Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] my husband had arterial surgeery in august. they put in three grafts. also found out his liver is totally shot .hepatitis c.since the surgery he has lost 40 pounds.  no appetite, lethargic, and no strength at all. also he had a staph infection in one of his incisions where one of the grafts where.. i think we are over the staph infection. but, my husband is almost like dead. he can barely walk cuz he is so weak, he will now -last 4 days -drink ensure to keep himself alive, also he is very weak- like i could push him over with a feather. he also started having chronic pain in his abdomen and lower back about three weeks ago. since this time thats when docs found the staph infection. but since then he is still having chronic pain in his lower back-so bad he would not eat or sleep for fivedays. doctors say he has muscles spasms. hard for me to believe. he also is going downhill- fever, sweats, very lethargic where he sleeps continuasly, and still in massive pain.saw the doctor today, and prescribed ambien. now he is sleeping, which is good, but the poor man is still feverish, and so ill he can barely stand up. would the doctor just not tell me or my husband that he is dying-expecting that the infectiuos doctor to tell us. i am at whits end. he is definatly deteriating- and i was the one to point out to doctors that he had lost 40 pounds since the surgery. please help
[|AI|]  Hi there, If he is still having fevers and lethargic, I'd be worried that one of his grafts were infected. Sometimes, it takes many weeks or even months to get over a major surgery, but he should start to improve and not decline.  Blood cultures would be the first place to start, as if he has blood cultures that show infection, I'd be very worried that his arterial grafts were infected. If he has negative blood cultures, that is more reassuring.  If his incision is getting better, that's certainly a good sign. I would have a straight forward conversation with the surgeon who did the surgery and ask him why your husband hadn't fully recovered, and what his expectation for his recovery should be.  If he's not eating well and having pain, then there are certain things that can be due such as a nasogastric feeding tube, or perhaps even IV nutrition.  If he's having pain issues, then he should refer him to a chronic pain doctor.  And finally, if he's having fevers, I'd ask the surgeon if he has an infection of the grafts, and if he says no, I'd ask him where he thought the fevers were coming from this far out of surgery. In this case, it sounds like you really have to push your surgeon for answers.  No one will know the answers to these questions unless it's the surgeon who did the operation, who should be following him closely. I hope this is helpful. Please contact me if you have any further questions.