as such, what with all that Anne has gone thru already.

Pray for Anne tonight friends.  Of course we aren't thrilled about another surgery at this time, but there's really no choice, it has to be done.  I have talked with the surgeon and put him on alert, so he knows all of our concerns.  The rest is in God's hands.

ICU Update, 1pm

Dr. Tracy Mae came to talk with me.

First of all, she confirmed that they do have good luck in solving blood infection problems all the time.

The central line they put in Anne's chest last night is like a temporary medi-port.  They do not want to use Anne's real medi-port for fear that it might be the cause for infection.  The central line will only be used for a couple days, but they can check volumes and metrics they need to monitor thru it, and they can administer meds thru it.

They are consulting with Dr. Ebrahim today to consider removing the medi-port Anne had installed earlier this month.  Reason being it is plastic and infection can 'stick' to it.  Sounds like a 'no brainer' to me, unfortunately for Anne she likes having the medi-port, something to do with hating IV's, and they are no fun to have installed. 

ICU, and a little better today

Mornin (OK, good afternoon.  Details,details...)

Anne is a little better today, albeit totally wired up in a very technical environment, where she needs to be closely monitored.

Her legs have those pressure stocking mechanisms on them.  They installed what they called a central line in her chest last night right after she got here.  I will find out more about that today.  There's alot of wires connected, but she's resting comfortably at this moment, snorin' away. 

She'll wake up and ask what time it is, or ask for a drink occasionally.  She wasn't doing these things yesterday so I'm encouraged.

Anne  has a staph infection in her blood.  I haven't been updated by a doctor yet, but I asked for that, and the nurse told me they clear up infections like this all the time.

Her BP is getting better.  The nurse said the goals today are to work to get her off the meds that are stabilizing her BP, and to administer antibiotics in order to clear up the infection.  As I said, Anne is a little better.

It's not a comfortable room for visitors, nothing like the Gibson Pavillion, and I don't think that visitors would benefit Anne right now anyway.  I'm pretty sure she just needs to focus on herself now, and on breathing and resting.