kidney's not working

It's good that the MELD has increased--it brings him closer to transplant. And right now I think he's better off being in a transplant center.

Best of luck!

Hugs,
Connie

Oh I know its better to be here than at home.  Its just hard on all of us because we are the only 2 here and our little girls are at home.  Just hope things start going a little better than worse!!  Thanks for the prayers!!!

 

Just an update, kidneys are functioning just not to fully, but the bad thing now is he is blowing up like a balloon because of all the fluid they are filling him with. We have to figure something out. Overnight they put in a "pigtail" for paracentsis. They have drained only 7 liters off of him so far. They did an endoscope today and found no active bleeding but his blood counts are still low. Have another night in the TICU. Hopefully tomorrow we have better news. This is hard on all of us, but we are hanging in there!!!!

Hi 911, Thinking of you this afternoon. Hoping you'll post this evening to let us know how it is going. Hugs, Carol

Hi All, Thanks for all the prayers!!! Well, kidney function has started to come back, but as we all know, that means his MELD has gone down, I am not sure what we are at now. Yesterday was a really rough day, before I could get back to see him, he called saying that they were going to put a breathing tube in because he was bleeding again. I had not heard anything about this since the nurses could not be bothered to call me!!!! When I went back, he was scared to death, felt bad for him but I was in the same boat as him! The liver fellow said that she wanted to do an upper and lower GI to see where the bleeding was coming from and that they wanted him on the vent for this. Well they put him on the vent and also put in a central line. They found 2 spots that they banded on the upper and nothing on the lower(Thank God). They kept him on the vent until about 3pm. The nurse came out and got me as soon as he was somewhat awake and he would not let me leave after that. Of course he has the horror story of feeling like he was dying before the medicine started to work, yet again I felt so bad for him. When I left him last night, he was getting clear liquids. He was a little happier. Today (5/3) he was much happier, the liver fellow said that he could be moved to a regular room but that has not happened yet... they took out the pigtail, after taking another 6 liters off but he still has a lot more in there.

I have ment 4 other families that are in the Transplant ICU waiting for livers, 1 is on dialysis but he is on hold for any transplant because he is too sick, another family turned down a liver today but there was one that was done, BUT not for us!!

We are hanging in there. I have ask if he will be able to go back on the lasix and aldactone but we dont know yet. He was on such a high dose because we were trying to keep the ascities down but it was not working. The attending in the TICU mentioned TIPS but our heptatologist does not really want to do that and neither does the transplant surgeon that we have dealt with.

I felt bad tonight because our youngest ask, when are you coming home, you have been gone a week!! I just told her that we have to get their dad a little better before we can come home.

Debbie, I know we are to be back on 6/1 and then some time the following week, I think, but that could be changed at this point. Let me know when you guys are in, I will see what our schedule is like.

Again, Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers!!!!!!!!

Amy

Medic, sometimes there can be pockets of fluid that can't be seen on ultrasound. This has been the case with me. Despite taking Lasix 40 mg, I was very bloated and miserable. My TP surgeon suggested that the fluid could be between the skin and the mesh of the hernia repair. So the radiologist finally saw it on imaging and got 180 mL off. I was told there was more but that was all they could get. Still, it made me feel a whole lot better. While I'm aware that there's some fluid still there, it's nothing like it was before being tapped.

Hugs,
Connie

That's good news, Medic. Have a good weekend and please keep us updated.

Hugs,
Connie

Amy, he won;t be at a 22 long most likely. you'll be back and his score will g right back up. Lack of liver funtion puts a burden on the kidneys, and they just get real tired and stop working. We will be ther 6/13, T tube out 6/14, recovery 6/15 and home to FL 6/16. Wuick trip this time!!

Keep your positive thoughts goin . . . you'll be gettin that liver soon!!

Debbie

Debbie, what's a "Wuick trip?"

Hugs,
Connie

It's a typo . . quick trip!! Q & W are right next to each other!! sorry for the mis spelling . . I am only perfect on Mondays . . I'll be sure to post only on Mondays from now on!! i usually read over my posts, but I have a demanding life and sometimes I send without proofreading to take BP or BS (Blood Sugar) readings. I thought it was more important for Amy to know we were thinking about her and her hubby than to worry about a few typos!!

On a more serious note....

Amy,
Thinking about you and your hubby and hope you both get some much needed rest now that he is home.
Angie1953