Saturday Afternoon

Slim pretty much is under sedation all the time.  From what the MDs told us this morning.... They were in crisis mode last night.  His heart is experiencing what they call cardiogenic shock.  This is not uncommon with the type of surgery Slim had.  It's just that he is experiencing more of it than normal or more than what we had hoped.   He has stabilized a little more this morning.  His enzymes levels haven't gotten any worse and his lactic acid level appears to be decreasing a little.  The lactic acid build up comes from the portion of the heart that is not getting enough oxygen.  I would guess that it is similar to what occurs to your muscles when you are over exerting them like when you exercise.  It basically means that the oxygen can't get to that portion of the heart to help and you need the blood flow to help clear out the lactic acid.  This is the main concern right now.  They want/need to get this under control.

Last night they had him on 4 different meds to help control his blood pressure.  This morning when I went in to see him they had removed one med and had decreased the dosage in others.  He has been able to keep his blood pressure at around 100/60.  Normal is around 120/80... So it is still low but it is not dropping!  They are monitoring him for Sepsis also known as a blood infection.  They have him on several antibiotics to help keep this from happening.  Right now they are trying to ween him off of various medications a little at time.  It looks like he will be on the vent for a few more days.  Surgery is still an option, but from what the MD's tell us, it will have to wait until he is more stable.

What the MDs are saying is that they think he had a larger Myocardial Infarction (MI) or heart attack than what they previously thought.  It would fall into the same category as what he experienced in April.  Only this time he didn't have the same level of intense pain and was a lot more alert throughout the MI episode.  In other words his symptoms did not appear to be as bad as what he may have truely experienced.

We feel fortunate to have the team of physicians that are working on him.  This group is not only recognized locally, but they are also well known and respected nationally for their level of expertise.  


Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Jaren