Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Peritonitis (day 3)

Ethan had a long night. He didn't tolerate his feeds and was cramping a lot. This didn't effect radiotherapy and it continued as planned. After this we went to Monash for an abdo xray and bloods and to have more vincristine. He had the abdo xray straight away. He was then assessed by the oncologist who decided to admit him. (At this stage he had a temp of 38.7, respiratory rate of 60, heart rate of 170 and oxygen sats of 67%!) An abdo ultrasound, another xray, blood tests and a wee test were all ordered. The tests indicate that he has a lot of fluid around his abdomen, ascites. This fluid is most likely infected and caused by peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining) therefore antibiotics have been commenced. If the fevers and abdo pain persist, they may need to drain it. The ileus is improving and his bowel is slowly starting to work. He is very constipated and they are hoping some laxatives can get things moving. The surgical team will review him again first thing tomorrow morning before we go to Peter Mac for more radiation. Hopefully we can avoid any operations.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

HiJo and Luke - thinking of you all daily.You are amazing that you are able to keep us all up to date and manage to do daily chores and balance the everyday issues . Take care, Pauline and Laurie

Anonymous said...

Hey Luke & Jo,
Love the website. Logging on daily, particularly now as the little fella gets a bit of "ray action" at the Mac. Hang in there guys.

Matt Wheeler.

Anonymous said...

G'day Luke & family.
I'm sorry but I didn't know. Franco mentioned it when I asked after you. Please accept that our prayers are with you, Jo, Ethan and the kids.
Scott and Wendy D.