The Third Space

Sounds like a science fiction novel, doesn’t it? “The Third Space.”

Our focus for the last few and next few days will be the third space. In case you haven’t already gone to Wikipedia or WebMD for help:
- the first space for fluids is the blood vessels and lymphatic systems
- the second space for fluids is in your cells
- the third space is the space between cells in the tissues.

Fluids are important and, like the plumbing in your house and the cooling system in your car, are a major trouble spot for your body when you get sick or beaten up. Drew has definitely been beaten up. He has leaky pipes, puddles, low levels, and overflows, all at once.

He has too much fluid in the third space, and not enough in the first and second space. He has to have fluids to keep the kidneys from failing, and he has painful swelling in lots of places which cause a different set of problems. Even the pain medicine for the fluid problems causes fluid problems. And every drug or food affects this balance of spaces, so we are all tracking calories, input and output volumes, blood pressure, and protein levels as well as stopping some medications and slowing others.

We had three renal specialists, four dermatologists, seven oncology team members, an ultrasound technician, a nutritional specialist, and an occupational therapist (his favorite today), and they all worked hard. A few more may stop by this evening. The third space takes lots of attention.

It’s a busy space.