Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
Looking a little better! Hey, folks,

Things are looking a little better for Mom: her fever is lower, her white blood cell count is lower, and her blood pressure is stable without the help of the norepinephrine. I will update you more when visiting hours start at 10:30 am; the nurses usually give us a report at that time.
Thank-yous to Cabell, for being at the hospital early this morning (before visiting hours start) and talking with the infectious disease doctor, and to Merritt, for sharing the good news with Dad, me, and others.

Yesterday evening the same cardiologist who drained 400 mL of fluid from around Mom's heart on Sunday (the procedure is called a pericardiocentesis) drained another 400 mL from around her heart. They also placed a drain which will stay in for a while and allow any additional pericardial fluid that accumulates to drain out.
This procedure was very risky due to Mom's overall medical condition and due to the increased possibility of bleeding -- she is on 2 medicines that increase this risk (Lovenox and Xigris). We were on pins and needles while the pericardiocentesis and drain placement were being performed, but we were relieved when the cardiologist came out to report that the procedure had gone well, with no complications.
Mom also showed improvement in her heart function after the 400 mL of fluid were removed: without the pressure from this fluid surrounding her heart, her heart is able to work more easily and efficiently. Her heart rate after the procedure was around 75 (beats per minute), the lowest we have seen since she became hospitalized. We infer that the procedure caused this return to a more-normal heart rate (her pulse in the hospital had been mid-90s and higher).

We did talk with a nephrologist (kidney doctor) yesterday; he said that Mom's kidney function is not all that great right now. There is a possibility that they will need to help her kidneys out by providing her with dialysis. They will only do that if the levels of toxins in her body increase further. The nephrologist wanted to make sure we knew that patients requiring dialysis in the ICU often stop needing it as they get better. In other words, while he can't guarantee anything, if Mom needs dialysis now it doesn't necessarily mean she will always need it.