Hi all,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. The Linker and Lonn families had a nice Christmas lunch here at the hospital.
Eric had some set backs the past couple days. The doctors warned us that we would be taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back along the way to recovery. The steps backward are hard for us to watch.
Eric had a bad reaction to a red blood cell transfusion last night. The nurse immediately discontinued the tranfusion and sent the remaining blood to the lab for analysis - guessing there were some antibodies in it that he was sensitive to. They performed an EKG and concluded Eric's heart was fine. This reaction caused his heart rate and blood pressure to sky rocket. Having a little elevated blood pressure is actually good in his current condition, but he went over 200 breaking a blood vessel in his left eye. They had to give him blood pressure medicine to lower his blood pressure.
The doctors performed a doppler ultrasound, a technique that evaluates blood velocity as it flows through blood vessels, this morning. They found a blood clot in Eric's left arm. This is a concern because Eric can't have the medicine used to disolve a clot due to his leukemia. We just have to anxiously wait for the clot to dissolve on its own.
The doctors are no longer talking about taking Eric off the ventilator anytime soon. His lungs are needing more support to get the right amount of oxygen.
On a positive note, Eric's temperature has come down slightly. He is still fighting an infection and a fungus with his weak immune system. He is currently at 101.5 degrees F. This has been reduced from the 103 degrees he was running yesterday. Hopefully his temperature will continue to drop.
Your thoughts and prayers are needed. Thank you for the continued support.
Love,
Sara
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve
Hi everyone,
It's Christmas Eve, and I seem to be getting another lesson in patience. They've completely weened Eric off of the strongest sedative, and had been making progress with the second sedative/pain killer. However, Eric started getting more agitated and trying to push out the ventilator tube with his tongue, so they went back to the full dose of the second sedative. He's resting much more comfortably now. I'm just anxious to have him awake. They say that this is how all patients are with the process of getting off of the ventilator. They have to find the happy sedative level where he is as calm and comfortable as can be and still awake enough to respond to them. I think each morning the doctors will come by to "test" him. They'll have him open his eyes, squeeze their hands on command, wiggle his toes and be able to cough. If he passes all of these tests, they'll take the tube out. Apparently this morning he only passed about half of those, so maybe tomorrow!
In the mean time, his fever has crept up to 103.6 deg F. They've added an anti-fungal to the rest of the medicine that they are giving him. The doctors all say that this is pretty standard. We've completely obliterated his immune system, so all of the natural bacteria (and I guess fungus) that are in everybody start causing problems. They've added 4 IV lines to him so that they could take the PICC line out of his arm, which they think was causing most of the problems. They will add a more central line in his neck either tomorrow or the next day. They wanted to give his body a chance to fight the infection before adding another semi-permanent line. Once they add the central line, they'll remove all of the IVs again. So between the extra meds and the PICC line, hopefully his fever will start going down soon.
I got to the hospital this morning to find a slew of new cards. Thank you all so very much!! We have a whole stack of cards to show Eric when he wakes up. Once we get to the oncology ward, we're planning on taping them to the walls to make the room a little more warm and inviting.
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas tomorrow! Enjoy being around friends and family, eating lots of good food and drinks, and giving gifts. (Adam Keyster, I KNOW your family will be having wonderful Brandy Alexanders -- drink one for me!) We don't have a fireplace in our hospital room, but I have a feeling Santa won't skip over us. Eric's whole family is already here, and my family is heading down in the morning. So we'll have a nice little celebration!
Love,
Melissa
PS I just went back and re-read all of the previous posts. I swear I read everything at least 3 times before posting, but I still found all sorts of spelling/grammar errors. Sorry! I think I'll just chalk it up to being sleep deprived. : ) At least, that sounds like a good excuse to me!
It's Christmas Eve, and I seem to be getting another lesson in patience. They've completely weened Eric off of the strongest sedative, and had been making progress with the second sedative/pain killer. However, Eric started getting more agitated and trying to push out the ventilator tube with his tongue, so they went back to the full dose of the second sedative. He's resting much more comfortably now. I'm just anxious to have him awake. They say that this is how all patients are with the process of getting off of the ventilator. They have to find the happy sedative level where he is as calm and comfortable as can be and still awake enough to respond to them. I think each morning the doctors will come by to "test" him. They'll have him open his eyes, squeeze their hands on command, wiggle his toes and be able to cough. If he passes all of these tests, they'll take the tube out. Apparently this morning he only passed about half of those, so maybe tomorrow!
