Procedure Over

Several hours later the procedure is done, and Maggie is stable for now. In the leadup to the procedure and during, she lost all of her original blood and now has blood entirely from the transfusions.

They found a huge blood clot in the upper part of her stomach and it filled roughly half of her stomach. When they got rid of the clot, they found some seeping "superficial ulcers" that were causing the bleeding. They fried them all (cauterized) and watched to be sure that nothing else was bleeding. Last night, the bleeding was attributed to esophogeal varices, which are essentially blood vessels in her throat that swelled and burst. The cause of these are when the liver is scarred and damaged, blood is redirected away from the liver and it goes through the esophogus to get to the heart. The vessels in the esophogus then get overwhelmed and swell. Then they can bleed. That is why we are in Cinci, as continued bleeds require more care than what Dayton can provide. The scope today did not reveal the varices, so we don't know if those are going to be an ongoing issue or not. If so, those are a chronic and serious issue that we would have to treat through surgeries when Maggie is recovered. If the problem is just the ulcers and a generally raw stomach and esophogus, then those can recover and not be a long-term problem.

The plan now is to not stick any tubes down her throat, which they had been doing to suction and detect bleeds. However, they are causing more harm than good and have initiated some of the bleeds. She is on high doses of antacids and they are hopeful that she will heal and not have any more issues with bleeding. If she does bleed more, they know what to look for, what to do, and how to manage the problem. We just need to ensure that they have lots of blood at the ready.

Maggie is definitely dealing with another infection, and that is dangerous as well--but not related to her gastro-intestinal bleeds. If that can be resolved, the bleeding issue controlled and healed, and if her lungs continue to trend toward recovery, we have a real shot of taking her home at the end of this nightmare. That is the plan for now. As we have learned, we don't know what tonight or tomorrow brings. Hopefully a calm night and some progress. We are exhausted, traumitized by what we've seen, and desperate for the rollercoaster to settle down a bit.

Thanks for the prayers. We have needed them and will continue to in the coming days.