Thankful

Today I just wanted to say thanks to all the people who have loved on our family so well the past couple of months-- from family members who have come in at the last minute to lend a hand or just be there for encouragement to our church family who has truly walked with us on this long journey. We have received notes of encouragement from all over the country, literally. My girls have been loved on so well by friends who took them to play so I could be at the hospital. Daddy's co-workers have been super sweet in calling to check on him faithfully and letting us pester them as we try to figure out all the logistics of Daddy going on disability and/or retiring (and here's a shout out to Ida who has been incredible and really taken care of the logistics for us). I have just been thinking about this today, and overwhelmed with God's goodness to our family so I wanted to say so. I imagine that if you read this blog, then you are a part of that and we are blessed by the time you have taken to lift Daddy and us up in prayer.

PS -- There's not much change with Daddy today but we had a productive meeting with his surgeon and the nurses to get us all on the same page and make sure Daddy knows what he has to do to get out of the hospital, and we know best how to help him.

One step at a time

Daddy seems to be progressing a little bit every day. They currently have him on continuous feeds through his stomach tube, so he's feeling pretty full and not very interested in eating, but he is trying to eat a little. He was up several times today for 1 hr+ stretches and took a couple of walks. He is still very weak, but that is not unexpected based on all he's been through plus not really having much nutrition for nearly 2 months. I spoke with his surgeon for quite a while yesterday (all of the following is my translation of the medical language and may not be precise), and his surgeon indicated that Daddy's biggest challenge right now is lack of nutrition. For some reason, his body has not kicked back in and accepted the artificial nutrition very well -- this is probably partly due to the effects of chemo on his body. Also, when someone is malnourished, fluid is more likely to collect in the body which makes it easier for infection to harbor which can lead to more complications (as we have experienced). There are some signs that maybe his body is starting to accept the nourishment so we are hopeful. The dr. indicated that it takes months to correct lack of nutrition so regaining his strenght will take some time. Daddy has been in good spirits and more alert the past couple of days. We are still aiming for him to go to rehab sooner rather than later where they can help him get strong enough to come home. We continue to pray for healing and rest, and we continue to be overwhelmed and blessed by the support we have received from friends and family.

And we're back out of ICU again...

They moved Daddy back to the 6th floor today, although we still aren't clear on where the infection was/is. We hope that we'll get more answers Monday or Tuesday, when the lab results come back. Weekends in the hospital seem to be rough, especially if you're trying to get information! This afternoon, he was more alert (than yesterday when he was out of it all day) although still tired. He got out of bed and sat up for about an hour this morning. He did complain of tightness in his chest before they moved him out of ICU, so they did an EKG which was normal and decided that he was stable enough to move. We really don't know much more than we did a couple of days ago, except that they started a new antibiotic. I also noticed that he was much less swollen in his extremities today -- his feet looked much better than they have in weeks but he is still complaining of being bloated in his stomach. He has a lot of challenges ahead of him, but we are hoping and praying that this week he can definitively turn the corner for good. Mom has had a rough couple of days because Daddy has been very up and down since Thursday, and could use any encouragement that you are able to send her way. Email me offline if you need her address. Thanks again for all the faithful prayers and encouragement.

Brief update

So this is what I know: they think Daddy has an abscess on his liver that may be the source of the infection. They removed 3 1/2 liters (yes, you read that right -- three and one half liters) of fluid from his abdomen earlier today without putting a drain in (he had a blood thinner early this morning so they couldn't put a port in). So that explains why he had some difficulty breathing yesterday, and probably why he had chest pains. They did a CT scan that showed no evidence of a blood clot in his lungs (which was apparently a concern). He still has a blood clot in his leg that hasn't resolved. They put Daddy on a new antibiotic, and took him off the others that he has been on for 12 days. They have an infectious disease dr. on the case now who seems to be leading the charge in trying to figure this whole thing out. He is back on a liquid diet for now. Scott and I went to visit him tonight, and while he was obviously weary and discouraged, he sat up and talked to us for a while -- the longest (lucid) conversation I've had with him in weeks. He seemed more like himself, albeit exhausted and frail. Hopefully by Monday, we'll have more specific answers and they will be able to get on top of this infection that keeps haunting him. Will update as we know more.

And we're back in ICU

Apparently, Daddy has an infection in his abdomen -- not sure if it's something new or if the other never really cleared up. They did say he has less fluid there than last time. And he had chest pains last night so they moved him back up, with tentative plans to drain the fluid again. They have called in an infectious disease dr. to consult so hopefully this time there will be some resolution. Yesterday morning they took out the drain to his lungs and were talking about sending him to rehab today if there was a bed open, but he did not have a good morning when I was there yesterday and, personally, I was not overly optimistic that he would be in rehab today. It seems that we are stuck in the same cycle -- he shows signs of infection, goes to ICU, they seem to treat it, he seems better, but within the week he's showing signs of infection again. My mom is exhausted, and we are all quite tired of being up at the hospital. We appreciate all the people who have been praying for us faithfully. Will update when I know something else.

And we're back on the 6th floor...

They sprung Daddy from ICU on Sunday night, and he's been doing fairly well since. He's down to 1 IV and the drain in his side to drain fluid from his lungs. He has been sitting up for several hours each day, and he took a couple of walks today. For the past 2 days, he has been eating 3 small meals a day with small snacks. Since they took out the PICC line, which was providing him with most of his nutrition, eating is extra important and he seems to be tolerating most foods well so far. He's been somewhat groggy/tired which is likely a combination of some of the pain meds he's taken to help with the pain from the drain in his side, and just being worn out from all that his body has been through. Overall, though, he's not loopy like he was -- he seems to be more himself and more focused on recovering. We are just taking it one day at a time and rejoicing in the small steps forward for now.

One day at a time

Daddy was taken back up to ICU this morning after he developed chills and a fever. Doctors suspected the culprit was an infection that stemmed from his PICC line (which has been in for over a month now). The PICC line was removed, a dose of a powerful antibiotic was given and he'll be in ICU for 24 hours (give or take) for monitoring. He continues to have some fluid on his lung, but the earliest they can do something about that is tomorrow morning because Daddy's been on blood thinner for the clot behind his knee. It just seems to be one thing after another.
He was able to eat a little bit of this and that today, so that's a good sign...the more we can get food in him, the better! Please continue to pray for healing and resolution of these various issues. Daddy's frustration is evident (although certainly understandable) and our family is weary. It's so easy to be discouraged by these setbacks, but pray that we all will find hope, peace and encouragement in the day to day.