Thanks to all of you for the prayers and good wishes, and kind emails.  I've been in a modified survival mode, but I read them all and will get around to answering you all --some day!

J-Man's kidneys are fully functioning again, and the diuretic is beginning to pull more fluid off of him--well, his extremities anyway. He has developed a urinary tract infection, though, and is on antibiotics for that. He is still on the blood thinner injections and will come home on those. Eventually, he'll be placed on Coumadin, which is given by mouth. His platelet count, though still well below low normal, is increasing, and that's a good thing.

His liver continues to be our main concern. He has become a little jaundiced, and has a lot of abdominal fluid on board. The lab results are still worse than when we came in, though they were a slight bit better today--the first time in a week. They have ruled out hepatitis A, B, and C, and some genetic disorders. Still being considered are some sort of congestion due to the right side of his heart, (which looks okay on the echocardiogram); an autoimmune disease; a toxin or medication reaction of some sort; a "sarcoid" liver, in which granulomas can form when the immune system goes into active mode and cause an organ to malfunction.  With the jaundice comes itching, so he spent a rather miserable night last night.  Today they started him on a medication that is helping a lot, and he asked for it again at bedtime so he can sleep better tonight.

So the next step is a liver biopsy. Because of the danger of bleeding, the specalist has chosen not to go through the skin, but rather through the jugular vein in the neck, down through the superior vena cava and a right turn at the liver. This way, if he has increased bleeding, he's bleeding into his own circulatory system. It's a procedure done in radiology, but it cannot be done at my little hospital, because, although some of our radiologists can perform it, we do not have the necessary equipment here. Instead it must be done at a nearby competitor which, though in a different hospital system, uses the same radiology group.


Don't ask me to explain the whys and wherefores of medical politics, but our hospital cannot just send him over to another hospital for treatment. He must be discharged from my hospital first. Our primary care physician's office is working on scheduling the biopsy, and the tentative plan is for Friday, but this isn't set in stone. I personally was hoping for Fri., as I have to work Wed. night and Thurs. night, and I don't know how long the procedure will take, nor when it can be scheduled. Barring any further complications, devils or the deep blue sea, he will be home tomorrow, and we will have more info then.

For now, he is happy to be coming home. DD has stayed with us, thanks to her understanding boss and co-workers, and has been such a help. I was able to leave him to come home and sleep last night, and that has made a world of difference. Apparently, according to sources who shall remain nameless, I was getting "a little cranky." Hmmph.

Please keep us in your thoughts over the next week.  He's not out of the woods yet, but it is good to finally have a plan.