Marge Allen

Sarge Marge  has been fighting pulmonary hypertension for a while now and ended up being transported to St. Mark's hospital last Thursday morning.  She enjoyed her ride as she was accompanied by numerous hot firemen.
She was admitted to the hospital and was put on oxygen and being monitored. 
She was switched over to the ICU Friday morning due to her oxygen levels still being too low.  
Friday evening she put on a ventilator and has been on one since.
Friday night I received a call from her doctor and was informed that the right side of her heart is failing and she has tremendous pressure around her heart and lungs. They are really worried about her right ventricle.
She was moved to the University of Utah cardiovascular ICU Saturday evening.  We met with the cardiologist and the surgeon and were told the best course of action was to put her on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) bypass machine.  This machine bypasses her heart and lungs and oxygenates and regulates the pressure of her blood.  They were happy she was stable enough to perform the procedure in an operating  room instead of as an emergency surgery in a patients room.  She did well during the surgery and is expected to be on bypass for weeks.  They expect the bypass to give heart and lungs a chance to rest and heal.
Sunday she was hooked up to an EEG to monitor her brain function as she was not responding to commands.   She is no longer sedated and is considered comatose.  Her brain activity is slow and they are worried about any damage due to having such low oxygen and blood pressure levels for so long.
Her kidneys are not functioning well and her liver is injured and the reason for her clotting issues. She is on dialysis to help her kidneys, pull acid out of her blood and to help pull the fluid from her body.  She's quite swollen and they're working on getting her swelling down. 


I cannot thank everyone enough for all the love, support, thoughts, prayers, hugs, mints, quarters, laughs, snacks and smiles.  Mom is an amazing woman that made impressions on everyone she touched.  She is a fighter and a formidable woman.