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Currently, we are in limbo. Ronnie has not bled since 2:30AM on Thursday morning...so we are over 2 days without an episode of hemoptysis. PRAISE GOD!! We are so thankful for a break in the chaos. After the news Thursday evening that embolization was unsuccessful and was not an option at our hospital at this time to block that particular vessel, we spent yesterday seeking second opinions on what to do to stop the bleeding. However, now that we have made it this long without a bleed, we are now holding off on moving forward with any of those options and leaving Ronnie where he is in Tucson, at least until we know if the bleeds will start again or not. We aren't sure what has aided the bleeding to cease...I believe all the prayers have helped. After the embolization on 5/7, the bleeding did cut down by about 2/3 over the next 24 hours (so we know they got one of the trouble areas), and then dropped off a little more, staying steady at about 75-150ml a day from Sunday through Thursday of this past week, when he had another "little" bleed of around 75ml at 2:30AM. But we haven't seen any bleeding since.
So now we wait, patiently and prayerfully, before seeking any more opinions or options.
He is still really weak. He is functioning with about half as much blood in his body as he usually has. Also, he is on some pain meds to keep his cough a little suppressed, in an attempt to let whatever was bleeding in there heal. We have been able to cut his pain meds by a considerable amount, so he isn't fully sedated and is coughing some in order to start clearing some of the junk out of his lungs that has pooled there over the last couple weeks, but they are still keeping his cough suppressed to an extent. He currently isn't doing any treatments (again, to try not to cough up whatever clot maybe formed to stop the bleeding), apart from an albuterol/atrovent nebulizer 4 times a day. He is getting out of bed here and there, but due to the lack of blood in his body and nausea, doing much more than standing has been a bit much. We are hoping that the bleeding is done and that he can just rest, in order to get back some strength and heal.
Our major prayer for now is that the bleeding won't come back. We have no idea why/how it has stopped, but we will prayerfully ask God to keep it that way. He will bleed again at some point, we are just hoping it's not for awhile and that it's not as much as it has been. We will get things in place in case he does bleed again, but have stopped the frenzied hunt for a set plan, as we will not move forward with any of our opinions as long as no bleeding is occurring. We have stopped looking for second opinions now as well, until we know if we will need to do anything right now or not.
We so appreciate all the support and help. The best way to help right now is via prayers!!
