Hi everyone,
Sorry we haven't posted in a couple days. Eric's had a rough 3 days, which translates to a rough 3 days for his bedside team too.
Eric has been receiving red blood cells and platelets the past couple days. There haven't been any additional problems with the blood transfusions, which is good.
We aren't sure if the blood clot is still in Eric's left arm. The doctors haven't ordered a second Doppler ultrasound to check on the clot. I imagine this is because there is really nothing they can do to treat it. We were told that a clot in the arm is better than a clot in his leg, because clot sizes in arms are generally smaller.
Eric is still on the ventilator. He seems to bounce around needing a lot to a little breathing support. He is currently at 100% oxygen support and a PEEP of 15, which is a lot of support.
The doctors are now worried about Eric's kidneys. There are two numbers they look at in the lab tests. Eric's numbers have jumped up twice in the wrong direction since yesterday. This is now a new concern for us. We aren't sure if there is a treatment they can do to help his kidneys.
Eric's hematologist was back in the hospital on Monday, and we truly missed him over the weekend. The critical care team (basically the doctors that staff the ICU) had some very scary things to say to us on Fri, Sat and Sun. They were indicating to be prepared for the worst, including questioning how long do we want to fight.......which was shocking yesterday.
Later in the day yesterday, we saw Eric's hematologist. We explained what we were being told by the critical care team, and the hematologist reassured us that Eric is right on track. The hematologists said Eric's current condition is exactly what is expected of a Leukemia patient. We have completely wiped out his immune system, white blood cells. We had to do this to kill off the cancerous cells. With no immune system, Eric can't fight off basic bacteria and fungi. The hematologist had a conference with the critical care doctor to clarify Eric's progression and treatment.
The hematologist called in a couple different specialists; an opthamalogist, an infectous disease doctor, a kidney doctor, and heart doctor. These specialists had some treatments that will help Eric.
On a positive note, Eric's temperature continues to drop. He is currently at 99 degree F.
We are hoping Eric makes progress on his breathing an his kidneys today.
Love,
Sara
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Steps Backward
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
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
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!
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