Gut Reaction

I'll start with Dr. Swanson. The condition described was a torsion of the stomach. The stomach is connected on one side by the esophagus and on the other by the small intestine, which are long tubes. They can fold around, and if it twists too much, can oversqueeze itself and "choke" the stomach. Surgery is needed to correct it. During his surgery they found esophageal varices, which is a sign of liver cirrhosis. I described these long ago, but to repeat, when the liver is cirrhotic, blood flow to the liver is backed up and under high pressure, and that causes veins that eventually go to the liver to swell. The ones in the esophagus often do it in this condition and these have a high chance of bleeding, and really cause a bloody mess. I can't and won't speculate how the bleeding began, because they didn't close the case.

The twins had RSV, or respiratory syncicial virus, which is not well publicized but can be a very bad virus. It can lead to respiratory failure, as evidenced in one of the babies, and treatment is mostly supportive, including intubation and a respirator.

Scott does not have a bone marrow match, so he's getting an experimental chemotherapy. I'm assuming he's getting some high dose combination of drugs. I do think they're stretching credibility by having him look OK during the day, get chemo and immediately develop near fatal sepsis, and then to begin antibiotics and feel better again.

I also think Carol made a mistake by allowing the Carter Foundation to be her only source of funding for the clinic. At $150,000 minimum that's been donated from just one source, she should have multiple sources just in case one is reduced or eliminated.