Cancer update #6

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My mom is a fighter. By all indications that we can measure she appears to have beaten the sepsis, a whole system infection that 80% of those who face it do not recover from. She has done this with an immune system that was wiped out by the chemotherapy treatment. Her heart is doing its own work and her kidneys are starting to move fluid out of her body. She is still in a tough position and there is a long hard road of recovery ahead of us. The good news is that the doctors are starting to make estimations about her recovery instead of her survival chances.

For the last week my mom has been surrounded by her family and friends both near and far who love her. So many people have been praying for her in their own way. The only thing I know for sure is that the magic of life is a mystery. The love that my mom spread to everyone she met throughout her life is being returned to her in powerful waves that have kept her afloat. The light she has been in the world shines in all of us who know her, and those who are touched by the people most affected by her.

The last 48 hours have been such an emotional rollercoaster ride at the end of an intense week that I have fallen behind on the updates. Here are updates that have been written by Doug, a man that has spent every minute he can by her side this last week.

7:00 pm 2/5/06

At the risk of jinxing things this has been a very good day. The day started out rather badly but improved as time went along. Ginny’s BP stabilized and she was able to hold a good strong level. The increased the diuretic and the albumin and her urinary output started to steadily increase. She received another two packets of platelets. The White blood cell count has not yet increase. The problem we then ran into was that one hour before the Xygris (miracle drug) was to expire they became concerned about potential intracranial bleeding. By this time Ginny was stable enough to reduce the sedative and we were able to talk to her and get her to respond to us. She was taken for a CT scan and they found that she was bleeding into the sinus area in her forehead, not into her brain. A neurologist will be checking her out tonight. This is our current big concern.

We were able to talk to Ginny most of the afternoon and then her BP started to climb out of sight. They were very concerned with the potential bleeding into the brain with such high pressure. An increase in sedative and rearranging how she was laying on the bed managed to bring that down. We will not know if there were any complications until the do more test tomorrow. Tomorrow they will be giving her another CT and then will be giving her an MRI-angiogram. As with all of these things there are complications. Because the dye used in a contrast would cause her kidneys to totally stop it will have to be without contrast. They will be looking to see if there is any change to attempt to locate the actual leak.

In line with yesterdays list of priorities we have added brain damage/bleeding.
1) We have control over the blood pressure, she is totally controlling her BP on her own.
2) we have apparently gotten control of the sepsis (over 80% of the people having sepsis died), We apparently have stopped the Xygris without having any major bleeding problems,
3) her kidneys have started increased functioning reducing the edema and she is looking a lot better. Her weeping through her skin has been reduced and the actual movement of fluid back out of her tissues and into her vascular system has helped in controlling the BP.
4) The intracranial bleeding is of concern. Tomorrow we will get a better handle on the extent of the problem
5) The original cause of her pains. We have not really started on this problem yet. The doctor is fairly convinced that the problem is cancer related and is fairly sure that it is not a perforated bowel. We she becomes more stable and steps 1-4 are more solidly under control we will be able to do more studies on this, but her kidneys need to be able to tolerate the contrast dye.

Once more we are still on a 15 minute horizon. In the best of situations Ginny will be on a respirator for several days; if she is on beyond that and if she can tolerate it they would need to put in a trachea tube. Once more under the best of conditions she will be in ICU at least one more week, on one of the hospital floors for 2 weeks and in a rehab hospital for up to a month. That’s - OK, we will take it!!!!!!!

It is with a great deal of trepidation that I send out such an optimistic report. We all need to be prepared for possible set backs and not get to euphoric. It is the trend that we are looking for, the roller coaster will really get you down. Once more we need all of the prayers that you all can give.

Love to all
Doug & Ginny


7:00 am 2/6/06

Ginny had a good night her BP only “wobbled” once. They have modified her position so that she can be rotated every 2 hours to counter the weeping of her skin. This can be a BP problem as she tends to get unstable every time she is moved. She is still under moderate sedation. As I type this she is getting a ‘sedation holiday’ and Chris is with her to provide her with a reference point. They discontinued the albumin last night and her urine output is remaining high, that is a good sign. Her blood test remains about the same as it was yesterday morning. Yesterday evening they flew additional platelets up from Phoenix and I would guess that they will do the same today.

Today Ginny is scheduled for a CAT scan and a MRI-angiogram. Both of these tests are to give us an indication of the seriousness of the inter-cranial bleeding.

Please keep praying for her.

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Comments

[Kitty]

Still Praying
Good news is good to hear. Still praying, still praying.