I feel we may be on a roll here. Believing that good news will follow her through tomorrow's surgery as well. Yes, more surgery. After doctors concluded that her heart was not harboring the bacteria, they turned their attention to the lungs and medi-port. And decided on removing the lesser of two evils, the port. Well, that's not exactly right. To clarify, they weren't going to remove her lungs. Duhhhhh... Head Slap. The doctors are thinking of tapping her lungs and removing some of the fluid, easier on patient than removing the whole lung ;-), until you see the needle they use to remove the fluid.... Anyway, the medi-port is an easy in and out procedure, so that's next on the agenda.
For those unfamiliar with a medi-port, it is a small medical device that is implanted under the skin and sewn into a large vein to make iv access much easier for those needing it longterm, i.e. chemo patients like mom. Mom's medi-port was implanted last November and has made all the blood draws and chemo treatments relatively easy and almost pain-free. The one small problem with medi-ports is their affinity to attract these tiny bacteria families. Bacteria like streptococcus viridans. So, out it goes. Doctors feel that they will be able to implant another one in a month or so. Until then, she gets poked in the arm a whole lot more often.
Continue to pray for her lung function. Chest x-ray today revealed a small decrease in the fluid, but pulmunologist is still concerned. Her oxygen saturation remains low and she has been needing supplemental oxygen around the clock.
When they wheeled her down to surgery this morning,
they took her off the oxygen, but then the surgeon wasn't quite ready so we sat in the holding room for about 20 minutes. During that time her O2 saturation dropped to 78% (anything below 90 is in the "not acceptable" range). The ensuing flashing lights and loud alarms brought nurses running! She was slapped back on oxygen faster than green grass through a goose! (That's fast.)
One other praise for the day. Doctors confirmed that the antibiotic she is on, Vancomycin, is the best drug to battle the Strep bug.
Since the doctors put her on Vancomycin almost the minute she was admitted, we are relieved to know that she has been doing battle for the whole past week. Strep is going down! The infectious disease doctor recommends a 14 day regimen of the iv Vanc, so we have just one more week to go, barring any unforseen catastrophes.
We have felt your love tangibly these past days. And we return it you tenfold.
Love to each, Jane
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