Another ICU stay

Over the past few weeks, Laura has slowly felt worse and worse.  We were unsure of why, maybe a cold or just tired. Last Wednesday she went onto new oral antibiotic hoping that it would make an impact.  

As of Friday progress with slow so the decision was made to go back on IV antibiotics.  While at the infusion suite the nurses noticed Laura's extremely labored breathing, contacted her doctors and then had he rushed to the ER. There was some concern that she may have had a collapse lung (which it was not) and thus the push to the ER.  

While in the ER and through continuous conversations with the UCSF team, it was decided that Laura should be admitted into ICU. So Friday evening at 2 a.m. we entered the ICU. 

Since Friday it was noticed that her (blood gases) Carbon Dioxide numbers where very high. This number represents the about of Carbon Dioxide in your blood from breathing.  Most of us can exhale and work this out but when your lung function is in the low 20% range it becomes hard.  This is also a complication of being on oxygen 24/7. In the end Laura was at 68. The average number is 25-35.

Over the weekend UCSF became concerned that if she continues downward and a pair of lungs became available her condition would prevent her from being transported from Oakland Kaiser to UCSF.  Thus a late night move last night to UCSF ICU was made.

After 4 days in ICU and 4 days on IV antibiotics, Laura had a decent day today.  Her blood gases have decreased to under 60 and hopefully continue to decrease further.  She has been on tube feed since Friday but today had 2 solid meals. All progress in the right direction.  With some luck she will be out of ICU in the next 48 hours and into a regular room that is a bit quieter and allows for significantly more sleep.

The bright side to all of this is that her lung allocation score will go up and hopefully the wait list is shortened.

It has to be said that we have the BEST teams available. Both Kaiser and UCSF are world class.  They listen to Laura and ask smart questions.  The teams are funny, supportive and truly caring.  We can not thank you all enough.

As we move through the week, we will keep you informed and up to date on her progress as often as possible.  As also thank you for the support and love.

We hope you are all well.

Cheers and Love,

The Zs