More Questions than Answers

I'll have to do this point form, because that's the only way my brain is working tonight!

- I spent the day at VGH with Brian, even though I'd only planned on spending half the day there.

- Brian's blood pressure was down. Then up. Then down again. Then up again... You get the picture. At this point it is still considered "unmanaged".

- His bp went up just before he was called in for his kidney biopsy, and they almost couldn't do it. It went down just before and they managed to get a sample. After 5 tries, I mean. No, Brian was not very comfortable after that.

- I almost passed out when he got back from his biopsy because I'm just dealing with it THAT well.

- I felt like I might pass out two other times. All I did was walk up a flight of stairs, and walk down the street carrying groceries for my "starving" husband. Yep, I sure deal with stress like a champ.

- Biopsy results will be in... who knows when..? Nobody really told us. Everything has, however, been expedited thus far so we hope it'll come in soon. Whenever "soon" is.

- The biopsy results, as we were told, "may or may not tell us what we need to know."

- Just before leaving to go find coffee (after Brian stood up for the first time since his biopsy. He had to lay still for 4 hours.) we were pulled back into his room by the hematology people. (We've seen so many doctors by now that I can't remember all the names I'm supposed to remember). Brian's platelet count has gone down even more than it did two days ago. This is a very serious concern. This is the reason he got an ambulance ride in a real hurry the other day. Right now it trumps the kidney issue and the bp issue.

- The stabilizing of his BP may or may not affect the platelet count. Just like it may or may not affect his kidney function. Or like the kidney function may or may not lower the BP.

- Brian still may or may not have something called TPP, which was the first thing suspected when he was at the first hospital. This afternoon we were told that Brian could not go home yet unless a diagnosis of TPP or renal failure due to prolonged high blood pressure has been decided. He was given an 80% chance that either of these conditions are fatal if left untreated.

- Brian STILL argued that he wants to come home.

- He will be staying at the hospital, much more long term than we originally suspected. He may not act like it, but he is very sick right now.

How can you pray?
- Pray the kidney biopsy comes back QUICKLY with a very concrete diagnosis
- While you're at it, pray the diagnosis is a simple one to treat ;)
- Pray that Brian stops fighting to leave the hospital. He needs to just rest and trust that his family is taken care of

- Pray that nothing that could go wrong at this point goes wrong. With everything being "up in the air" like it is, Brian is a bit of a walking time bomb. If whatever this is doesn't get treated soon, I'm very afraid of the consequences.
- Pray for the kids. They seem to be handling it very well but I know that Mercy, for one, internalizes everything. And pray that I can be the Mom they need through this and set their minds at ease.

(if you can read the links I posted, you are smarter than I am! It didn't make a whole lot of sense and I even know what I'm talking about! Look up TPP or renal failure yourself if it didn't make sense and if you want a clear picture of what we're dealing with. I'm usually such a research buff but I'm a bit of a zombie at the moment and can't provide much info for you!)