Latest news...

I just talked to J's doctor, and J is back to where she was before this event. Apparently she is talking and acting normal again, though she is now nauseous and in pain again. He thinks there were many factors that contributed to her seizure, low blood sugar, low Dilantin levels, fatigue...

...I'll post more later, but good news so far.

Seizure Update

J is unfortunately still pretty unresponsive. It is impossible for her to stay awake for more than a few words, so they are giving her a cat scan this afternoon. Their first thought was that she suffered a stroke, but she is aware of her environment, correctly answers questions, and has full control of her body so this doesn't appear to be the case. They've had to restrain her because she has pulled out her PICC line twice.

She still had a constant dose of Fentanyl before and after the seizure, so they are leaning away from withdrawal as the candidate.

I was able to make her smile and giggle a bit talking about our cat which at least made me feel a bit better. I'll post again when I learn more.

Seizure

J had a a grand mal seizure this morning and was moved to the ICU. At the time I got to the ICU her blood sugar was rising from a low of 23. I am going to try and re-construct exactly what happened tomorrow when I can talk to the attending physician, I was only able to speak with him briefly today.

J's is stabilizing, her blood pressure dropped to the 70's/40's which was probably an endocrine reaction. They have raised it back to a more normal level nearer to the low 100's/60's.

She is unresponsive which I expected. Hopefully she will be awake tomorrow.

I Loathe New York

I was watching a bit of "I Love New York" with J this evening and I noticed something. Doesn't she resemble the female gremlin from "Gremlins 2"? Even just a little? Kind of sounds like her too.

J has been nauseous for the past few days and not up for anything...which is just as well as I've only been able to keep her company a little due to me feeling like #^&$.
According to the latest study done on her lower bowel all seems good there, so that's a relief. There was a thought that it was not working correctly which would have led to much more serious problems.

Her current doctor thinks that now that her weight is back under control, (thanks to the dialysis) her metabolism may be coming back 'on-line' so she may be suffering withdrawal symptoms from her previous dosages of meds...which is the cause of her current nausea. I hope he's right.

FYI

Photo: "I asked for scrambled" By Luke Chueh

I may not be able to make this (hope I can), but one of my favorite artists is coming to a show in San Francisco this Saturday with a bunch of other great artists. The theme is artists that use animals to convey human emotional states. I encourage anyone in the area to attend if you're free. Info at his website, http://www.lukechueh.com/

Sick

So the past 24 hours have been my worst ever. I do not wish this flu on anyone. If you're in line get the flu shot to avoid this one...ugh. Makes me miss J even more, it's not easy being alone when you're this sick, as I'm sure she can relate. If this is what she's felt like over the past year I don't know how she's kept sane.

J has been discussing having her stomach removed entirely, as it seems that it isn't getting any better. She looks pretty good, the dialysis has returned her almost back to normal in appearance. She wants to discuss with her doc about possibly getting released for Christmas, if only for a couple days if possible. It would be great to have her home.

Yuck...gotta go.

Anniversary

J and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. It's also our 2nd in the hospital. Yay!

J been doing well the past week, better than she has in months. We think the dialysis is making a huge positive difference in her quality of life.

...all for now...hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

The Alarm is premature

Photo: Titular band.

Apparently J and I misunderstood, and 'killing off' her kidneys is the last resort option that they are not pursuing yet. Sorry to get anyone too worried (myself included). The plan is to continue dialysis and see how much the can improve her condition overall first.

J is doing pretty well after all of her dialysis. Over the past 48 hours she's lost about 10 more lbs. of water weight. She appears more energetic and has only been slightly nauseous over the past few days. I hope to watch the rest of Ratatouille with her this evening. The last time we watched it she fell asleep in the middle due to pain meds and was discussing recipes with Remy which was actually pretty funny. It seems that J disagrees strongly with Remy's choice of herbs in his soups.

I'm sad that she will be spending her second Thanksgiving in a row in the hospital. I will be with her Thanksgiving evening...I really hope that she is well enough to come home for Christmas at least. Sunday is our 2nd anniversary and she wants Chinese food so I'll be getting some and trying to set up as much of a nice dinner as I can. It really sucks that we have not had an anniversary outside of the hospital as well...someday we'll make it to St. Orres, which we planned for both anniversaries...



Photo: Unrelated link, sent by a friend. Funny stuff.

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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.