Dorothea had a dialysis treatment this morning for 3.5 hours. Shortly after the treatment was over she "forgot" to breathe for a short while. Harold describes it as apnea. She is very tired after dialysis so the nurse thinks that she was just so tired, and while sleeping she forgot to breathe. The respiratory therapist was called and they raised the assistance level of the ventilator to help her get past this issue.
Later in the afternoon mom had another bad bleed. The doctors discussed the possiblity of doing a colonoscopy, but after discussing it with Harold, I believe they are tabling that idea at this time. That seems like it would be way too hard on Dorothea's body at this time. She had one done within the last 6 months. Harold is still thinking that the bleeding may be related to the renal catheter. All of her skin is so fragile, so it is possible that all of this bleeding is because of the catheter. Tomorrow morning they will re-evaluate.
Her kidneys are working a little better each day. The last few shifts (12-hour shifts) she has put out 5ml, then 10, 20, 56, and today her output was 40 - which considering she had dialysis done, 40 is pretty good. Hopefully this means that her kidneys are making a turn around - let's hope! The kidney specialist is considering a different type of dialysis that does not require the use of heparin. Apparently heparin affects your blood clotting, so it may have something to do with the bleeding... again - we will wait and see what they have to say. I do not think she is scheduled again for dialysis until Thursday - so that gives them a little time to work on a solution.
Dorothea was still alert when she was awake, and talked a little. Her mood today was definitley more reserved than yesterday, but again the dialysis zaps her energy level.
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