Esophagus Repair

As I mentioned in a previous post, there was a leak in Dad's esophagus which was repaired by a stent. It now turns out that the leak had formed a hole in the esophagus which caused the infection that was effecting his kidneys. So, the source of the infection has finally been found, which is a big relief. The doctors have detached his esophagus from his stomach and are draining it. They are confident that this takes care of the infection. However, they are still keeping him on dialysis, but they may slow that down and just put him on it for brief periods of time.

In addition to the detachment of his esophagus, the doctors performed a tracheotomy. So, he no longer has a breathing tube and he seems to be breathing easily on his own.

His esophagus will be detached for quite some time, but I don't want to reveal any certain amount of time until the doctors are absolutely sure.

This all sounds very serious and it is, but I want to assure you all that Dad really is getting much better. Now that his infection is solved and he's breathing more on his own, he is much more comfortable and able to rest more easily. He is also less heavily sedated, more awake and alert. Yesterday, he was even smiling and mouthing messages to us.

Alas, I am not a doctor. So, I cannot be as specific about all of this information as I would like to be. I hope you all feel well-informed, though and let me know if you have questions about anything.

Current Status

Dad is much less sedated. He's not up and talking yet, though.

There was leakage in his new esophagus which the doctors solved through putting in a temporary stent.

All in all, he's doing well. Heart rate and blood pressure are a little high, but that is normal given the lack of sedation.

That's all the news we have for now.

Coming Soon...

Sorry I haven't updated this lately. I promise to write a new post tomorrow. News is good for now, though.

Improvement

Dad's heart rate is now in the 60s (HUGE improvement from a few days ago when it was 150) and the doctors are slowly taking him off of his blood pressure medication.

The doctors also think the dialysis appears to be helping with his infection.

That's all the news for now. We'll continue to keep you updated...

Doctors' Optimism

Dad's heart rate is even better now (Low 70s) and the doctors are quite happy with his progress. They said, "We're not out of the woods yet, but we're heading in the right direction." This is a huge attitude change from two days ago when they were acting very "doom and gloom." Even Dr. Kesler, an extremely stern and serious man, cracked a smile when he looked at Dad's numbers recently.

We knew Dad's heart rate and blood pressure were improving, but it was difficult to feel very relieved without confirmation from the doctors. Now that the doctors are positive (I'd actually go as far as to say "excited") about his progress, we can all breathe a little easier. They said the road to recovery is still very long, but Dad's progress right now is quite good.

As far as the kidney infection goes, there is still no word on the cause. However, the doctors do not seem too alarmed. In fact, they said that they see infections sometimes that form and then go away for no rhyme or reason.

Right now, news is pretty good all around. We'll keep you updated...

Currently...

We're creating this blog to keep everyone up to speed on Dad's progress...

As many of you know, the doctors successfully removed his tumor and found no new signs of cancer. However, during recovery, a kidney infection formed (the source of the infection is still unknown) and his heart rate and blood pressure became irregular.

The good news is that his heart rate is now under control (It is in the 80s) and his blood pressure is close to 120/80.

The doctors did some blood tests to determine the source of the kidney infection, but there is still no new information on that.