Tuesday, April 7

1am report: Just had a check in with Nurse Emily - poor thing lives up in New Haven and drives down every day for work - she has come in from Bridgeport Hospital to help out.. Anyway, she said that dad is finishing up his blood now and he overall is doing ok. Vitals are good and the last Blood Pressure was 127/98. Heart rate is still a bit elevated at 109 but they are not overly concerned. His oxygen looks good too. Blood will be drawn by 2 and labs should take a few hours… She said he was more alert tonight - and told her that he had to go as he had to get to California. She said he was sweet….

2pm report: Just checked back in with Renee, dads nurse at the hospital - Left a message with her earlier and haven’t yet heard back. So i called and she was happy to report that dad is once again holding steady. While writing this up, i also received a phone call from Dr Joyce and received a similar report - both combined here. They completed a CAT scan to locate the source of yesterdays bleeding and sudden drop in blood pressure and it seems that it is coming from his rear abdomen (retro peritoneal bleed) - seems like something that happens to patients while hospitalized for a while, and the Heprin that he is on as a blood thinner can assist in exacerbating that bleeding.. They are giving him one more unit of blood (3 in total) to up the hemoglobin levels, which are at 8.4 and should be above 9, a bit and to create reserve. His blood pressure has continued to rise and is doing well. They were also able to, with the help of a touch of adivan, get a feeding tube in through his nose - this is good to have as it is imperative to get meds and additional fluids in - better results than with IV. His kidney functions and white blood count seems a bit taxed from yesterdays stress events, however they are monitoring them closely and doing whats necessary to bring back in line. So as we know from yesterdays setbacks, anything related to this virus can change in a moment. Happy for the stable report for now.. and hoping for continued calm…

10pm report: Just spoke to Emily, she is the night nurse and she said that dad is fairly status quo for the night. He is a bit lethargic as they successfully got the feeding tube in, so he is coming down off Adivan - it does take a while to leave your system. So on the tube, he is receiving fluids and meds - while his antibiotics are still delivered via IV. His kidney functions are slightly elevated (2.33 on April 6, and 3.8 today) so they are going to complete an ultra sound to get a better understanding of what is going on. They are thinking he could have acute kidney injury (a sudden episode of kidney failure or kidney damage that happens within a few hours or a few days. AKI causes a build-up of waste products in your blood and makes it hard for your kidneys to keep the right balance of fluid in your body). It could be from the stress of yesterdays drop in blood pressure and from being dehydrated by not having the feeding tube in until today. Of course, the additional liquids into the breathing tube will help to get to bump up the urine output - has been quite low for the past 24 hours. His blood pressure is better and holding steady (has been 151/70, 146/79, 120, etc). They will keep watch on the pressure to make sure that the bleeding is able to subside on its own, as it typically should. Also, his Hemoglobin measure is a bit low, 8.8 and should be higher than 9 - however the 3rd unit of blood transfused today should help to bring that back up to a comfortable level. If these levels don’t come back soon, they might consider bringing in interventional radiology to talk about stenting. Oxygen is holding steady between 95 and 99% at 5 litres. So all in all, he definitely has some levels to even out and of course more challenges ahead, but we are happy with the status quo response. Sleep well.

Today was the first day that our youngest son met up with his cousin for a bike ride in the neighborhood....