As of this morning, Allan was doing slightly better. He's still on the ventilator, and probably will be for a while. It's at a very high, uncomfortable setting, so they're keeping him sedated. His doctors keep stressing how difficult it is for CF patients with his level of lung disease to come off the vent, especially with b. cepacia. Even if they can get the infection under control, getting him off the ventilator will be another huge obstacle.
His fevers seem to have come down a bit, as well. There have been some problems, though. I was at home sleeping because I stayed the night at the hospital last night, and his dad just came back to the apartment. He said they're giving Allan a blood transfusion--something wrong with his hemoglobin? I don't know what it's about yet, and it's nearly impossible to get information out of his father because he has limited English and likely doesn't understand much about the situation himself. I can't go back to the hospital just yet because the nurses would be changing shifts right about now and they kick everyone out for that. I will go back in about an hour, though, and stay with him through the night again, and hopefully I'll get a better idea of what's going on. His parents and I are staying with him in shifts--right now his mom and stepdad are with Allan, and tonight his dad and I will be with him.
This morning there was some worry about his gallbladder, too. He's not having any specific symptom that alarms them. But, from what I understood, a lot of patients in his condition have inflamed gallbladders so they were going to do an ultrasound to try to see if there's anything wrong. If it is inflamed, then they'll try to treat it with drugs. Eventually his gallbladder may have to be removed, but there's no way he'd survive such a surgery in his current condition.
The amount of carbon dioxide in his blood has continued to decrease, too, so that's good. That's about all I know, for now. I haven't been over there since this morning, but if there were any significant changes his parents would have called me.
I love him so damned much. I know many of you love him, too, and are feeling the same frustration and helplessness about this. When Allan 'twitched' the other day while I was talking to him, I had been saying this:
"I know that when we met, you were worried about getting into a relationship with me, because you were ill, and didn't want to hurt me. I had known this was going to happen I'd have still been with you in a heartbeat. You are the best part of my life, you are everything to me, and I love you. It's so hard for me to express how much I care. Being with you is worth every moment, and no matter how much time we have together, it's worth it." I don't know if I've ever clearly stated that to him before, but I hope he knows. And I hope that if he has heard nothing else since being sedated, he heard that.