Thank you

Thank you for all of your support for our family. Please join us for a memorial to our father on February 27, 4 pm, at Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm Street, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Feb 11 at 11 am

Again, there is very little new to report. On the positive side, his kidneys appear to be working much better than before. On the negative side, he is still on strong medication to keep his blood pressure from being dangerously low, he is still intubated and on a respirator, and there are some concerns over signs that the bowel isn't healing as it is supposed to. That and the blood pressure are the doctors' main, very serious concerns. We're monitoring all of this...

Feb 9 at 8 pm

The news for now is that they have succeeded in getting the PICC line in and he is now getting nutrition. Otherwise, we're in a holding pattern. There are no acute issues like the heart problems he had on Saturday, but his blood pressure is still only normal because he is on strong medication. He is still intubated and on a respirator, and although he is finally shedding some fluids, he is still very bloated. And his temperature continues to fluctuate between 99-101.

Feb 9 at 11:30 am

No real news to provide -- they still have not been able to put the PICC line in, so no nutrition for the moment. There's a blizzard in Cincinnati now so the family is having trouble getting to the hospital to be with him.

Feb. 8 at 11 pm

Nothing new to report for now -- just letting people know not to worry. We'll try to post tomorrow.

Feb. 8 at 9:10 am

There's nothing much new to report from the hospital today. His numbers and condition are all exactly where they were yesterday (and at this stage, judging from memory, no news is good news). The edema is worse than yesterday and they're talking about using a diuretic to reduce his fluids, but that's today's only new development. And we're still not sure when or if they're going to add the PICC line to provide him nutrition. He seems vaguely to be able to understand that we're here and talking to him, but he comes across as very exhausted. We're trying to reassure him that this is the hardest part and that he just needs to relax and heal.

Feb 7 at 4:30 pm

The current challenge is getting a PICC line in for nutrition. He's so swollen that they are having trouble getting it in, but they keep trying. Matt is the doctor's assistant on this one. From the looks of it, it is not a very comfortable procedure for Dad.

Feb 7 at 12:45 pm

His numbers are generally looking good. His heart rate and rhythm are steady and his blood pressure is normal (with the help of medication). Also, his temperature is down to 99.7. But they now are finding that his breathing is abnormal, so they're looking into this. Also, they need to put in a "pic" line to bring back his nutrition.

Colts go the the Superbowl, Dad goes to the hospital

This is a brief blog to communicate with friends and family about my father's condition. We have been grateful to hear from so many of you asking about Dad's health, but we also need to be sure our mother can get some rest, so we're trying to minimize the need for friends and family to call her for status updates.

For anyone who didn't already know (or who pulls up random blogs online), my Dad, Pete Strauss, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1991 and we're reaching the stage of serious complications. Most recently, he had an obstructed bowel and came in for treatment on Monday, Feb. 1. It started to clear a little bit on its own, but they determined he needed surgery. During the surgery, however, his bowel perforated and he's now is severe septic shock.

So here's the current status: The doctors have said that he has a lot of fighting to do and he's weak on many fronts. His kidneys are barely functioning, his blood pressure is low and he has a fever that fluctuates between 101-103 degrees. He is also intubated and on a respirator to remove the stress of breathing and they have pumped him full of fluids to fight the septicemia. But with his kidneys functioning poorly, he's blown up like a balloon. His blood pressure is particularly important because he needs a higher pressure to be sure the blood gets to his surgical wound for healing purposes and to keep his kidneys functioning well. He has been maxed out on blood pressure medication, but now they have slowly been able to lower the dosage, which is a good sign. On the kidneys, they have been talking about dialysis, and they tell us they would only consider that because he seems to be healing, however slowly, so that is also a good sign. For now, we're not planning to do this.

Yesterday morning, things looked pretty bad, as his heart rhythm was erratic, his heart rate was well over 150 and his blood pressure was very low. But just before they planned to give him a cardioversion to restart his heart rhythm, he reset the rhythm himself and that has been fine ever since.

One pattern we are seeing -- since Dad was here for very similar reasons exactly three years ago, we have to believe that it was the fact that the Colts are in the Superbowl that has him all worked up....

We'll try to update this blog for friends and family as often as possible.

Pete's family.