I went to the hospital this morning to get an overnight update. Gene had an "episode" of a lower respiration rate early this morning. She wasn't breathing enough. They gave her meds to have her muscles relax so her involuntary breathing didn't have to fight against those muscles. She's sleeping right now and her breathing has returned to a relatively normal rate and her blood/ox level is great. That means her lungs are still exchanging gases (taking in oxygen, releasing carbon dioxide) in a great way. She's back to having to sit up all the time, including when sleeping. When she's conscious she appears to be doing better with the "here and now". Confusion still comes and goes.
We also talked to the doctors this morning. Gene has been doing so well with the first round and the cancer has caught us by surprise with the speed of its growth that we all agreed that we need to go forward with the next round of chemo treatments. The cancer is growing so rapidly that it has pressed in on the right lung. The fluids are relatively low so that is not as great of an issue now. In fact they are so low that they are not ready to drain. With the muscle relaxant and the fluids low we have Gene stabilized enough to go forward. They will start later this afternoon/early evening with the first two drugs of this round being applied and the third drug will be applied sometime tomorrow morning. Friends and family are sitting with her non-stop. Anne is with George non-stop.
The speed at which things have continued to change had George bring to mind what Jesus said in Matthew 6:34.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Pray for healing. Pray for comfort. Pray for strength. Pray for the staff.
In God's sheltering hand,
Dane
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
All Things Considered...
All things considered today was a good day. I relieved George at 11:15am so he could go home to take a very long and more than well deserved nap. I'd actually call it a good sleep session more than a nap. He's still tired but that will soon be addressed. Anne arrived at noon and will be a tremendous blessing in making sure his health is brought more to the forefront of his thoughts.
As for Gene, I fed her lunch. She's still shaky with the hands so we have lined up a few folks to help with the feeding (see the plantohelp.com site!) until she can do it on her own. She actually did pretty well sort of feeding herself desert. What more incentive does anyone need to feed themselves than a good desert? It didn't take long for the nap to kick in after lunch. It was great to see her resting so easily compared to the last five days. Her breathing is greatly eased. She can literally lay down almost all the way on her back and sleep. The benefit from that is easily seen in the quality of rest she is now getting.
She still gets a tad disoriented from time to time but is tremendously more alert of the "here and now". Her blood-ox levels are good so we know it's not attributable to hypoxia (lack of oxygen). She's even off the oxygen mask but not completely off of oxygen. She's back on the oxygen tube up the nose. So we're keeping an eye out for anything else other than the general drugs she's on to explain the continued disorientation. I think additional high quality rest is the recipe for that.
As to side effects of the chemo drugs, the only one that was evident is a slight flush in the face. Everything else is non-apparant at this time. We talked to the chemo-pharmacist and she said this round is going to be relatively mild as to any side effects. Tomorrow will provide an insight to any additional side effects. The third day is usually the worst but as with a great many things in this battle we won't know anything until that comes.
For now I think God is answering prayers for comfort and strength. Thank you all for those prayers and pray unceasingly. Throw in the prayers for intercession for the medical staff too! I don't know how they do this as a job. See you all tomorrow night.
In His Big Grip,
Dane
As for Gene, I fed her lunch. She's still shaky with the hands so we have lined up a few folks to help with the feeding (see the plantohelp.com site!) until she can do it on her own. She actually did pretty well sort of feeding herself desert. What more incentive does anyone need to feed themselves than a good desert? It didn't take long for the nap to kick in after lunch. It was great to see her resting so easily compared to the last five days. Her breathing is greatly eased. She can literally lay down almost all the way on her back and sleep. The benefit from that is easily seen in the quality of rest she is now getting.
She still gets a tad disoriented from time to time but is tremendously more alert of the "here and now". Her blood-ox levels are good so we know it's not attributable to hypoxia (lack of oxygen). She's even off the oxygen mask but not completely off of oxygen. She's back on the oxygen tube up the nose. So we're keeping an eye out for anything else other than the general drugs she's on to explain the continued disorientation. I think additional high quality rest is the recipe for that.
As to side effects of the chemo drugs, the only one that was evident is a slight flush in the face. Everything else is non-apparant at this time. We talked to the chemo-pharmacist and she said this round is going to be relatively mild as to any side effects. Tomorrow will provide an insight to any additional side effects. The third day is usually the worst but as with a great many things in this battle we won't know anything until that comes.
For now I think God is answering prayers for comfort and strength. Thank you all for those prayers and pray unceasingly. Throw in the prayers for intercession for the medical staff too! I don't know how they do this as a job. See you all tomorrow night.
In His Big Grip,
Dane
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
C-Day
I spent the night at the hospital by her bedside double checking the night shift work and reassuring her by simply being there. Gene had a fitful night drifting in and out of drug induced consciousness. George relieved me around 6 a.m. to take over shepherding of medical staff, soothing Gene's worries & brow and double checking preparations for the operation later this morning....
Today the "port-cath" went in. It's a catheter to the heart so the chemo drugs won't damage any veins that would be used instead of the port. After this morning's procedure we have found out that Gene's heart is indeed strong. Some of you might have already heard through various grape vines so let's put it all straight right here.
