Friday, February 15, 2008

Jaundiced--BOO!!

Dr. Shires was just in and there is concern that Ron's liver count is low, therefore he's slightly jaundiced...a sign that the liver is working too hard and is unable to handle the TPN the way it should. They also need to get more calories into him than they are at this point with the tube feed now so he wants to increase the tube feed which will allow him to decrease the TPN. There is also a concern that his Albumin is low (the main protein in the blood which helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure and is produced by the liver...I think this is correct....in my self-taught medical terminology for dummies, this is what I understand it to be! Someone, please stop me if I'm misleading!!!!) The Albumin is not being able to carry protein properly to the body. Dr.Shires is slightly frustrated that they aren't able to get this count to come up, it remains critically low which affects immune system, as well as other areas.

Please pray that Ron will continue to tolerate the tube feeds and that they will be able to increase it daily. They just took him down to radiology...I'll update more later!

Thanks for praying!

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