Surgical Procedure today

Hi all -
Rick's hematocrit continued to fall through the night in spite of receiving two units of blood yesterday. It was clear he had bleeding somewhere, so the surgical AND the GI team scoped his GI system again to try to find the bleed. They believe it is his esophagus - irritation from all the tubes they have inserted, removed, inserted, etc. The stomach is working, but sluggish. The pyloris is open. The intestines are clear and churning away. The lung is healing fabulously. So except for the bleeding - which is serious - his GI system seems to be recovering. (Remarkable considering all the poking and probing that has been done to his system.) Currently, he is in recovery (about 5 hours now) waiting for a bed in the ICU. As soon as a bed is available, then they will move him upstairs. He can have nothing by mouth for 2 hours - not even an ice chip! Then tomorrow afternoon they will allow him be begin with clears and then liquid nutrition (Boost).

It won't be any surprise to learn that at times Rick has been a bit depressed about all that has happened. Yesterday, I convinced him to call Bob Van Putten to talk about how he was feeling. The next thing I knew, Bob bought a ticket and he is on his way to Boston right now. The visit will be a good tonic for Rick and it will be great for me to have a doctor on my team to talk with all the many doctors who see Rick daily.

It is unfortunate that all the previous procedures caused a bleed in Rick's esophagus, but otherwise, all the news from the scope was good. Let's hope he heals quickly and we can move on.
Sue