The ER doctor wanted to do a spinal tap to confirm the GBS, but with the platelet count so low, the risk so high, that they decided against the spinal tap. The fear would be that Steve would bleed out. They did a electric shock test on both legs and both arms that Steve said was very painful. While his muscles act paralyzed, he can feel everything. One nurse did a artery test, removing blood from an artery, not a vein, to measure the oxygenation of the blood.
The scary thing was how fast the disease took over. Steve and I went to a friend's retirement party Saturday night, and Monday morning Steve couldn't stand or walk.
After two days of immune globulins and three transfusions of platelets, Steve's responses started to improve. He was still having problems swallowing so he remained on a liquid diet. He had his first plasmapheresis treatment (machine is shown above) on early Thursday morning. The next treatment was Friday evening, and his third on Sunday. A surgeon put a line in Steve's jugular, on his right side of his neck. The machine has tubes that pull his blood out of his body, remove the plasma and introduce a new plasma. The process takes between 80 and 120 minutes. The line has gotten clotted and the treatments take slightly longer each time. The immune globulins are not given while the plasmapheresis is being done. Huntsville Hospital is one of three hospitals in the state that has the machine.
A speech therapist came in on Thursday after the first plasmapheresis and did an evaluation. He did so well that they started him on solid food Thursday night. Now he was getting Cream of Wheat for breakfast. With vanilla yogurt. The cafeteria must have gotten a really good deal on vanilla yogurt, 'cause Steve got vanilla yogurt with every meal. The night nurse saw how much Steve liked it and offered to make sure some got boxed up for Steve to take with him when he got discharged.
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