Condition Update for Jack, 22 May
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Jack continues to improve. He seems to have more energy every day, seems fatiguied less often, and is taking more exercise. In a meeting with the kidney doctor du jour, we learned that the kidney team no longer believes the kidneys were a primary source of the problem that hospitalized Jack. “The kidneys were innocent bystanders,” the doctor said. They suffered an acute injury from the contrast dyes and the antibiotics. Now they are getting better. Jack’s creatinine numbers continue to decrease, and the doc said this shows him and his colleagues that should just let the kidneys recover on their own. No need for biopsy. No need for assistive dialysis.
It gets better. This was the first meeting where a doctor mentioned anything about an end to his treatment at St. John’s. “If the numbers improve in 24 hours, then we can start talking about getting you out of here.” Jack’s responded with, “How about 12 hours?”
Meanwhile, the neurologists and the oncologists appear to be running the Jack show, and we haven’t heard from them recenly. We know they are reaching out to Mayo for a referral. We don’t exactly know what this means. Does it mean they are reviewing the case? Does it mean they are considering taking Jack on as a patient? Hopefully, we’ll hear, soon.
Update:. Naomi reports that as she was leaving the hospital this afternoon, the floor nurse said the neurologist had stopped by to talk with Jack at 8am. (Naomi didn’t arrive until 8:30am.) He left a note that said something like, ``I’m putting a hold on prescribing [fill in medicine name here] for Jack because he is showing no symptoms of myasthenia gravis.’’ THis is remarkable news because it shed light on the urgency of having Jack’s thymoma removed (a surgical procedure).