Prognosis today: not so great
Today, Zippy's kidneys have completely stopped. In addition while the pressure in his abdomen has remained anywhere from 19-22 it has gotten "hard". The doctors are concerned that something bad is happening so they are discussing doinging another CT scan w/ contrast, and kicking around the idea that it may be time to intervene now surgically. That said his WBC is over 40k and they're really concerned about introducing secondary infection.
I got the opportunity to talk with the pancreas surgeon specialist. He said that the usual route this type of illness takes is to spike up with extreme reaction at first (as we've seen the first 2 weeks) then reach a plateau - which he feels is where Zippy is at currently. He didn't say outright, but implied that he still didn't want to go in surgically at this time. Yes, his symptoms are not looking good, but because he is still "clinically stable" the longer we can wait before having to enter the area the better his chances of surviving the inheirant complications sugery presents.
I needed to sign for the nurses to insert a "PICC Line". The reason being that the normal IV lines are only intended for short term duration like 1 or 2 weeks. And since we're in our 4th week now (they replaced all the lines Regional Medical Center of San Jose had installed, so the current lines they have are just over 1 week old) but don't forsee an end to his illness in the next week it's actually safer and easier to install a semi-permanent PICC line that they can give all of his meds, take blood, and can inject nutrition and imaging contrast through.
I didn't sleep for shit last night. I think I tossed and turned until about 6:30am :(
edit: forgot to mention they started TPN last night.
I got the opportunity to talk with the pancreas surgeon specialist. He said that the usual route this type of illness takes is to spike up with extreme reaction at first (as we've seen the first 2 weeks) then reach a plateau - which he feels is where Zippy is at currently. He didn't say outright, but implied that he still didn't want to go in surgically at this time. Yes, his symptoms are not looking good, but because he is still "clinically stable" the longer we can wait before having to enter the area the better his chances of surviving the inheirant complications sugery presents.
I needed to sign for the nurses to insert a "PICC Line". The reason being that the normal IV lines are only intended for short term duration like 1 or 2 weeks. And since we're in our 4th week now (they replaced all the lines Regional Medical Center of San Jose had installed, so the current lines they have are just over 1 week old) but don't forsee an end to his illness in the next week it's actually safer and easier to install a semi-permanent PICC line that they can give all of his meds, take blood, and can inject nutrition and imaging contrast through.
I didn't sleep for shit last night. I think I tossed and turned until about 6:30am :(
edit: forgot to mention they started TPN last night.