Dire straights

It's now a little past 9 PM. They didn't do a heart catheter on Pat. The C/T showed no problems with his brain or intestines, and even gave them a decent enough a look at his heart that they decided they wouldn't need to catheterize him.

The bad news is that his lactate levels have continued to rise unchecked. When we returned to see Pat, the Critical Care Doctor (Dr. Lewis-Newby) and Dr. Permut (Dr. Cohen's associate) waiting for us. They explained that his lactate levels were off the scale high, and that is not good news. They are doing everything they can, even changing out the ECMO, but they really don't know what is causing it. Dr. Permut thinks it is probably related to the intestines, as he felt any damage that would create that level of lactate would be visible in the brain, but not necessarily in the intestines. But that's about all they can figure out about what is happening.

Both Doctors were very good. They let us know what they were thinking, what they have tried, and will try, and how good Pat's chances are. At this point, he's in dire straights. Basically, it's all up to him now. They are doing everything they can - everything that anyone could do.

The brightest point was when Dr. Permut said that they have had children recover from situations this dire before. We aren't giving up, and won't give up.

Pui and I are out of the area while they trade out the ECMO for a new one, but we'll be back once they finish and we can get back into the room. It's going to be a long night.