10 Mar Update
It’s been a very busy day, and we still have a long night ahead of us. Gray left early this morning to go back home for work. Keegan did well during the cath. They decided to do general anesthesia rather than sedation because of (1) his vomiting/reflux problems and (2) how his oxygen levels dropped last week with sedation. He came out of anesthesia just fine, if only a little ornery. His red counts were low going in, and they dropped drastically while in the cath lab. Needless to say, he’s getting tanked up on blood as we speak. We are waiting on his biopsy results still, but we should have them by tomorrow. His coronary arteries and pulmonary veins looked perfect. However, his heart has not taken well to the extra volume of TPN we’ve been giving him lately to help his kidneys (or one good kidney, as it were). The heart generally likes to be a little “dry”, while the kidneys like to be “wet.” It’s a delicate balance we’ve been fighting with Keegan since day one. Since his heart has been dealing with extra fluid, it is acting “stiff”. Therefore, his blood output was a little low. It all should resolve if we go back to a lower volume of fluids, and we’ll jump-start helping his heart by starting him back on lasix (diuretics).
We are still scheduled to repeat his upper endoscopy and colonoscopy tomorrow. There are quite a few extra tests they are planning to run off of the biopsied intestinal tissue that have not done before now. We’ve started him on a “clean-’em-out” formula until 3am to clear the way for the scope.
Keegan was a trooper as always today. He’s quite lethargic and tired for now, but we’ve got him all propped up on some pillows and watching the “Best of Elmo”. Thanks for your prayers today. I need to get back to Keegan now, as it’s just me for the rest of the night. Mamie (my mom) is coming tomorrow, and my sister will come up the beginning of next week. Then at some point probably late next week, Gray will return to Boston. Tomorrow, I should have time during his procedures to write up some more info about where our plan is going after this. We were quite nervous about the cath and biopsy today, so we truly appreciate you lifting us all up in prayer today. Have a good night, and we’ll update again tomorrow. If it’s not too much to ask, please pray for our sweet friend, Miss Avery. She is once again battling a virus, and it is a very hard battle for her little body. She had a bad experience with a viral infection last year, so we ask that you also remember her parents in your prayers tonight for them to be strong and comforted in Him tonight. Thanks again.