Gene was subject to being over sedated. That is typified by the patient not responding to the usual techniques (i.e. nudging, calling to them loudly, patting of the hand) to "awaken" the patient and in this case respiration (breathing) was growing shallower instead of stronger, like we all should when we arise from slumber. This is not unusual and happens more frequently than you hear about. At this point Gene was moved back into ICU and treated for this. There are drugs to counteract the sedative however it's a very wide swinging emotional yo-yo. In Gene's case she also experienced episodes of delusion. The medical team was able to resolve this issue and she is resting very well right now. Heart beat has come down. Blood/oxygen is good. Blood pressure very good. All in all she responded as one should and would to this condition and treatment. She is unconscious with full oxygen mask, appears to be resting much better than even last night and is incredibly well attended to and monitored by the ICU crew (MUCH better than the non-ICU staff).
In the meantime, it was determined that we have to attack the tumors now. That's right, tumors as in plural. They are currently confined to the lung area and have not migrated to any other organs. That's relatively awesome news folks. The downside is that, true to it's nature, this cancer type is very fast growing. If we had known last week what we know now then it would have been better to start the chemo last week, however that is what knowing costs; time. Still with it in a relatively early stage and no time to waste we have to begin the chemo immediately. As with the previous days we won't know what the response will be until time passes. We have a battle on our hands and the time is here to strike at the enemy. This will take into the evening to apply the chemo treatment. There is no timeline to her leaving the hospital. It's one moment at a time before the next step can be known.
The response to all the people offering time and energy to post watch and help out where asked is overwhelming. Many of you will be called upon to play your part. Keep the hope-prayers for a miraculous healing and the faith-prayers for comfort and strength coming. For anyone wanting to send flowers please do not as they are very invasive to respitory sensitivity conditions like Gene has. Cards are most certainly welcomed.
Jehovah-rophe
Today the "port-cath" went in. It's a catheter to the heart so the chemo drugs won't damage any veins that would be used instead of the port. After this morning's procedure we have found out that Gene's heart is indeed strong. Some of you might have already heard through various grape vines so let's put it all straight right here.
Gene was subject to being over sedated. That is typified by the patient not responding to the usual techniques (i.e. nudging, calling to them loudly, patting of the hand) to "awaken" the patient and in this case respiration (breathing) was growing shallower instead of stronger, like we all should when we arise from slumber. This is not unusual and happens more frequently than you hear about. At this point Gene was moved back into ICU and treated for this. There are drugs to counteract the sedative however it's a very wide swinging emotional yo-yo. In Gene's case she also experienced episodes of delusion. The medical team was able to resolve this issue and she is resting very well right now. Heart beat has come down. Blood/oxygen is good. Blood pressure very good. All in all she responded as one should and would to this condition and treatment. She is unconscious with full oxygen mask, appears to be resting much better than even last night and is incredibly well attended to and monitored by the ICU crew (MUCH better than the non-ICU staff).
In the meantime, it was determined that we have to attack the tumors now. That's right, tumors as in plural. They are currently confined to the lung area and have not migrated to any other organs. That's relatively awesome news folks. The downside is that, true to it's nature, this cancer type is very fast growing. If we had known last week what we know now then it would have been better to start the chemo last week, however that is what knowing costs; time. Still with it in a relatively early stage and no time to waste we have to begin the chemo immediately. As with the previous days we won't know what the response will be until time passes. We have a battle on our hands and the time is here to strike at the enemy. This will take into the evening to apply the chemo treatment. There is no timeline to her leaving the hospital. It's one moment at a time before the next step can be known.
The response to all the people offering time and energy to post watch and help out where asked is overwhelming. Many of you will be called upon to play your part. Keep the hope-prayers for a miraculous healing and the faith-prayers for comfort and strength coming. For anyone wanting to send flowers please do not as they are very invasive to respitory sensitivity conditions like Gene has. Cards are most certainly welcomed.
Jehovah-rophe
Monday, June 9, 2008
1 minus C-Day
Tomorrow starts the chemo treatments along with the heart port getting put in. Welcome to Adenocarcinoma of Unknown Origin, aka Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma. In plain english that means lung cancer, we don't know where it came from and it's in someone who doesn't smoke or otherwise abuse themselves. She eats healthy. Excercises. In general, someone who is not a typical victim.
She has good days and she has bad days and she has so-so days. She's been recovering from the surgery from last week and healing. Breathing is always labored. The rest has been fitful at times. It's better when she's in the hospital like now getting oxygen. She's constantly attended to by dad. Me & C spent Friday night to watch over her so dad could get some rest. He never left her side. Then we cleaned their place from top to bottom Saturday & Sunday. Put a rotisserie chicken in the fridge for dad. I'm returning tonight to clean up the deck for her return.
The problems that cancer can cause have yet to truly arrive. The problems with chemo will begin tomorrow. My aunt is coming to help full time by Wednesday. Many more have volunteered to take their turns. They will be called upon sooner or later for this battle.
She has good days and she has bad days and she has so-so days. She's been recovering from the surgery from last week and healing. Breathing is always labored. The rest has been fitful at times. It's better when she's in the hospital like now getting oxygen. She's constantly attended to by dad. Me & C spent Friday night to watch over her so dad could get some rest. He never left her side. Then we cleaned their place from top to bottom Saturday & Sunday. Put a rotisserie chicken in the fridge for dad. I'm returning tonight to clean up the deck for her return.
The problems that cancer can cause have yet to truly arrive. The problems with chemo will begin tomorrow. My aunt is coming to help full time by Wednesday. Many more have volunteered to take their turns. They will be called upon sooner or later for this battle.
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