The nurses and doctors at PCMC have been busy taking care of Kim. They were able to successfully do the bronchioscopy, to see what she has going on in her lungs. They are testing a sample that they took right now.
They also inserted a small draining tube into her abdomen, just outside of her lungs. She has so much fluid outside of her lungs pressing against them, that it's contributed very much to her difficulty breathing. So far, they've drained off over 300 C Cs of fluid- that's over 10 ounces. They also found that she's retaining fluid in other parts of her body, like her digestive system, so they've put off inserting the feeding tube until they can get that a little more under control.
Her blood pressure is doing better. When they give her fluids, like blood and platelets, they usually take her off blood pressure medication, but put her on when she hasn't had fluids for a while. They currently have her off of her heart medication as well, because her latest MRI showed that her heart was looking stronger. Can you tell that this whole thing is sort of a balancing act? They've been doing a great job of it so far.
Probably the biggest thing that's happened recently was just tonight. Because she has so many lines and IV's and medications (as I told you, she had additional IV's on both hands and feet to try and keep up with it all... but those only last so long, can be more painful, and can only take some of the drugs they give her. Others need to go through larger lines, like the one she has in her chest) they are giving her an additional permanent IV line, a PICC line.
Actually, they just did it an hour or so ago, so along with the double-lumen broviach line she has in her chest, she now has a triple-lumen PICC line in her upper arm. This is going to be very helpful in getting her body what it needs. For a little more info on PICC lines, go to this website:
http://picclinenursing.com/picc_why.html
The picture at the top of the page is a double-lumen line, to help you understand if you didn't already know what that means. What's cool about lumens is that you can add additionally branching caps to them, so as long as the medications/fluids are compatable, you can have up to something like four IV lines in each lumen. The main line feeds directly into the superior vena clava, just above her heart, as does her chest/central/broviach line. (So many different ways to say it all! But I hope you get what I mean. I will take a picture of all of it on Kim some time soon. It's getting pretty busy! I think she's up to 13 IV pumps at one time now... and who knows? Maybe more on the way.) It will be nice not to have so many IV's on her outer body- she was getting pretty bruised! And they don't usually work as well. Plus, each time they stuck her again, there has been risk of more infection. Her immunity is still at zero. But they've been so careful with everything so far, it's more a matter of comfort and convenience at this point.
Overall, Kim still has that infection that started this whole thing, and they're still working to get it taken care of- while also fixing her body up. The nurses think she looks better today than she did yesterday, so that's great news!
Did I do better this time? :) Thank you all! Love, Emily
PS- don't forget my usual disclaimer against spelling and grammar. I decided long ago that I was just going to type as it comes to my mind, and just let all of you forgive me for my little mistakes!
The Story of our Beloved Kim (May 30, 1991 - March 31, 2011) and Her Battle with AML Leukemia
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