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.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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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