Friday, November 7, 2008 - Day 24

Condition 9:00 pm:

• Dianne's urine output is up to 500 ml (this is our unofficial guess).
  
• She went for a lot of walks (with a walker) to the nurses station today. She still has a lot of swelling in her lower calves.
  
• She hasn't eaten very much today. Her stomach is very swollen, sore and tender. She feels gassy but isn't having very many bowel movements. She has burped a lot but nothing else.
  
• Dr. Gill popped in and informed us that the infection is under control. Dr. Tangel stopped by to let her know that he would be back Monday. He instructed her to "pee, poop, and walk, don't do anything else..."
  

Condition 10:30 am

• No dialysis today.
• Dianne went for a walk down to the nursing station and back to the room 2 times this morning.
• She had a stomach ache last night which is continuing into today.
  
• Urine output continues to be stronger. It is expected to be 500 ml by the end of the day. This is the minimum amount needed to remove toxins. They will decide tomorrow morning (Saturday) whether to do dialysis. Additional blood testing will determine if there is additional toxins that need to be removed.
  

Longmont United Hospital - Room 3009
RN: Faye (day)/ Molly (night)

Thursday, November 6, 2008 - Day 23

Condition 8:00 pm:

• Dr. Mooney stopped by again and Dianne's urine is up to 300 ml. This is a good sign that the kidneys are starting to join the party. Amy D from the ICU heard the news and came up to give Di some high 5s.
  

Condition 5:00 pm:

• Dr. Mooney came by to discuss Dianne's urine output. As of 12:00 today her output was 150 ml. Her total output for yesterday was 60 ml. The doctor was excited about the tremendous improvement. They will continue to monitor it over the next couple of days, looking for a jump each day until she reaches 500 ml.
  
• Dr. Laughlin stopped by as well. She was impressed with the urine output. She is also wanting to rule out Lupus as the trigger for this whole series of events. We were not here for this discussion and Dianne is not sure if she was going to do more tests or if she was going to look into what they had already tested.
  
• A few of the doctors have also mentioned how they were worried at one point that Dianne might loose her fingers and toes. We know that they were purple while she was in ICU and they kept special towels on them to keep them warm. So we are glad that this is something that never happened, and was just another example of how serious this illness was. Dr. Laughlin did mention some of the side effects from that. She might have some sensitivity with touching things, and some tingling in her fingers and toes at times. She also mentioned she would need to be more cautious of getting frost bite, and to be sure to keep her toes and fingers warm.
  
• We do know that the kidney's are the only thing that aren't working right now.
  
• Dianne had a session of physical therapy (Lexi) and speech therapy (Tara) today as well. She walked (with her walker) to the large nurses station on her floor, and back. She has been sitting up in a chair for her meals, and is doing well according to Lexi.
  

Condition 7:00 am:

• Kidneys have not started. Dialysis will be done today.
  

Longmont United Hospital - Room 3009
RN: Faye (day)/ Sandy (night)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - Day 22

Condition 10:00 pm:

• Michelle (nutritionist) came by to discuss her new diet. She talked about lactose and gluten free diets. Since Dianne has been off her gluten free diet since she has been in the hospital it is recommended that she is retested for celiac. If the test is negative there will be no reason to continue with a gluten free diet. She will start a lactose free diet here in the hospital to see how her body responds.
• Dr. Gill stopped by to check on Dianne’s fever. The antibiotics they have been giving her to control the fever will be switched from an IV to a pill form.
• Dr. Halterman stopped by. Urine output is still down. There is another round of dialysis tomorrow. The catheter should be pulled out and changed on Friday to avoid infection.
  

Condition 7:30 am:

• There was yeast bacteria found in Dianne's urine which was thought to be the cause of the fever. The nurse gave her an antibacterial drug which broke the fever.
  
• Kidneys have not started. No dialysis today.
  

Longmont United Hospital - Room 3009
RN: Molly (day)/ Sandy (night)