Brad Update 7-18-08

For the first time in a while, some fairly good news to report!!! They ended up NOT doing the endoscopy procedure yesterday, but DID do it today. They said that there was a lot of blood in Brad's colon, but that there was no sign of polyps, cancer or any point of origin that could be causing the bleeding. They said that they will need to perform another one soon, with additional tools that will allow them to see inside the intestines (not just the colon), so that they can hopefully find the source of this bleeding.
In addition, they checked the connections to his liver and found that one of them was a little narrow, so they added a stent to the connection where the bile comes out (we believe), in addition to checking the stent that they had already put into the main artery leading into (or out of -- not sure) the liver, which was in good shape.
The doctors were trying to insert a feeding tube into his nose that would go directly to his intestines (bypass the stomach), however, as soon as they tried doing that, he started bleeding in his nose really badly and they had a hard time stopping the bleeding, so they aborted that mission and are seeking the help of a 'nose doctor' as Dollie puts it, to help them figure out what they can do to get a feeding tube in him. Hopefully, they will find out a way to do that soon!
The best news yet is that his bilirubin count actually DECREASED!!! in spite of having the blood transfusion yesterday. The count today was a 44... so still incredibly dangerous, but a substantial decrease from yesterday!
So, he is going to stay in the hospital, probably for a while, so that they can monitor this bleeding and try to get him on the road to recovery. The road may be long and bumpy ahead, but at least today was the first glimmer of hope that I've had for a long time! I hope this trend continues in a positive direction!