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Jen's doing OK, she was sick over the weekend but has recovered quickly. Her arm has healed well after the surgery to install the fistula, and they removed the staples Sunday.

I am currently working with her doctor to get an insulin pump installed. Normally they require the subject to be out-patient status but with her condition he feels that she should be viewed as an exception. With the pump installed her blood sugars will remain steady and episodes of low blood sugar will be forewarned by an alarm.

The next step will probably to have her transferred to UCSF for review and possible surgery to install the gastic pacer device.

Update

Sorry for the delay in updates, I've been really busy at work.

Jen is doing OK, her protein levels are rising and she looks a lot better than she did even a month ago. She's become a little more interested in outside activities like drawing, reading, etc.

Her doc seems to think that she is tentatively on a road to becoming much healthier, and is optimistic that she may be able to come home within a few months. If she continues to improve and get stronger, surgery may be a real option for her to remove the infection in her heart.

More later...

Update

Photo: A random stunning portrait...no really, isn't it stunning? It's supposed to be a weiner he/she/it is eating. That's not what I thought it was when I saw it.

J is doing OK, she was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of visitors over the weekend but it's nice that so many came to see her.

J has been able to eat now for more than a week, and they have started her on tube feeding again very slowly. Her GI doc seems to think that it is too much of a risk to go forward with the gastroectomy at this stage because of the fragile state she's in. They are going to do an internal camera study and see if that is illuminating at all. The UCSF docs are also going to talk to her at some point to discuss other options.

They are going to do another echocardiogram this week to see where they are with the infection in her heart. I'm hoping that they can get it under control, the sooner they deal with it the better the long-term prognosis.

Update

Photo: Jack Frost is past simply 'nipping'.

J is suffering right now from a bout of nausea...

I'm worried about her hypertension, during dialysis yesterday her BP rose to 227/125. That's a critical range that puts her in immediate risk for strokes and heart attacks. They had to give her a cocktail of BP meds to reduce it down to around 160/80. This is a problem that has been getting worse over the past year...

Hypertension definition for the curious.

Christmas is coming, and so is Chaunnukah and other holidays...this is a good site to see what else is celebrated around the world at this time.

Bleh...

...

Photo: The car that I would love to get for J!

This morning J's nephrologist informed her that her kidneys need to be 'killed off' in order to try and get her system back in order. I'm more than a little worried and want to get a second opinion before they try this. After all, it's not like you can go back once they go down this road. After her kidneys are 'dead' they will try to get her healthy enough to get the pancreas/kidney transplant. The problem is that there is no real guarantee (plan anyone????) that she will get that healthy once her kidneys are gone.

Now everything I've read regarding the surgery has been positive, but it still scares the crap out of me.

There are so many problems...I'm hearing few solutions.

On an up note J's old office mates sent her a very nice gift box filled with some of her old trinkets from her work space and a few gifts. She loved it, it was a mini-Christmas for her.

Photo: A facsimile of a great gift given to J by some great friends. She loves it, but Hamish is looking nervous.

J has had a pretty good past couple of days. Let's hope it continues.

Yesterday she had visitors, and timing could not have been better. J was as lucid and upbeat as she's been in weeks, and she thoroughly enjoyed the visit. She is very self-concious about her appearance, though to me she looks better than she has in weeks thanks to the dialysis. In every session they remove about 10 lbs. of water from her blood which makes her feel much more energetic.

We put in a request to her doctor for me to replace the yellow water they call chicken soup with something from home, so I hope they agree to that...and I hope J's interest in eating continues.