Update & Request for Prayer: June 20, 2010

I made the transition back to the hospital for IV treatments over the weekend. That went relatively well once pharmacy decided that they could mix the medication by simply pulling up my records from ICU the previous week. Sometimes wading through the entire medical system seems like a maze. With electronic medical files and other tracking systems, one would think that dilemmas as simple as resolving how to mix the same medicine I have been taking for over two weeks would be relatively simple to resolve.

I continue to be weak and not feeling well at all. After two weeks of my stay in the ICU and daily IV's, I had hoped that I would see more signs of improvement. My temperature continues to swing from my low normal temperature to elevated status. The cough and congestion are also present. Today I have had some strong heart palpitations and in general, malaise,

Yesterday, we went for my IV and then I needed to pick up a birthday gift for our daughter (today is her birthday!), Father's Day gifts, and a few other errands. Kevin had to push me in a wheelchair to accomplish all of this and that is very defeating to me. I need strength - God strength - breathed into my crumpling body.

Especially shocking to all of us, when I weighed on Friday, I had lost 17 pounds in 12 days. Granted, I will always welcome weight loss, but I know that this is much too much weight to lose so quickly. The high dose IV steroids have probably contributed to muscle loss and tumor destruction - both possible sources of the weight loss.

Please continue to pray for the IV treatments to proceed without complications - tomorrow my liver and kidney functions will be rechecked as this medicine can be difficult for the liver and kidneys to excrete. I will also have my regular lab work drawn tomorrow to check platelets, hemoglobin and my neutrophil count (to determine if I need a Neupogen injection) and my PICC line's dressing will be changed when it is flushed. I will return to the oncologists' office Monday through Friday for the IV's and then will return to the hospital next weekend for the IV's.

If, by midweek, the fevers, cough and malaise continue, I will most likely be scheduled for the bronchoscopy (scope into my lungs) to obtain samples to be certain PCP is not causing some of these problems. I will also have to have a sinus scope to reculture the sinuses. My best estimate is these will be scheduled at week's end if we don't note improvement. After next weekend IV's, I will have my usual eight hour IVIG treatment on Monday, June 28th. If I have improved, the PICC line will be removed sometime that week.

I appreciate your continued prayers. I am thankful to be alive today to share my youngest daughter's birthday with her and to share Father's Day with my Dad and my husband.