Chatterbox
09-17-2005, 08:37 AM
Jeff still needs your prayers, please. I've spent the last week in the hospital with him, not knowing exactly what was happening with his body.
Quite a bit of fluid built up around his heart after his valve replacement 2 weeks ago. We almost lost Jeff this past Tuesday. The doctors drained about a liter of fluid from around his heart. (A normal, healthy person has about 50cc in the sac around the heart.) After the procedure, the doctor talked to me and told me there was also fluid around his lungs.
The doctor for that said he wasn't "impressed" enough to risk infection/bleeding by draining it right now. The huge amount of fluid around Jeff's heart collapsed the lower left lobe of his left lung, and he also has pneumonia in that part of his lung. The doctor may or may not drain that fluid later - will make the decision after Jeff is better.
Jeff has four docs attending to him right now - Internal Medicine, Cardiologist, Pulmonary doc (for his lungs), and an Infectious Disease Specialist.
After receiving 3 different antibiotics intravenously for the last 3 days, it appears to have cleared (still clearing) any bacteria or infection he had, because his fever has been gone for 2 days.
Jeff's on the road to recovery, but there is still quite a ways to go. Your prayers and good wishes would be greatly appreciated.
Quite a bit of fluid built up around his heart after his valve replacement 2 weeks ago. We almost lost Jeff this past Tuesday. The doctors drained about a liter of fluid from around his heart. (A normal, healthy person has about 50cc in the sac around the heart.) After the procedure, the doctor talked to me and told me there was also fluid around his lungs.
The doctor for that said he wasn't "impressed" enough to risk infection/bleeding by draining it right now. The huge amount of fluid around Jeff's heart collapsed the lower left lobe of his left lung, and he also has pneumonia in that part of his lung. The doctor may or may not drain that fluid later - will make the decision after Jeff is better.
Jeff has four docs attending to him right now - Internal Medicine, Cardiologist, Pulmonary doc (for his lungs), and an Infectious Disease Specialist.
After receiving 3 different antibiotics intravenously for the last 3 days, it appears to have cleared (still clearing) any bacteria or infection he had, because his fever has been gone for 2 days.
Jeff's on the road to recovery, but there is still quite a ways to go. Your prayers and good wishes would be greatly appreciated.