NO CHANGE

Ron is still on the ventilator. He continues to spike fevers in the evenings. We continue to treat with Tylenol and alcohol baths and keeping the room very cold. His blood pressure and heart rate have stayed stable. He had another treatment of plasmapheresis yesterday as well as dialysis. Nothing else has turned up on the cultures done. The vas cath only showed minor grown which they attributed to only skin contamination...nothing that would have caused any further infection or the fevers. At this point it is unknown if the fevers are simply attributed to his body still trying to fight the pneumonia or if there is still something lingering that we are missing. They have talked about doing an ultrasound on his gallbladder because the CAT scan that was done showed that it was a bit enlarged and that there was fluid around it. His liver function does not show any diminishing tendencies which would be a symptom if there were problems with the gall bladder....so it is all still a mystery as to the fever he continues to get. Today, they put a triple lumen pic line so that they can remove the other lines he has in his groin. The pic line can stay in for a longer period of time...provided it does not become infected. It can be used to draw blood and give meds. He is getting dialysis right now. Today he skips plasmapheresis ...he will have another treatment tomorrow and again on Sunday. Yesterday's dialysis treatment removed 6 liters of fluid and the day before they removed 3 liters. He will have another three hour run today. They have started to decrease the amount of sedation he is receiving...so he should slowly start to become a bit more "active" ..hopefully, they will remove the the ventilation today or tonight. Last night he was moving his legs and stretching out his arms from time to time. At one point I awoke around 3am and he had his hand wrapped around his breathing tube. Boy..that was close. We immediately brought it back down and had to put the restraints back on him. You hate to do it..but it is only to keep him from hurting himself. While Ron is more stable today than he was a week ago when I admitted him...he is still in very serious condition. Until they get a full handle on the infections involved Ron is still not out of the woods by any means. Infections and transplant patients do not mix well at all. He is going to have another bronchoscopy today I have just been told. This is where they put a scope down his throat and suction whatever junk is down in he esophagus and the bronchial areas. As we suspected..he is becoming a bit more active with his hands and moving his head in the direction that we speak to him. He opens his eyes a bit and tries to lift his head. It is driving the dialysis nurse crazy because every time he does this it sets off alarms on her machine. But, she is just going to have to make do and relax. I spoke with his nurse a few moments ago...He may not come off the vent until tomorrow. They don't want to remove him from he narcotics too quickly...so it will be a very slow process.