Friday, August 26, 2005

Update on Gwen

Gwen has been in Bay State Hospital Peds for 20 days. They removed her Gall Bladder, hoping that was the underlying cause of her current crisis, but although her g.b. was sick, it seems that maybe it was more of a symptom than cause.

Without all the Dr. speak, which I don't understand, I do know this... Gwen's liver is very sick. Gwen's bilirubin numbers keeps rising, and she is quite jaundiced.

Bilirubin is a break down product of red blood cells, and they check this w/ a blood test, it shows how well the liver is working. High numbers are bad. Jaundice occurs because red blood cells are being broken down too fast for the liver to process.

I visited her yesterday and we told stories. I told her stories about cats and dogs and chickens and cows and my granddaughter feather dusting the pulpit during my wedding. I told her about the time I accidentally drove a tractor into a lake, and the time I won a softball game with a big BURP, and the time my cat got stuck in the cupboard and couldn't figure out to push the door to get out. She told me about her first birthday and the candle she blew out that was stuck in a jar of honey.

She remains in critical condition in the Pediatric ICU.

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