Thursday, September 10, 2009

New Hurdles

Good news.. the past couple of days Danny has been able to eat broth, crackers, & a few bites of bland food. He has not vomited but has still been really nauseated. Baby steps but in the right direction.

The doctors found a blood clot in his port a cath a couple of days ago so they removed that yesterday. They are starting him on a blood thinner for a while to hopefully dissolve the blood clot. Because they have not been using his port a cath they have been using a regular IV. They now have used 4 different IV sites in one arm because they really couldnt use the arm with the port. His veins are not holding up very long. The type and the amount of medication he is getting through the IV makes it harder for them to hold up along with the chemo. The VAT team has been called in to start each of his IVs and the last nurse said that she thought the next option might have to be a IV PIC. Which if I understand right is a step between the port and a regular IV. We will have to see how things progress today because the last IV has started to give him trouble. They are trying not to use it more than needed so they are going to try to give some meds by mouth.

He will not be able to recieve the chemo treatments next week without a new port a cath. The surgeon will not be able to insert a new port until his white blood count increases. They are giving Danny neupogen shots & hopefully that will do the trick. Dr. A is worried this may run into next week. I am worried if it runs into next week his strong chemo will not be spread over the usual 5 days but once we add the weekend in it will stretch his difficult days out over a longer period of time and cause us to fight the very sick days longer. We are ready to push through the chemo treatments, deal with the sickness, and hopefully get through all of this as quickly as possible. Danny is ready to get his life back... so am I, the kids, our family, everyone. So we are praying for no delays or setbacks that would change our course of treatment.

The addition of the new medicine, Marinol, seems to be helping. We are not sure if it is actually the medicine or the fact we are just in that part of the cycle in which he would be doing a bit better anyway. We are hoping the medicine is a huge help and the sickness will not be as bad this coming week.

The fever has dropped. It is still around 99 or so but it has not been nearly as high. Danny is receiving 2 different IV antibiotics and he is on his 5th round of those. We have no idea where the infection is comeing from. He did receive his one chemo drug, Bleomicin yesterday and that went well. It could have contributed to him not feeling as well yesterday.

He had gained 2 lbs with the TPN feeding but since they have suspended that feeding he lost those 2 lbs but has been able to at least maintain his weight with no additional loss as of yesterday. Danny has been up walking the halls a little but it makes him really tired afterwards. Taking a shower feels really good but truly wipes him out for a while. He will gain his strength back when he is able to eat again. This might be a while away but we know this will not last forever.

In speaking with a friend this morning I mentioned that we are know we are so blessed. Our situtaion could be so much worse & we know it. We see so much sickness being here in the hospital. Yes, things are tough... yes, they are frustrating... yes, they could be better BUT they could be so much worse. Danny will beat this cancer! We know in the end the doctors expect nothing less than a "cancer free" healing. What a blessing!

3 comments:

  1. You continue to be in my daily prayers. I pray for a healing for you and strength for you and your family. God bless you and heal you. Love always, Jamie Mabe Fitzsimmons

    ReplyDelete
  2. You will definitely beat this thing! As you said, baby steps, but even baby steps will eventually get you to where you are going. My niece had to have a PIC when she was pregnant. She was so sick the entire pregnancy that there was no choice. Her daughter will be 5 this November. She made it through that, and although this is a different type of sickness, this may be the answer to getting back on track with all of the meds and procedures and get it over with and him back where he belongs.
    I'm sending you some hugs, and of course lifting up more prayers on your behalf.

    ReplyDelete
  3. God is faithful! He formed Danny's body...knows exactly where the cancer cells are....he is refining both of you! Praying that you both experience God's embrace!
    Sending healing energies and warm hugs!

    ReplyDelete