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lindsaydotcomMy dear, dear friend and MOH is my former college roommate, Hadley. Her dad's in intensive care, and hoping desperately for a liver transplant. Any good thoughts would be appreciated.
It's been a turbulent couple of days -- I arrived in Cleveland on Monday night after such a wonderful weekend in Portland, which gave me just enough time to catch my breath and hang out a bit with my family before my father became dehydrated on Tuesday night and was admitted to Intensive Care. He started out at Hillcrest, which is our closest hospital, and by lunchtime Thursday was transferred to University Hospitals downtown, where his liver doctor is. He's been in Intensive Care at UH since, where they have determined that his kidneys have stopped working (which explains the 20+ liters of extra water he's holding in his belly. It looks like a large beach-ball, and he jokes about it having a heartbeat. He's expecting to deliver triplets) and that he's developed an infection in with all the fluid. The bad news is that he's a pretty sick guy, and because all the fluid he's taking in is going to his belly, the rest of him is pretty dehydrated. The good news is, particularly now that the antibiotics are taking hold, he had jumped to the top of the transplant list, and now it's mostly a race to get him a liver.
Please keep him in your prayers, particularly as it seems to be such a balancing act to keep him stable. We (well, he) have just got to keep things together until the biggest problem can be fixed-- then the doctors say the rest will fall into place.
Dad's in good spirits, and (most of the time) quite on-the-ball. Night before last he and I were on our own for the evening, and he started lecturing me on Clark Cliffson, who wrote speeches for Truman and put together the wording of the Truman doctrine. If you get the chance, have a look at it-- it's disturbingly like Bush's rationale for invading Iraq! I guess once a father, always a father. :)
Much love, and thank you all for your thoughts and encouragement thus far. I'll keep you posted.
Hadley
It's been a turbulent couple of days -- I arrived in Cleveland on Monday night after such a wonderful weekend in Portland, which gave me just enough time to catch my breath and hang out a bit with my family before my father became dehydrated on Tuesday night and was admitted to Intensive Care. He started out at Hillcrest, which is our closest hospital, and by lunchtime Thursday was transferred to University Hospitals downtown, where his liver doctor is. He's been in Intensive Care at UH since, where they have determined that his kidneys have stopped working (which explains the 20+ liters of extra water he's holding in his belly. It looks like a large beach-ball, and he jokes about it having a heartbeat. He's expecting to deliver triplets) and that he's developed an infection in with all the fluid. The bad news is that he's a pretty sick guy, and because all the fluid he's taking in is going to his belly, the rest of him is pretty dehydrated. The good news is, particularly now that the antibiotics are taking hold, he had jumped to the top of the transplant list, and now it's mostly a race to get him a liver.
Please keep him in your prayers, particularly as it seems to be such a balancing act to keep him stable. We (well, he) have just got to keep things together until the biggest problem can be fixed-- then the doctors say the rest will fall into place.
Dad's in good spirits, and (most of the time) quite on-the-ball. Night before last he and I were on our own for the evening, and he started lecturing me on Clark Cliffson, who wrote speeches for Truman and put together the wording of the Truman doctrine. If you get the chance, have a look at it-- it's disturbingly like Bush's rationale for invading Iraq! I guess once a father, always a father. :)
Much love, and thank you all for your thoughts and encouragement thus far. I'll keep you posted.
Hadley
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Date: 2005-10-21 04:28 pm (UTC)Waiting for transplants is such a nervewracking ordeal. I'll be thinking of you & Hadley.
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Date: 2005-10-21 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-21 07:33 pm (UTC)