Update On Joe Frost 12-31-00

[Guest guest]

Joe had another CT scan done last night and Dr. Welker called me

around midnight to tell me that Joe has a very thick fluid in his

chest cavity surrounding his left lung. The chest tube that was put

in on Dec 26th didn't drain the fluid out and he has been having

trouble breathing and has been put back on the ventilator after

almost two days off of it.

What this means is that Dr. Welker will have to do another surgery on

Joe and open up his thoracic cavity and suction out all the thick

fluid around his left lung. He thinks that there are several pockets

of it and that the fluid is too thick to drain out with a routine

chest tube like Joe had for about three days. Dr. W. also thinks

that the fluid has infection in it and without this surgery to remove

it, Joe's lung would probably collapse and then be destroyed by the

bacteria that are in there.

Dr. Welker says that this is a fairly " routine " surgery; it is done

all the time, with few incidents of complications. I asked him if

there is much risk of actually spreading the infection further by

doing this procedure, and he said that the risk of that was low,

since it was already in Joe's bloodstream anyway and he is being

given IV antibiotics that are supposed to counteract this bacteria.

This will be surgery #6 for Joe. It will probably be for 9am Sunday

morning, Pacific Time, but if the ER is tied up with emergency trauma

cases, it could be delayed for several hours. He will have to stay

on the respirator for a few days after the surgery. It will set him

back a bit, but if all goes well, will not set him back for very

long. I am praying that Dr. Welker gets all the infection around

Joe's lungs this time and there aren't any unforeseen complications.

I am trying not to worry, but it is hard not to.

Thanks for all of your many prayers for Joe.

I haven't been posting as regularly lately, as I have been moving

into an apartment. My phone number keeps changing-- it's a long

story, but the two line system that I was supposed to have so I could

be on the Internet and still not miss calls isn't working the way it

is supposed to, so I will have to get it all straightened out on

Tuesday when folks are in their offices again. I'll post my phone

number when I know what it is!

I am still having gall bladder problems, too, but fortunately they

are only moderate and not the level 10 pain that some folks have

written about here on the list. My sleep schedule has been pretty

crazy, too. I still talk to Rabecca a lot, so she will be posting

for me when I can't. Thank you, , for " angeling " both Joe and

me!

Joy Frost

Pre-Op Age: 48 BMI: 48

Dr. Welker

Date to be determined--

(Waiting for insurance submission/approval & for Joe's recovery)

http://www.duodenalswitch.com/Patients/Joy/joy.html