Never a dull moment....

Karyn got her 3rd drain put in today to reduce the pressure on the
left ventricle. Once the procedure was over, she slowly began to
improve. By the time I got there at 4pm, I found her wide-eyed and
looking around the room. Until now she's had a terrible kink in her
neck and I was surprised to see her moving her head around again. Of
course, the best part was being able to talk to her for more than a
few minutes. She is still confused and is quite tired from all the
medication and antibiotics but it appears that she is slowly improving.

One unfortunate thing that we learned today is that an afternoon CT
Scan revealed small blood clots (PEs) in her lungs. This is a very
common thing that happens to people in her condition that don't move
around much, but nonetheless, I didn't like hearing it. The treatment
will consist of low doses of blood thinner, but also the installation
of a Greenfield Filter. This will break up any clots before they
reach the lungs. Jim will find out tomorrow if this is the temporary
kind or the permanent kind.

Other than this, her vitals are good and she is fighting a good
fight. I should add that the treatment of antibiotics to her head is
not a common practice at all. It is something that is very cutting
edge and UCSF is one of the few facilities that do this. As it is
now, it is not done by a nurse, it must be a resident and it must be
done in the ICU. We know this is going to get her home sooner and
with each day we see progress, our spirits get lifted.

~Julian