ICU update, Weds 2pm

Hi friends,

Anne survived the surgery last evening that would remove her medi-port.  They took her in at about 7pm for that, and I figured it was a good time to go since she'd be groggy following the procedure.  Dr. MacGillivary called me after he finished and said it went well, and that he removed the fluid from her abdomen.  He said they will certainly test the fluid, but that it appeared perfectly normal to his naked eye.  Nothing concerning about it.

Today she was sitting up when I got here, and it was a sight for sore eyes.  My Dana came in with me today, she called and said "I'm going in", and she'd stay for a couple hours with me and Anne.  Anne's not flying around the room, don't get me wrong, just sitting up for the first time in a long time.  Her eyes are still half closed, she appears exhausted, she's in and out of contiousness, and her body is fighting the infection as best it can.  Her white blood count is elevated, not super elevated, but enough so that they know her body is fighting hard.

They say her kidneys are slightly better as evidenced by her increased ability to produce urine.  She had produced none overnight at home Christmas eve, and none for a couple days in here thereafter.  Yeah.

Here they've accomplished one goal of taking her off of the meds that were managing (maintaining/increasing) her BP.  Now it is a little elevated, running between 140 and 175 (on the higher end of that), but it's not driven by drugs.  A good thing. 

I reminded the nurse and doctor that her BP meds were discontinued when she was admitted, due to a low BP.  Now they have ordered a beta blocker, something that should help to bring her BP down some.

Yesterday I learned that they were treating with Heparin (blood thinner) to take care of a blood clot discovered in the inferior vinicava (sp??).  That's a vein near the kidney.

I asked when they'd be able to check the status of the clot, to see if it was shrinking, moving, or desolved, since it was found Monday night (they had forgotten to tell me).  They said the best way to check it is by a CT Scan.  They cannot do one of those tests at this time however, because her kidneys are not functioning well enough.  Reason being a CT Scan uses a strong dye, and the only way for the body to get rid of that is thru a healthy kidney.

Anne is 'afibrile' (sp??), which means she has no elevated temperature.

She is basically sleeping, resting, making a few comments to the peanut gallery when she awakens, dozing off again, snoring, resting, and fighting the fight of her life. 

I'm encouraged that they have been at liberty to say they think she is a little bit better, also that her BP is getting back to normal, and that her kidneys are functioning better.

I thank all readers for being there, interested and keeping up on how Anne is doing.  Thank you for your continued prayers.  It helps so much.