Update

29 Nov Update

I’m so sorry for the delay in updates today.  Being Monday, we have spent a lot of time speaking with all the new attendings from the various specialities (ICU, renal, transplant team, GI, and hematology), in addition to our many friends from different areas of the hospital who have stopped by to visit today.  Keegan has also needed Mama & Daddy by his side more today, which makes it harder to get to the computer or phone.  Here’s what we know:

• Keegan is stable but struggling today with lots of pain and discomfort.  This is due to the type of dialysis he is on, the surgery from yesterday, the discomfort from uremia (swelling and toxins), and just feeling crappy.  He is very tired and agitated.  His labs show he is tolerating the dialysis well; the level of built-up toxins in his blood are coming down.  It will be a long road to bring the edema (swelling) down though.  He is still destroying his red blood cells and platelets, so we are anticipating more transfusions tonight or tomorrow.

The peritoneal dialysis machine – Keegan is on dialysis 24 hours a day right now.
• We will start him back on TPN (IV nutrition) tonight.  He still cannot eat for a lot of reasons, but he is asking more and more for water.  It is so very frustrating for us; I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for him.
• He did have one wet diaper earlier this afternoon – a great sign!  His kidney has obviously taken a good hit, as there was quite a bit of blood in the urine, but it is great that he finally got some out.
• Keegan was put on oxygen via a nasal cannula this afternoon.  This is less due to his lungs/heart, and mainly due to the fact that his discomfort has kept him from taking deep enough breaths to adequately oxygenate his blood.

He is awake in this picture, unfortunately.  The edema is making it difficult to keep his eyes open.
• His amazing heart is still going strong!  We still have no indications that this has affected his heart in any form or fashion, but his team is monitoring him very closely.
• If Keegan continues to tolerate the dialysis and TPN well over the next several days, we would then be transferred to the renal floor, rather than the cardiac floor.  It is very likely Keegan may go home on dialysis.

Thank you again for your prayers.  It means so much more than we can say.  We have had some very serious discussions with his doctors today.  It has been difficult, but we are grateful that he is stable and hopeful for the best outcomes.  Keegan has always been a fighter, and he is showing it today.