CRUDD

Well, the rest of the day is a blurr since I wrote to you this am, dear readers.

Mitch was admitted to the hospital after the bronch today. During the bronch procedure, they discovered many thick secretions of CRUDD-a very medical term used by Dr H.- which has colonized in Mitch's new lungs. The theory is that the infection is the source of the narrowing airways. The smaller airways are filled up with this thick mucus. During the bronch, Dr H. did open the lobes with the balloon and he said everything looked ok; the anastomoses looked healthy. He cleaned a little and took biopsies to check for rejection.

The results of the biopsies and cultures should trickle in starting tomorrow, hopefully.

Let me clarify: He was admitted because they needed to fit him in for the Power PICC so he could go home on IV's and there was no appointment slot for outpatient. Mitch is supposedly getting a POWER PICC tomorrow, which is a long term picc- line (central IV line) , so he can get all the IV antibiotic he will need to clear this infection, and any others down the road. He is supposed to come home tomorrow after he gets his IV started.

We hope this does not affect our chances of visiting Maryland next week for Thanksgiving but we were surprised with this news today; as we were told the narrowing was a result of stenosis as discovered from bronch 9 days ago supposedly and as Mitch has definitely been emailing/calling/daily! how he has not been feeling right...and the pcc/docs have been basically saying he is fine- "couldn't they tell he had an infection from their stethoscopes, xrays, blood tests, and his precise clinical reports- shortness of breath, chest pain, weight loss, wheezing, and noisy breathing?" I asked as i am sure you were wondering this too, readers. The response was that they needed to wait for the bronch to make sure before they blasted him with antibiotics because of the immuno-suppressants he is taking. i.e, Not wanting him to build up a resistance to the antibiotics.

I guess that makes sense? Although, he has been taking these same antibiotics his entire life for CF (not to make my own point) yet I am still a little unclear.
I guess my thinking is that when infection develops it makes sense to knock it out immediately before it takes over and could potentially cause rejection by activating the immune system. And obviously, being much harder to get under control after it becomes a mighty beast like apparently this CRUD sounds like.
Was waiting another 9-10 days after the last bronch a good idea- how much bigger did the infection get? Are there no other indicators of an infection- what about the items listed above- stethoscope, xrays, blood tests (what about white blood cell counts) ?

Alas, we have no other choice but to trust them and hope for the best.

Had a great visit this weekend with Mr & Mrs Pops, Bob, and Vanessa. A good distraction.