Following this morning's cardiac arrest, doctors were very anxious to attack so of the potential root causes that may have put her in such a tenuous situation.
First and foremost on the list is the concern of bileous fluid build up in her abdominal cavity and a potential infection within. Yesterday's tap pulled off 750cc just by releasing pressure, but there was thought to be much more and a source needed to be determined.
Shirley was in a very weakened state and the conservative approach would have been to do the surgery laproscopcially. However, since they were on an exploratory mission, there was concern that laproscopy wouldn't find the source and she was too weak to undergo multiple surgeries. Hence, a decision to use a larger incision to improve the chances of finding the problem was recommended.
Shirley is now out of surgery. They did find a couple of small bile leaks and these were closed off. The surgeon said they removed about two liters of fluid--mostly bile, a very small about of blood from her abdominal cavity and gave everything a good once-over. She is now back in the room and resting comfortably.
A dialysis machine is on the way up and they are going to run it for about two hours today and three tomorrow.
Now we wait. They are going monitor her chemistry closely and hope that this gets her over the hump and starts to reverse the recent downward trend.
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