In the mean time, his fever has crept up to 103.6 deg F. They've added an anti-fungal to the rest of the medicine that they are giving him. The doctors all say that this is pretty standard. We've completely obliterated his immune system, so all of the natural bacteria (and I guess fungus) that are in everybody start causing problems. They've added 4 IV lines to him so that they could take the PICC line out of his arm, which they think was causing most of the problems. They will add a more central line in his neck either tomorrow or the next day. They wanted to give his body a chance to fight the infection before adding another semi-permanent line. Once they add the central line, they'll remove all of the IVs again. So between the extra meds and the PICC line, hopefully his fever will start going down soon.
I got to the hospital this morning to find a slew of new cards. Thank you all so very much!! We have a whole stack of cards to show Eric when he wakes up. Once we get to the oncology ward, we're planning on taping them to the walls to make the room a little more warm and inviting.
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas tomorrow! Enjoy being around friends and family, eating lots of good food and drinks, and giving gifts. (Adam Keyster, I KNOW your family will be having wonderful Brandy Alexanders -- drink one for me!) We don't have a fireplace in our hospital room, but I have a feeling Santa won't skip over us. Eric's whole family is already here, and my family is heading down in the morning. So we'll have a nice little celebration!
Love,
Melissa
PS I just went back and re-read all of the previous posts. I swear I read everything at least 3 times before posting, but I still found all sorts of spelling/grammar errors. Sorry! I think I'll just chalk it up to being sleep deprived. : ) At least, that sounds like a good excuse to me!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Bye-Bye Sedation!!!
That's right! We just talked to the critical care team of doctors, and they decided that since he's been initiating all of his breaths and needing very minimal support from the ventilator, they're going to start weening him off of the sedatives!!! They're going to go slowly (he's on three different sedatives right now) and monitor his oxygen to make sure he's still getting enough. They said that it varies from person to person on how quickly they become fully aware. Some people can take up to a few days. I'm just so happy that the end is in sight!!
He still has a fever of 102. They've been giving him antibiotics, and continue to monitor the cultures to see if they are making headway with that. They've narrowed it down to the PICC line being the culprit. (A PICC line is like a more permanent, bigger IV that goes in the arm.) If that specific bateria does not go away, they will take that line out and either put another one in at a different location, or go with a more central line. They also said that the pill that he's taking now, ATRA, can cause a fever, and the leukemia itself can cause fevers, so it may be a lot of things combined that is causing this.
All in all, the doctor said that he will probably feel "crummy" when he wakes up, but at least he's finally going to be awake!!!
Love,
Melissa
PS. His white blood cells are down to 1000, now.
He still has a fever of 102. They've been giving him antibiotics, and continue to monitor the cultures to see if they are making headway with that. They've narrowed it down to the PICC line being the culprit. (A PICC line is like a more permanent, bigger IV that goes in the arm.) If that specific bateria does not go away, they will take that line out and either put another one in at a different location, or go with a more central line. They also said that the pill that he's taking now, ATRA, can cause a fever, and the leukemia itself can cause fevers, so it may be a lot of things combined that is causing this.
All in all, the doctor said that he will probably feel "crummy" when he wakes up, but at least he's finally going to be awake!!!
