Saturday, February 4, 2017

Third time on the ventilator

Through her sputum culture they've finally identified the specific staph infection that's been causing Geri's pneumonia. This strain is resistant to the antibiotics they've been treating her with, which explains why she's not gotten better. So they've switched to a medication that targets that specific strain. Meanwhile, at 6:40 am, I got a call from the ICU doctor saying they needed to intubate her again. Despite accelerated diuresis, her lungs kept filling with fluid, and days of breathing difficulty were putting undue strain on her heart. Now with the machine breathing for her, her heart rate and blood pressure have normalized. It will likely take several days, but we expect this new medication will finally knock out her pneumonia.

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