Another Day…Not as Much Drama!

We started out the day with various doctor's visiting. They all seemed pleased with his progress. the main glitch is that his dialysis graft stopped working...probably a clot. Someone from the radiology tram will work on unstopping it this coming week. This is called an arteriovenous graft thrombosis which is the formation of a blood clot inside the arteriovenous graft. We found out it wasn't working when the dialysis nurse came in and couldn't hear or feel it. A doctor from nephrology came and did an ultra sound and found out for sure that it was not working. She was surprised as she had heard and felt it early this morning on rounds. Oh, well...hoping that they can get it working again. Till then another plan had tonbe made as Woody was very much in need of dialysis since he had not been dialyzed since Monday and had received so many blood products. I have never seen Woody retain fluids before, but today he has...in his arms...which were very skinny...well, they are not now! They assure us that it will take a few treatments to get him back to normal! There was a silver lining, such as it is, to this situation. They out in an arterial line yesterday in his neck that they no longer needed so they used that placement and exchanged "parts" and made the tube/wire, etc. capable of doing dialysis...a small procedure that was done right here in the room. So when the dialysis nurse came back he was ready for treatment...using a catheter rather than needles to get him connected. Melany came to visit this morning. She brought my bags of clothing, toiletries, some snack food, etc. that I nad left at Melany's since I wasn't going to spend the night at the hospita...yeah...right! Nathan went in the direction of the hospital in Wilson County to retrieve Woody's possessions that were left because of the haste of his departure yesterday morning, After retrieving them, he came here to deliver them and to visit. Melany stayed till about 1pm and left to go home to gather Wade and Erin and go out to a late lunch with friends. I sent Nathan down to the cafeteria to bring food back for his and my lunch. Before Melany left Woody's liquid diet arrived for lunch...he's still wondering where breakfast is! He is auite hungry and ate just about every bit of his lunch...minus the tea and he doesn't drink tea...I'm sure he will be brought coffee in the morning which he definitely won't drink...nor will I! Melany and Nathan got his tray all set up for him to eat and, like I said, he was a member of the clean plate club...and yearned for something a little more substantial! He had a out the same meal for supper...but this time two bowls of broth and no apple juice! Still wondering about what happened to breakfast! If all goes well, he may be promoted downward...out of ICU tomorrow. His turn around is quite amazing! His color is ever so much better. He has been alert, but more alert today. The bleeding appears to be controlled. His hemoglobin is not dropping and has actually risen some without any more blood products. On the right path! They continue to watch closely...lots of labs! He got a lot of lines taken out of his arm today...just a couple of IVs left...so that is also progress. We had a nice visit from two of Nathan and Kathy's very good friends just before dialysis finished this afternoon. He is a pastor of a church in Shelbyville and he and his wife were visiting someone from their church and asked Kathy and Nathan if it would be okay to stop by and see us. Woody enjoyed the distraction as dialysis was finishing up. Speaking of dialysis, it pulled 1.6 liters of fluid from him today...still more to pull over the next treatments. Woody is sleeping ever so much better than he has for a while. He slept pretty well last night, I won't say the same! And, he has had lots of naps...every time someone comes in and does something to or for him, he usually takes a nap afterwards. He slept through part of dialysis. So getting some much needed rest to recoup from his near death experience!!! I think that most are surprised to see how well he is doing, if they saw him during his crisis yesterday morning. I think one of the doctors said that he looked a million times better! Really the main disappointment of the day was that his dialysis graft quit working...hopefully that will be an easy fix come Monday or Tuesday. Time will tell! The best part of the day for Woody was that they are letting him eat and drink again...he is hoping for less eating restrictions soon! And, another good piece of information is that likely he will get to go to a step- down floor tomorrow. I'll let you know if I am blogging from a different room tomorrow! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!