Love,
Melissa
PS. His white blood cells are down to 1000, now.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday Morning
Hi Everyone,
Eric continues to hold his clotting capabilities steady, and his white blood cells have dropped low enough to start giving him the second medicine in his treatment. It's a pill called ATRA, and it's a derivative of vitamin A. I don't think it's supposed to be as tramatic on his body as the chemo was, but I need to ask a few more questions about it. Two days ago, the doctor warned us that Eric has 100% chance of getting an infection, and sure enough, he started getting a fever yesterday and kept it up all night. Right now, it's at about 102 deg F. They've been giving him a broad spectrum of antibiotics, but now they're also taking cultures of his blood to try to target a specific one. In the meantime, it's Tylenol, cold packs, and and a cooling blanket for Eric. Again, I'm glad he won't remember this along with all the other nasty things from this past week. On the bright side, they have knocked his % O2 ventilator setting down to 50% (from 55%). Slow and steady wins the race, right? Also, they switched one of his sedatives yesterday to another one that is easier to ween people off of. This is in preparation of him waking up. I have my doubts it will be before Christmas, but that's ok. We'll just have to extend Christmas this year for as long as we need to. I'm quite alright with leaving my Christmas tree up all year... it was hard enough putting it up, none-the-less taking it down! Ok ok, I only put the tree up. My wonderful brother and soon to be sister-in-law decorated it while I did quality control from the couch. My two high school friends, Minh-Bao and Becky, helped with ornaments, and Mom took care of getting all of the supplies. Thanks again to everyone.
We've been getting so many nice cards from people. Thanks for your thoughtfulness; it really does brighten the day.
Love,
Melissa
Eric continues to hold his clotting capabilities steady, and his white blood cells have dropped low enough to start giving him the second medicine in his treatment. It's a pill called ATRA, and it's a derivative of vitamin A. I don't think it's supposed to be as tramatic on his body as the chemo was, but I need to ask a few more questions about it. Two days ago, the doctor warned us that Eric has 100% chance of getting an infection, and sure enough, he started getting a fever yesterday and kept it up all night. Right now, it's at about 102 deg F. They've been giving him a broad spectrum of antibiotics, but now they're also taking cultures of his blood to try to target a specific one. In the meantime, it's Tylenol, cold packs, and and a cooling blanket for Eric. Again, I'm glad he won't remember this along with all the other nasty things from this past week. On the bright side, they have knocked his % O2 ventilator setting down to 50% (from 55%). Slow and steady wins the race, right? Also, they switched one of his sedatives yesterday to another one that is easier to ween people off of. This is in preparation of him waking up. I have my doubts it will be before Christmas, but that's ok. We'll just have to extend Christmas this year for as long as we need to. I'm quite alright with leaving my Christmas tree up all year... it was hard enough putting it up, none-the-less taking it down! Ok ok, I only put the tree up. My wonderful brother and soon to be sister-in-law decorated it while I did quality control from the couch. My two high school friends, Minh-Bao and Becky, helped with ornaments, and Mom took care of getting all of the supplies. Thanks again to everyone.
We've been getting so many nice cards from people. Thanks for your thoughtfulness; it really does brighten the day.
Love,
Melissa
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Calm Sunday
Hi everyone,
Eric had a very calm Sunday...no major problems. Eric had his 4th and final chemo treatment today. It's a good thing he will have no memory of the chemo treatments. The nurses were able to lower his oxygen help to 55% O2 and 10 PEEP (Goal: 30% O2 and 8 PEEP). This is the right direction to get him off the ventilator. We are really hoping he will be off the ventilator on Wed. It's hard to believe none of us have talked to him in over a week. Or I guess I should say, we've talked to him, but he hasn't talked back.
The hematologist warned us today that Eric is very, very likely to develop an infection because his white blood cell count is so low. The chemo has done its job killing off the white blood cells, but this leaves his body open to infections. We are hoping he amazes them again and skips the infection phase.
As Eric's condition has improved, we have started to catch up on sleep here. We are all starting to feel better.
Love,
Sara
Eric had a very calm Sunday...no major problems. Eric had his 4th and final chemo treatment today. It's a good thing he will have no memory of the chemo treatments. The nurses were able to lower his oxygen help to 55% O2 and 10 PEEP (Goal: 30% O2 and 8 PEEP). This is the right direction to get him off the ventilator. We are really hoping he will be off the ventilator on Wed. It's hard to believe none of us have talked to him in over a week. Or I guess I should say, we've talked to him, but he hasn't talked back.
The hematologist warned us today that Eric is very, very likely to develop an infection because his white blood cell count is so low. The chemo has done its job killing off the white blood cells, but this leaves his body open to infections. We are hoping he amazes them again and skips the infection phase.
As Eric's condition has improved, we have started to catch up on sleep here. We are all starting to feel better.
Love,
Sara
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