Friday, March 30, 2007

+240 Still Febrile and Clot in Hickman Line

WBC 17,400
Hemoglobin 10.5 - good
Platelets - 276 - back to normal
Weight - 11.8 kilos - loosing weight because he is not eating

Apparently, he had a 101 temp at 4am that I was not aware of. They think he is still febrile. His white blood count is still high. Thankfully, His platelets are back to normal and his hemoglobin is fine. His renal ultrasound was clear. He is doing better than before, but there is still an infection he is fighting.

His Hickman line has a clot, so they have to use TPA to flush it. This is a powerful anti-clotting agent normally used to unclot arteries after a heart attack. It's common for Hickman lines to clot. He's been blessed to have gone this long without a clot. When a Hickman gets clogged, just enough TPA is pushed into the catheter to fill the lumens (lines) with TPA but not enough so that it enters his blood stream. After allowing the TPA to remain in the line for a certain length of time - the TPA is extracted out of the Hickman, thereby, preventing it from entering the blood stream. From this explanation it's clear that if a blood clot is within the catheter then it can get dissolved but if it's at the end of the line then it's more difficult to dissolve. Please pray this procedure works.

The exact antibiotic the urinary tract infection is sensitive to is Ciprofloxacin (Cipro). They will discontinue the other three antibiotics he was on. Big huge sigh!

Dr. Dvorak wanted to do a CT scan today to see if there was an infection he is missing because of his lingering high temps. Lizzy thought his temps were getting better so she recommended we wait until Monday. I told Dr. Dvorak we have Passover on Sunday and a special dinner on Monday. He was kind to say that if he goes all day without a fever he thinks we can go home on Saturday or Sunday.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Aimee, We hope that that David is doing better. Today I sent an e-mail to a friend I met in the Church's chat room for the Salem /Albany Oregon congregation to pray for David as well. His name is Jim T. bry coincidence. Last Sabbath Mr. Tuck mentioned Thess.5:17-23 to pray w/out ceasing
We all have our trials and no one is immune to them. As we encounter our own Red Seas, our faith gets exercised and toughened. In His infinite patience, God, as the Master Teacher, uses His time to instruct us so that, despite frequent failure, we will eventually grow in faith and get turned around. Faith is the substance of things hpoed for, the evidence of things not seen(yet). Like a muscle, the more we exercise faith, the more it grows. God will work out our experiences to make both our weakness and His power clear. It sometimes feel like he puts through bootcmp for Faith but remember Never Never give up. It's just not an option no matter what the outcome may be in our lives. Your Brother Daniel

Anonymous said...

Please excuse some of the spelling because of a bad tooth ache that I am experiencing o.k. Thank You
Say Hi to David for everyone in the Church. Have a Holy and meaningful Sabbath + Passover in Christ.