It's been a very eventful and exciting day. Carlos came out of the cath lab with a new technological toy. He's got a big blue machine attached by a tube in his groin. He's in the ICU now, chilling. Not that he has much choice as he can't get up or sit up even right now. He also gets to experience his first urinary catheter....an experience I think he could live without. I'll refrain from putting up a picture. Haha. He also got a new Swan-Ganz catheter that continuously measures his cardiac output and oxygenated blood supplying the heart.
They started him on another IV medication called Nipride. So with all the new interventions, his status is now 1A...top of the list aside from people who are 1A and have been waiting longer. This means a call for a heart could come tonight, or in the next couple days, or whenever.
Dr Arabia, who is one of the cardiothoracic surgeons, came by to say hello. He said if Carlos doesn't get a heart by Friday, then 'we' will make some decisions about more long term mechanical devices. The balloon pump is only a temporary stopgap.
Carlos' numbers are lloking a bit better but he is so tired. I came home to try and getvsome sleep. I will write more tomorrow
Showing posts with label Intra-aortic balloon pump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Intra-aortic balloon pump. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Balloons
I went to the gift shop with Beth, thinking I would get some balloons to brighten up his room. They didn't have any. But now, as we speak, Carlos is getting a balloon of another sort.
The night was pretty uneventful. This morning the 'numbers' weren't improving - stuff like cardiac output, etc. So they increased the dose of Primacor. He got up and had breakfast, sat up for a bit then started to get pretty tired. He went back to bed and slept for a bit. The numbers continued to not improve so they increased the dose again and drew blood from his Swan-Ganz catheter to see the amount of oxygen getting to his heart.
Just a bit ago, one of the cardiologists came in and said that the test results were not good....Carlos is not getting enough oxygen to his heart so they want to move to mechanical means of increasing the effectiveness of pumping. So as we speak, they are putting in a intra-aortic balloon pump. He will go to the ICU when he's done. More information later...
The night was pretty uneventful. This morning the 'numbers' weren't improving - stuff like cardiac output, etc. So they increased the dose of Primacor. He got up and had breakfast, sat up for a bit then started to get pretty tired. He went back to bed and slept for a bit. The numbers continued to not improve so they increased the dose again and drew blood from his Swan-Ganz catheter to see the amount of oxygen getting to his heart.
Just a bit ago, one of the cardiologists came in and said that the test results were not good....Carlos is not getting enough oxygen to his heart so they want to move to mechanical means of increasing the effectiveness of pumping. So as we speak, they are putting in a intra-aortic balloon pump. He will go to the ICU when he's done. More information later...
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