Monday Morning

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

Latest Blood Gas Concentrations

Eric's latest blood gases:
pCO2: 74 (down from 90 this morning, normal range 35-45)
pO2: fine (don't remember what the actual number was)
pH: 7.24 (up from 7.11 this morning, normal is 7.35 - 7.45)

These are the first results after the changes they made to the ventilator about an hour and a half ago. Plus, he started the fast dialysis, which takes 3-4 hours. We're hoping that the numbers keep going in the right direction.

White blood cells are now at 1300, and they look normal! I'm beginning to have mixed feelings about these cells. We need them to survive, but they could potentially cause problems in the lungs (might be why he's having trouble this morning) due to the cells attacking the infection that is already there. This can cause more inflammation in the lungs, making it harder for gas exchange and the release of CO2.

We're not out of this yet and need all the help we can get.

Love,
Melissa

Prayers Needed

We found out this morning that Eric's lungs are getting worse. They are no longer inflating and deflating properly, causing his CO2 to increase drastically. They are worried that if this continues to increase, his pH will continue to drop. This will eventually cause his cardiovascular system to stop working properly. They made a few changes to the ventilator, but they are at the limit of what they can do. They are starting stronger steroids for his lungs, but the overall message this morning was that this is not looking good. Please keep praying. We really need them right now.

Love,
Melissa