Day "40"

Yesterday was an absolute nightmare that began at 4 a.m. As we were talking to the night nurse the night before, Jeff and I decided that we needed to request a consult with a urologist about Jeff's bladder. He had lost so much blood since Christmas Eve, and the BMT doctors were sure that the problem would eventually heal itself. We never had to request however, because around 4 a.m. Jeff got a blood clot stuck in his urethra--he could in no way relieve himself. The nurses called the doc's, who called the urology department, who instructed them to place a three way catheter and start irrigating the bladder. After trying to release the clot several times unsuccessfully, urology finally came and cleared the urethra. However, it clogged again several times during the day...each time getting more and more and more painful for Jeff. Several times during the day he stated that he could not bear the pain anymore, and they gave him more and more drugs which still did not touch the pain. Several times urology was called, and they simply told the nurses to continue irrigating to move and release clots--"that is all we will do." Well, around 5 p.m. , Jeff again had a large blood clot which the nurses could not remove. Urology told them to place a different catheter and irrigate again. The nurse did that, released the clot, and then tried to place another three way catheter. Unfortunately, she could not get a new catheter in, called urology, and they told her to have another nurse try...still they didn't come. Meanwhile, Jeff's pulse rate increased, he got a fever, and he became pretty much lethargic...and then was rushed to surgical ICU. There, I was kicked out while they tried (unsuccessfully) to place the catheter. Jeff's parents and siblings (who were coming up for a Merry Christmas visit) arrived at this time, and his dad and brothers gave him a Priesthood Blessing. FINALLY, the urologist came in an quickly placed the catheter, irrigated the bladder, removed several blood clots, and got Jeff's urine (if you can call it that) flowing freely. During the day, he received 4 bags of blood and a continuous platelet drip. He is still in the ICU this morning, but his pulse rate and fever have lowered. They are still deciding whether to scope the bladder today, but they plan to draw more liquid out of his lungs--the pulmonary department believes he has another 1500 to 2000 mLs of fluid in there still. I will post later this evening with the results of the day.