admit it.
carter
::01 apr 2004 :: 05:35pm
update at 5:25p on thursday: tripp seems to be improving. mom and guy will be out in LA at about 7 30p western time. rachael will be there, too. tripp left a voice message for everyone saying he felt improved and surgery was looking a little less likely. this is great. i hope the doctor's report is the same. i'll try to keep posts up to date.
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so i know many of you have been checking the site to learn more about tripp's health. hell, I'VE been checking the site to get any update that i might have missed.
tripp's hospital stay is the result of two different but related issues. (1) he has ulcerative colitis. this has been an ongoing problem in the last couple of years. colitis is basically an inflammation of the large intestine. it can lead to a higher risk of colon cancer (the development of cancerous 'polyps' in the colon). your colon, as i understand it, is basically your large intestine, but there are different parts to that. see this link.
colitis causes an inflammation of the colon (basically ulcers in your colon), and these open internal sores cause you to pass blood in your stool.
so tripp has been sick for awhile - passing blood and trying to regulate it with the reduction of stress and through diet, along with regular maintance medicines. his doctor was concerned that there could be some type of infection, and i think (i could be wrong) put him on some antibiotics before tripp was admitted to the hospital. then, it was apparent that tripp's white blood count was really high (a sign of infection), and the doctor put him in the hospital.
on saturday, the hospital quarantined his room, thinking he had a c diff infection. then they came back and said no. then they said he does have it. and that's where we are now.
see this link to read about c diff. (2) so the second part to tripp's hospitalization is a c diff infection. basically, tripp has the opportunity to recover from c diff with two antibiotics. these are apparently taken orally, not through an IV. im not sure if he is able to keep anything down right now. it is not yet very clear whether he is responding to the antibiotics he's on or not. there was discussion of switching his meds yesterday (i guess from the first antibiotic option to the second). i dont know if that happened. if the antibiotics do not work, he will have to have surgery to remove the infected area of his digestive tract. we are all hoping that he will not have to do this and that the antibiotics will do what they are supposed to do.
i hope this helps. im trying to understand all of this along with everyone else, so please know that im no expert or even knowledgeable source… ive just been talking with everyone i know and then reading some on the internet. i hope tripp isnt angry with me for posting this. i just know that the best way to ease fear and anxiety is to be educated. and i know all of this news isnt great news, but it helps you know where tripp stands (and me, too).
