Dialysis and a Little More Pump Trouble

Hi everyone

 

Today was a fairly good one for Andrea, dialysis started around noon which was a little later than usual.  She was having some abdominal pain and was a little afraid of getting up, but with the help of PT she stood on a big scale beside her bed.  She had another pump event today which was suction related, probably because dialysis took off too much fluid and dried her out too much.  Now they want to weigh her every morning at  the same time on the same scale to be able to better establish her weight trends, and how dialysis is affecting her.  They immediately started her on fluid IV and the pump issue straightened out.  They had been weighing her with the bedscale until now, but who knows how accurate that is, and there are too many variables involved, pillows or blankets on the bed etc.  Tomorrow they want to see if she is able to take a few tiny steps between the parallel bars.  We also were told to have her eat at least something 3 times a day, a little hard to find something appetizing in the hospital, especially since she is not hungry.  I guess it is baby steps, baby steps.... together they add up to something though.

 

Goodnight, Maynard

Pump (Heart Mate) acted up

Good Evening to All

 

If you remember from last night's post I wrote about my concern about her pump acting up.  Well that story continued this morning, Faye forgot to mention when the pump doctor was in this morning what we had seen her display screen doing.  Shortly after I arrived this morning the pump nurse walked in and I had been watching  the pump readings very closely, there was a spike in the current draw to 11 watts.  The normal range is usually from around 6 to 7.5 watts, so the nurse checked the history in the computer for the night and saw there had been a lot of these spikes towards morning, so she quickly called the pump doctor, he ordered blood work stat to find out whether her numbers were out of line.  Meanwhile he ordered heparin started again, a children's size aspirin, then he pushed up pump rpm's  from 9600 to around 13000 for a minute and then slowed it down momentarily to half that.  She can really feel it when the pump is speeded up like that, it's very uncomfortable.  The doctor set the pump at 9200 and with heparin running, after an hour or so the numbers all straightened out again.  They think a fibrin was forming on one of the vanes of the pump and starting to clot just a wee bit, although that is a puzzle her INR or blood thinness level was right, and all the other blood test results came back good.  To make a long story short, she missed out going down to the gym in the morning, in the early afternoon PT got her up into the wheelchair and she spent some time in the teen room.  Tonight there was a kid's bingo at the Beach on 4th floor, so we took her there, she won 2 small prizes.  She only napped for maybe a half hour today, so she was ready to sleep tonight, and so am I. 

 

Thanks again, Maynard

 

 

Full Day

Good Evening

 

Well Andrea had a fairly good day, although the first thing in the morning she vomitted on awakening.  Could be from waking up too fast maybe, don't know.  Dialysis started early so she was done shortly after lunch.  PT was in to do physio and got her up in the wheelchair from a standing up position.  She spent some time in teen room and was sitting up again for 2 hours or so.  Two of her aunties and a cousin came today so with a lot of stimulation she did not nap at all.  Seems like maybe her sleep wake cycle is getting straightened out some, she was very tired tonight.  Another heart mate patient and his parents stopped by also.  The biggest news though is that her bilirubin was down to 54 today from 66 last Thursday, woo hoo.  I am not sure why her pump was showing that her pump output is going up some, along with her current draw.  To me it suggests that with her blood a little thinner that possibly her own heart is doing a little more and because of that the pump is possibly a little short of supply, the good thing is that these numbers go up and soon come down.  If they stayed there for 2 hours or more they would possibly have to readjust the pump speed or something.  Well it is late and time to sleep so goodnight to all.

 

Thanks, Maynard

Went to see her

Good Evening Everyone

 

Glad to tell all of you that Andrea had a good day today.  She definitely slept better last night and slept in till midmorning.  Her nurse was in and got her up on her feet beside the bed for a little while in the morning.  We got her up and ready and  went to chapel service at 2 oclock, she really enjoys that.  It really tires her out though, she is not used to crowds so she was back in bed after an hour or so.  Later friends brought in supper so we had her up again to the atrium and afterwards drove her around in the wheelchair which she enjoys a lot.  Tomorrow is dialysis again, not sure at what time though.  Faye has taken over most of Andrea's care, as that will be the case anyway when she eventually is able to leave the hospital.  Well it is time to shut down for the night, and I have run out of inspiration so goodnight.

 

Thanks, Maynard

PS, yup, that was us! Brought her supper and spent the evening with her. She looks so good already! And it's just awesome to hear her talk and to see her face animated and her eyes dancing just like they always used to!

Very good day, PT, company, scrapbooking

Good Evening Everyone

 

Andrea had another good day.  She slept in late, then PT was in and had her first sit on the edge of the bed and then to a standing position twice, each time for about 30 seconds.  That takes all she has to stand up, but it seems to be getting a wee bit better each time.  We had her up for about 2 hours in the afternoon, part of that was in the teen room doing scrapbooking, she seems quite enthused about that.  We bought her a Cricut pattern cutting machine for Christmas and now she is learning how to use it, quite the nifty machine.  After she returned to her room she napped awhile and then 2 of her school classmates came to visit awhile.  She is to the point where she really enjoys some company.  O yes her former school teacher also paid a visit this morning, much appreciated.  She seemed quite positive and upbeat today, talking more than before.  Tonight she also talked on the phone for the first time since November I believe, with her grandparents.  Hope she has a good night's rest, it always makes the next day go better.  That's it, that's all for tonight.  Thanks again for all your support and interest.

 

Regards, Maynard