Saturday, May 2nd - Update

Got some bad news yesterday. 

Mom had an eventful day yesterday. During the lung wash in her left side, they found a lot of fluid and white debris in her left plural space which they were able to clear out. The left lung and left plural space had a white coating which they believe is the aspergillosis fungal infection. It’s significant. The left lung was also stiff and couldn’t physically expand even with the positive pressure from the ventilator. They cleaned up as much as they could and placed a chest tube. They will treat with an anti fungal lovage through the chest tube daily along with an iv anti fungal. 

Unfortunately fungal infections in the plural space are extremely difficult to treat and her infection is extensive. Her diaphragm is also still very weak. 

This will be a tough course and they believe she will be on the ventilator for a while. They will be looking for improvement every few days, so less of a day by day treatment and more about improvement over a longer time frame. This means that her day to day will be less about pushing her but treating the fungal infection. They are already seeing deterioration of the lungs which we don’t want. The rest of her vitals are stable and today she will remain on pressure support to rest. She is very tired but they need to get her out of bed to move and prevent any swelling. 

They are waiting for more lab results but will have more to discuss this afternoon.