Expectant Prayers ®

Sorry it has taken so long to update this afternoon.  Apparently the doctor had a meeting following Mom's procedure and we didn't know anything until a little while ago.  It's relayed to them... relayed to me... it can be quite lengthy.

Here's what we know:

- Procedure went fine - detected a Hiatal Hernia of which nothing will be done.  This did not cause bleeding and most likely had not bled before.  That's good news- no blood from the upper GI.

-We have now reached the 24 hour mark where she has had no bleeding!  After hemorrhaging for nearly 4 days straight, that is quite a relief.

- Mom's blood count is nearing the "8" range where they may have to transfuse again.  They will try to not transfuse again unless they absolutely have to.  Dr. S told Sharon that measuring her blood is like measuring a stormy sea.  Losing blood and adding blood makes it somewhat difficult to measure.  He said it would become more accurate in a few days when things had a chance to "calm down"

- They are now starting to measure her weight to see what she has lost.  They began giving her bags of protein through her IV as well as liquid fats.  They also gave her some Ensure.    Hopefully she will be able to have another stool sample taken where they can see if there is any blood.

- They will try to remove the catheter this even and get her up to use the potty by her bed

- The next big hurdle will be to switch her over from the Heparin to the Coumadin, which we are told is a 2-3 day process.

- We will not be out of the "danger zone" for 4-7 more days.  Does that mean 4-7 more days in the ICU?  We cannot say for sure, but she will be in there awhile!

- Dr. S used a different size and brand of clamp during the 2nd procedure.  It seems to be working!

- They are using the tent hoses on her legs in order to increase circulation.  This is a water mark because before anything (blood pressure cuff, etc) that was used caused her to spurt out blood.  They were confident enough to put those hoses on and that's a good sign.

- They just gave her another liquid diet for the evening.

- It's been an exhausting day of waiting and everyone is tired!

That's about all I know for now.  Again, I apologize for the delay, but we are relaying things as quickly as possible!

Blessings!