Taylor has a much deserved weekend off. He has been pushing himself hard, and could use some time to restore and recharge, and he’s very looking forward to it.
Fevers have been coming on again, and his infectious disease team has decided to put him back on the IV antibiotics for a bit, although cultures and xrays are showing nothing so far. At first they attributed the low-grade fevers to the recent facial surgery – fevers are common after facial surgery. But now enough time has elapsed that they are aggressively investigating.
Sodium is back up too – it slipped back into the 150s, and 135-145 is the target range. Yesterday it was 155. This morning 152, and this evening 148. So that’s good it’s trending down slowly, it’s just tricky to keep it there. Again, the sodium fluctuations are due to trauma to the endocrine system, causing what is called diabetes insipidus.
[Diabetes insipidus (DI) is an uncommon condition that occurs when the kidneys are unable to conserve water as they perform their function of filtering blood. The amount of water conserved is controlled by antidiuretic hormone (ADH), also called vasopressin.]
So vasopressin is administered at different dosages each time, as it is a delicate balance with fluid intake/output, previous trending values and some other stuff that is even more confusing. So complicated! But it is coming back within range again.
The thing is, once he leaves the hospital, they will need to have the dosage of vasopressin set so he can simply take a pill for it. Without deriving any equations!
Next week Taylor will be taking a ride to an opthamologist’s office – his first off-hospital appointment. After that, he’ll be making a trip to the dentist.
The new address for correspondence is posted in an author’s note. The cards/notes received are clipped to strands hanging at his window, along with photos. It has been fun for the staff to see all his friends and family photos, and the cards, poems, notes, etc. too! His room is full of colorful pictures, drawings, words of encouragement, etc. Keep them coming!
Thanks!
