Hospital time again

Kevin again.

Michael is back in the hospital again.

This morning, as he was having a lovely brunch with Ray, Gabriel and Jen, the home care nurse came by to re-wrap his legs (which are swollen as a side effect of either the kidney problems, the cancer, or both) and do a "basic metabolic profile" which include checking his blood oxygenation level. He was at 78, which is very low, so she sent him packing to the ER. In the ER, they put him on a non-rebreather oxygen mask and 11 liters/minute of oxygen. This got his O2 levels up to somewhere reasonable, but we still don't know what's wrong or how to fix it. A chest x-ray shows something is up in his left lung, which was the case previously. Whatever it is, it's notably bigger than it was two weeks ago, which the radiologist says makes it unlikely to be a metastasis, since that would not have grown so much so quickly.

Possibilities are:
1. Fluid in the lungs
2. Pneumonia
3. Metastasis
4. Some combination of the above

The problem they are having now is that it's hard to tell exactly what is going on without a good scan of the chest with contrast dye. But giving someone contrast dye when they have kidney issues is a bad idea, and Mike has had allergic reactions to contrast dye in the past, making it a really bad idea. So for now, they're going with broad-spectrum antibiotic in case it's an infection, diuretics to reduce fluid levels in case that's the problem, and standing ready with BIPAP in case he needs even more O2. This means he's in the ICU, since the BIPAP is a tight-fitting device, and if he vomits with it on, things will get bad very quickly.

 More news when I know more and get a chance to update. -Kevin