Likely Headed Home Tomorrow

Sorry I have not updated the blog in a couple days.  I thought we would be home by now.  But, we are still in Houston.  Shawn has had some complications.   

On Saturday we tried to drain Shawn’s left lung.  This is the one that produces about 1 liter per day.  For some reason, it did not drain anything.  We thought maybe there was a problem with the bottle.  So we tried another Plurex bottle.  Nothing.  We waited several hours and tried again.  It started to drain just a trickle and then it stopped.  There was a problem.  We know his lung had accumulated a significant amount of fluid and we needed to drain it quickly.  We let the nurse know and they told the pulmonary team.   Shawn had a hard time sleeping that night because his lung was full.  

The next day the pulmonologist injected some medicine into his drain to break up the clot. We waited an hour and then we were able to drain it completely.

The doctors also had concerns about Shawn’s fast heart rate, his fast and shallow breathing and some of the results from his bloodwork.  Shawn had a CT scan of his chest today.  That came back with good results, that he does not have a blood clot (which was the concern).  They also did an EKG on his heart.  That came back fine as well.  His vital signs are also coming back good.  No temperature and his blood pressure is almost normal.  All good outcomes.  

The doctors continue to be concerned about some of his electrolyte levels.  They are infusing him with magnesium sulfate and sodium phosphate right now.  That will take about 6 hours.  His calcium levels are also really low.  They are infusing him with more calcium.  All of these problems is due to what they are calling “re-feeding syndrome.”   Basically when the body does not get food for a long period of time and then starts to eat again, it messes with lots of things.  Apparently these levels being off can cause lots of problems in the body.

Today has been a good day.  They seem to be getting his various electrolyte levels back to normal.  He is feeling better, eating well and in a better mood.  He is still feeling a bit nauseous, but not bad.  

After being here for a full week, we are (hopefully) headed home tomorrow.










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