Helping, Learning, And Waiting

Krista and I are in the Intensive Care Unit indefinitely until they can get Krista back on track.

My mother, Jan, came up from Carlsbad today to help Krista while I donated platelets this afternoon. There were a bunch of people who donated platelets in Krista's name, and one of them, with an A-negative blood type (not me!), was chosen for a transfusion tonight. Our Colorado friend Lisa Weaver has family one mile from the hospital, and Mom is staying there tonight so she can be here again tomorrow. Thank you all!

I met with two specialists today who have helped shed light on Krista's condition.

The liver specialist explained that Krista's condition is dangerous, but it's not as bad as she has seen and she thinks that there are some signs that the liver may be able to recover. The enzyme level is high, but it has plateaued. She also explained that there is another metric (which I don't remember the name of) that has dropped from 2.5 yesterday to 2.0 today, indicating that the liver may still be viable. The liver itself does not have any blockages, and the problem does not match characteristics of Graft-Versus-Host Disease. She surmises that Krista is experiencing a drug-induced hepatitis, and her eye coloring matches the expected yellowy/jaundiced appearance often seen with hepatitis. Some of her medicines had liver problems as possible side-effects. The liver specialist's opinion was that Krista should be flushed with liquids to excrete the toxic medicines, and then hopefully her liver will restart on its own.

The kidney specialist finally confirmed that her urine output has not been what it should be. In fact, her output today has been almost non-existent. Tonight they installed a temporary dialysis port to attempt to do the job of the kidneys. This should allow Krista to get some of the toxic medicines out of her body. They are supposed to run the dialysis for two hours tonight (no sign of them yet) and reevaluate tomorrow. She says it is possible that the kidney dysfunction is following the liver dysfunction, and that if the liver picks up the kidneys may as well. We will have to wait and see if it works.

I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.