July 5

Visiting: I will visit Mom in the morning on Friday; John and Dad will visit sometime during the day; Aunt Lisa will visit after work; Aunt Susie will visit sometime during the day. I need to have a one or two people take Dad to visit her next week during the work week. Please let me know if you're available.

Summary: Mom is a new woman! Not only is she stable, she's improving AND they think they've determined what started all of this nonsense. It's amazing at how quickly she has turned around, about as amazing as how fast she got ill. Remember, we almost lost her last week and that we've been excited about her status before. I just can't shake the notion that this one is for real...

Diagnosis: Pancreatic Divisum (I'll refer to as PD). See http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3001.htm for details. The docs used Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) to diagnose the problem. They are pretty certain that this is the cause of each and every one of Mom's problems and not the result, not counting her negative reactions to some of the medicines and treatments.

Results:

Vitals: All are awesome.

Kidneys: PRODUCING! She's producing 15 ml / hour. While the docs want a minimum of 30 ml, this is a vast improvement over producing nothing for a week or so. No dialysis today. I assume that she won't need it much, if at all, if continues down this path to recovery.

Lungs: (1) OFF THE VENT! This will last as long as she doesn't need the vent. She may need to go back on it if she has a bad day. The Repertory Tech was clear that we should only look at this on a day by day basis and not to get too excited. She not only was off the vent but was off the vent without struggling. Every time McLaren tried to get her off the vent she had to work so hard to breathe that it would take her days to recuperate. (2) They are also weening her off of the steroids that they used to help her breathe because she doesn't need it any more. Because of this, she is no longer on the insulin drip; they are giving her a slow release insulin through her catheter as needed.

Gut: They are trying her on 10 ml of nutrition that is fed to her through a tube that is currently in her mouth (it used to be in her nose). This is the minimum amount that they give. They're waiting to see how that goes.

Temp: She hasn't had one in a couple days but the nurse today said that she's had a minor flair up here and there but nothing to worry about.

Infection: PD can lead to the infections that Mom presented. The docs still have Mom on a broad based antibiotic which seems to be doing the trick because none of the blood cultures have grown any goo.

Neuro: Mom was awake, alert, and more like herself today than I can remember. She is clearly bored because it's hard to keep her attention. I had to shake her hand a little to get her to look away from the TV. She is weak so she has a hard time pointing to the letters on the clip board to spell out words.

Tracheotomy: Because she's weening off the vent, Mom was supposed to be visited by a speech tech today to see what her vocal cord status is. They may trade out her trach with one that allows air to flow past it and past the vocal cords to get them some exercise. This will also help her to learn how to cough stuff up and out again since she hasn't had to do that on her own in almost six weeks. (Amazing, the things we take for granted.) I can't remember if this new trach will allow Mom to start eating or if the trach has to be out all of the way which seems more logical.

I can't think of anything else for now. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll make sure they get answered right away. Don't be afraid to use the comments. Just click on the word comments under the most recent posting.

Kaylee, 810-625-8481