update on Rick

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I just received this from melissa and so am posting what she emailed

to me..

Dear friends and family, I last wrote you when Rick entered the

hospital on Monday, October 6th. In typical Rick fashion, he has

stumped literally all the experts in the hospital and from Lifelink.

As they have said, " he is an enigma. " The base problem has been, and

continues to be, extremely low sodium readings. The past week and a

half have been filled with more CT scans of his brain, chest and

abdomen plus myriad other tests. Yesterday, he had surgery to drain

his right lung which had partially collapsed and also to drain fluid

below the lung. However, this has nothing to do with his sodium

level. He is currently in the Surgical ICU, with the hope that he

will be moved back to the transplant unit tomorrow. This period has

been a nightmare. Nightmare is really not a strong enough word. Rick

has been delusional, hallucinatory and disoriented. There have been

days that he did not recognize me, or was frustrated by his inability

to put words together. After falling last Friday, he has

had " sitters " with him, when I have not been there, so that he does

not fall again. In his non-lucid state, he thinks he can do things

that he can't and it's very dangerous. The doctors still do not know

the cause of the low sodium readings, but Rick is so weak and drained

that he can't walk or leave his bed. His sodium level today was at

122. He entered the hospital at 118, has gone as low as 115, and the

122 is the highest. The doctors are still working on finding the

cause of the problem because it's clear he can't leave the hospital

until he is stabilized. However, he was a bit more lucid today. I'm

sorry to have been out of touch, but all of this takes a terrible

toll on both of us. Love to you all,