Action, Reaction

For the last few days following surgery, our world has revolved around the letters and numbers on this screen - BP, HR, and SpO2. Coming out of surgery, the goal was to fight off any remaining infection left in her body that might still be there. Action; pump Kate's body full of antibiotics to kill infection and fluids to flush it from her body. Also, anesthesia and stress from the surgery caused her blood pressure (BP) to drop and shallow breathing during surgery caused her blood oxygen (SpO2) to go low. Action: Give her pressors to keep her blood pressure up and oxygen to improve her blood oxygen. It's all logical, it all makes sense. Until things don't go as expected.

As I wrote in last night's update, it was a day of steady progress. So at 11pm after final rounds, I headed home so I could serve at church this morning - expecting it to be a quiet night after a good day. Unfortunately, right after I left, Kate made a trip to the bathroom with her nurse and when she did, her heart rate and SpO2 dropped, and her BP, which was already borderline, dipped as well. The numbers on the screen were not good. Nurses started scrambling and working on getting them moving in the right direction. Oxygen input was increased. No change. A different respiratory device was brought in to deliver more oxygen. Still not enough improvement. Finally a larger device was brought in with a mask that delivered what Kate described as a "garden hose with a jet engine of oxygen attached." Slowly her SpO2 started coming back up, but unfortunately the situation caused nurses, respiratory therapists, and doctors to hover, check numbers, and adjust oxygen levels all night. Another night with very little sleep.

So what caused the oxygen to go so low? Well, with all the fluids they gave to flush the infection (action), and the stress from surgery, Kate's body wasn't able to process it all. So it started to build up (reaction). One place it built up where they definitely didn't want it was in her lungs and around her heart. So they gave her a diuretic (action) to address the fluid buildup (reaction) caused by all the fluids they gave her to flush the infection (action). Fortunately it worked.

Kate spent half the day getting up and down going to the bathroom (reaction), and slowly the effects of getting all those fluids out started paying off. Fluids around her lung and heart reduced, and her SpO2 kept coming up, so they steadily backed off supplemental oxygen throughout the day. ✅ At the same time her BP stabilized, and they were able to slowly wean her off the blood pressure medicine. ✅ While all that was happening, the plastic surgery team also determined that there was not a significant threat of infection returning to the point they'd need to go back into surgery. So they cleared her to be able to eat solid food again! ✅

So as we sit here tonight, the numbers all look good - heart rate normal (for her) at 95, SpO2 strong at 91, and BP holding at 110/77. She was able to eat dinner, and the nurses have lined up a plan to get her meds done and then to try not to disturb her through the night unless absolutely necessary. So hopefully, hopefully she gets some sleep tonight. We'll see.

Thanks for all your comments, texts, and calls but most of all for your continued prayers!