DAY 16: Drains
We just finished rounds and the news was positive. They changed Mom's respirator to a bi-level setting. The new number for me to watch for improvement is the volume. It was about 530 yesterday, and they want it to increase. Today, it was at 600.
Also, she developed a skin rash in reaction to one of the antibiotics. That concerned them yesterday, but they put her on Benadryl and gave her a bath, and today her rash is gone. That's another positive sign.
She went for a CT scan yesterday, with good results.
Sometimes, there's not a lot to say beyond that the patient is slowly healing. The CT scan showed no excess fluid in her lungs, no new infections, and no new bleeding. Great!
Dr. Pinson asked about Mom's drains. The gall bladder and her abscess drain are both dry now. When they flush them, only the flush comes out. He wants to pull the drains because they're just serving as bacteria highways at this point, but he deferred the decision to interventional radiology since that's the department that put the drains in. I agree with Dr. Pinson, though, and will push to have the drains removed. It was an IV left in too long that caused the first infection last Thursday. I don't want to slip down that path again.
The family is holding up well, I think. Kevin called yesterday afternoon and said he had a migraine headache. He feels guilty whenever he doesn't want to come down, but I sensed that's what he was driving at and told him that it was fine to skip a day or two. Life does go on.
Also, she developed a skin rash in reaction to one of the antibiotics. That concerned them yesterday, but they put her on Benadryl and gave her a bath, and today her rash is gone. That's another positive sign.
She went for a CT scan yesterday, with good results.
Sometimes, there's not a lot to say beyond that the patient is slowly healing. The CT scan showed no excess fluid in her lungs, no new infections, and no new bleeding. Great!
Dr. Pinson asked about Mom's drains. The gall bladder and her abscess drain are both dry now. When they flush them, only the flush comes out. He wants to pull the drains because they're just serving as bacteria highways at this point, but he deferred the decision to interventional radiology since that's the department that put the drains in. I agree with Dr. Pinson, though, and will push to have the drains removed. It was an IV left in too long that caused the first infection last Thursday. I don't want to slip down that path again.
The family is holding up well, I think. Kevin called yesterday afternoon and said he had a migraine headache. He feels guilty whenever he doesn't want to come down, but I sensed that's what he was driving at and told him that it was fine to skip a day or two. Life does go on.
Posted by Jason Kelly | 10:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home