Scratch That

*SIGH*

You know, when I ask a doctor what the risks of a particular procedure are, I guess I assume they understand that I would like ALL the risks discussed.  When the doctor came by last week to walk us through the procedure of placing a catheter, he made it sound like pretty much a no-brainer, with some risk of infection. He forgot to mention that Kurt would be sedated, and given that the fluid in his belly makes it hard to breathe, the risks of sedation are actually quite high.

I have spent most of today asking everyone why the catheter wasn't being placed yet, and I finally found someone who cracked and said the doctors needed to "monitor" Kurt more.  That sent me off to find someone to tell me exactly what was being monitored and why, which resulted in a more full discussion of the risks vs. benefits, which resulted in the conclusion that the value of the catheter isn't worth the risk. Ultimately, the decision came down to the rate of fluid withdrawal. With the catheter, we could at most get 2L per day. If they keep tapping Kurt, which they can do every other day, we can aim for up to five.  If Kurt were being discharged today, then the catheter would make sense, for convenience. With a catheter, Kurt and I could pull off the fluids ourselves. Because he will be staying at the hospital for a bit, there just isn't much of a reason to do it.


So, our regular doctors are going to try to tap Kurt this afternoon and see what they can get. He can have food and liquids again -- he hasn't had anything since midnight -- and we will just go from there. The afternoon is still unfolding a bit, so I will update later once we learn what the docs want to do.