Bob is still fighting!

Family and friends,

I had the opportunity to speak with the GI doctor that did Bob's small intestine surgery on Saturday. I cornered him in the ICU and asked him to explain why he didn't go all the way to the bottom of his intestine. He gave me a song and dance and blamed the surgeon, but finally admitted that they did not look internally with the scope at 40% of Bob's small intestine and that there is a good possibility that Bob could have more ulcers there. Speaking of ulcers, I then spoke with the pulmonary doctor who proceeded to tell me that Bob has an ulcer on his trachea. She said that when Bob wakes up he may have to have this lasered in the future because it could lead to narrowing of the area. I didn't sleep that much last night and called the nurse at 2am to see how Bob was doing. She said that he needed a tube to be put into his colon to collect all the bleeding because it was so frequent. Even though he was given 4 pints of blood yesterday and 3 plasmas, his counts still went down. After hearing this news at 2am, I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. I was very angry at the GI doc for what I felt like was a half done job, and I looked online at the best GI hospitals in the country. Massachucetts General showed up ranked #4. I figured I'd get a quote to see how much it would cost to have Bob transferred there via ambulatory jet with ICU capabilities. The 2 quotes I received were $16,000 and $18,000. Needless to say I spoke with his sister and we're just going to keep him at Bethesda.

I went to the hospital this morning before work and saw Bob. He was asleep. I talked to him and tried to get some of the doctors on the phone. I insisted with the nurse that they perform a bleeding scan on him today. (they have it scheduled for 2pm) Then I spoke with the infectious disease doctor. He said Bob's C.Diff infection should last 2 weeks he's hoping. After I got to work I called to check on Bob and I was able to catch the pulmonologist again. She told me the results of the CT scan from last night came in and it showed that Bob has "necrotizing pnumonia" and that some of his lung tissue was dying. I asked her if Bob's blood counts were good enough for him to get the traecheotomy tomorrow and she said they were going to give him more blood, plasma and vitamin K and that yes she thought he could proceed tomorrow. She said surprisingly that Bob's breathing was doing pretty good and that she was going to lower the oxygen to 28%.

It amazes me that despite all the things that are being thrown at Bob that he is still kicking ass. Bob is a true fighter and is holding his own. I have to believe he's going to make it through!

Please continue to keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.
Love and thanks,
Michele