We just saw the majority of the doctors this morning, and everyone sounds pretty optomistic! Obviously, we still have a ways to go, but his trends seem to be going in the right direction.
He is back on the 24 hr dialysis machine, since his CO2 numbers started increasing again last night. It seems to be helping, and no one really knows why. I don't really care if they know why, just as long as it helps! They didn't let the CO2 get too high before they decided to put him on the machine, so that is good too. We're waiting for the next few blood gases to make sure his numbers stay where they are supposed to be. The last ones increased very slightly, so we're hoping that they are basically the same and not the start of a new trend. He's getting the 2nd of 3 doses of a very strong anti-inflammatory steroid today, so hopefully this will help the lungs as well. The downside to this treatment is that the steriods will suppress his immune system, which is why they waited until his numbers started returning before giving it to him. We're hoping that the broad range antibiotics and antifungals will continue to work well, and that these steriods will not cause a problem.
His blood counts from 2 am showed that he has 2200 white blood cells! All of these are the normal, healthy cells. This is also very promising, and we are so happy!! We won't know for sure if he is in remission until they do another bone marrow biopsy, but so far things are looking the way we want them to. We haven't found out yet when they are planning on doing the biopsy, but my guess is that they will wait till his numbers have stabilized a bit more. We were told a couple days ago that there are not any other options for him if his leukemia is still present, since his body is so weak right now. Obviously, we are all very anxious to hear that he is in remission and continuing to do better. We are all praying very hard for him that his leukemia is gone, and so far, things are looking very promising. He's come such a long way and gone through so much, and I know he will not give up fighting. A part of me knows that he'll eventually wake up and ask us why we were all worrying so much. He has so many good people pulling for him, and I know that is helping as well! (Plus, we've been playing tuba music for him to entice him to get better. It turns out that a couple of the guys on the lift team are tuba players and graciously burned us a few more cds. You KNOW that has to be a good sign!)
I hope that today continues to go well. Everyday brings us another day closer to recovery!
Love,
Melissa
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To the extended family of Eric and Melissa,
ReplyDeleteGOOD WORK TEAM! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE!
Ya gotta keep the faith that all we're doing is helping Eric come back to all of us. It's really amazing seeing that the outpouring of love and faith by all of us is making it all work.
But we can't rest now, it's too important an action that we all take. Offer all your trials and tribulations up as sacrifice for Eric. You'd want everyone to do the same for you should you be in the same spot at sometime. Keep up the good work, it is helping.
Melissa, keep your eye on the mail; I'll have a few more CD's of great Tuba heading your direction this week. If "tuba music" is helping him, Howard Johnson and Gravity (jazz group made up of 4 tubas and a rhythm section) will have him out of bed and dancing in no-time.
ReplyDeleteI'll warn you; he may become sustainably cooler after this whole episode if you feed him too much jazz tuba. Use only as directed
Go, Eric, go! He is such a great fighter. Sounds like things are looking up and I hope they continue that way. Glad you got some tuba music in there for him. Some great news today! Keeping fingers crossed and the family in my thoughts. Hang in there family!
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