Update on Holly...

[Xplantdad]

For those who aren't on Facebook, I wanted to give an update on Holly. She's had a tough go of it lately. We seem to take one step forward, then three steps back.

She had the peritoneal port put in for dialysis because they couldn't find suitable enough veins for a fistula.

Once the port surgery was done-a few weeks later she ended up in the hospital with a surface infection where the port goes "internal". They also feared that the infection had also gone internal but that wasn't the case. After 4 days in the hospital and tons of blood cultures and tests, she was discharged and came home.

Fast forward to 3 days later and both Holly and I got "colds ?" and fevers-and Holly ended up in the emergency room with concerns that the fevers were caused by...you guessed it, the port for the dialysis. After tons of blood cultures, tests, etc. they determined that she must have had a respiratory infection...and 5 days later, she was discharged and came home.

A week later, we were to start the peritoneal dialysis (this past Monday) and actually went to the facility (Holly had been complaining about sore muscles and just not feeling right on last Friday-but the docs over the phone on last Saturday and Sunday said that once we started the dialysis-she'd feel better). Once at the center-they tried to do the dialysis, but the port wasn't working like it was supposed to...and Holly 'crashed' and could speak, hold her head up-or walk.

We rushed her to Mayo, through the emergency room and they fast tracked her into surgery and had a temporary hemodialysis port put into her neck-so they could start dialysis immediately. They also put in a central line (also known as either a 'cut down' or 'pic line' or 'arterial line') so that they could pull blood samples for testing and infuse IV meds through the same place at a more rapid rate. Holly was then put into the ICU for two days-and was moved to the cardiac floor on Wednesday evening...as after having dialysis 3 times, she started to feel better.

Today, she had a minor surgery to remove the hemodialysis port in her neck and 'tunnel' a similar port into her upper left chest area. This does two things-it lessens the chance of infection-and is WAY more comfortable for her. And she had four continuous hours of hemodialysis...which went well.

This is really the first chance that I've had to update people...and we hope that she goes home this coming week...Thanks for your thoughts and prayers [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/youguysrock.gif[/img]

[69 Post Sedan]

Wow Bruce......this is a lot to go through. Let's hope the worst is over. Tell Holly everyone is pulling for her.

Kurt

[CC Rider]

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/HollyRocks.gif[/img]

[Xplantdad]

Thanks Kurt!

And Rick, your wife rocks...tell her thanks again for visiting with us there at the hospital [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[Tenney]

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/HollyRocks.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/BruceRocks.gif[/img]

[Plowman]

Holly Rocks.***Paul***We will keep praying for you &quot;Holly Rocks&quot;.

[kwhizz]

Bruce.........Myself and others here can't put into words our thoughts and feelings.......But I think you already know that........................Prayers...........

Ken

[John]

Bruce,
You are all in my prayers. Hoping for a quick recovery.

Tell Holly we are all praying for all of you . [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/HollyRocks.gif[/img]

[WILMASBOYL78]

Holly...please feel better...real fast! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/burnout.gif[/img]

wilma

[earntaz]

GEEEZZ -- so much for one person to go through! Our prayers are with you and Holly -- hang in there!! TAZ