Merry 2 days after Christmas!!! We were able to get settled into our new apartment yesterday and we are very happy to be here. My parents and brother were able to help me move everything since Brian can still barely stand up. The apartment is older than the one we were in, but we have found it to be much nicer. It has a lot more room with a couch with 2 recliner chairs in the living room and a very large bedroom and even a washer and dryer. Brian is very excited about the recliners (the small things matter). We are so grateful that we were able to get into a church apartment so quickly and we will be able to stay here until we can move back home permanently.
We spent all day today at the hospital for a few appointments (blood work, ultrasound, etc). When we received the results of the blood work we were shocked. His white blood cell count that was at a 0.9 on Christmas Eve is now at at 134!!!! A normal person's white blood cell count is typically between 4-11, so 134 is extremely extremely high. When he finishes chemo each time they give him Neupogen shots to take for 10 days to increase his count since he is at a very high risk for infection with low counts, but we didn't expect his body to respond so suddenly. The drs even said today they they have never seen anyone's levels increase this dramatically in such a short amount of time. On Christmas he had very bad sharp pains in his bones that he described as someone breaking all his bones to where he couldn't even hardly walk. We called the ER since we were concerned, but they said it was normal with the shots and to not be alarmed, so that calmed our nerves long enough until the hospital opened again today from Christmas. He had been going through a lot of pain meds because of the pain, but never thought the pain would be related to his count being too high since it was so low only a few days before. Needless to say, he doesn't have to take the shots anymore for now, and the dr said his results looked so good that they even cancelled his blood work that was scheduled for Saturday! Besides the bone pain, Brian has still be experiencing daily migraines, nausea, and fatigue related to the chemo. We are trying to treat it the best we can with medicines and home remedies, but it is still frustrating for him since he isn't used to being fatigued and stuck at home for so long.
Because of the great blood results, the next time he will have to go to the hospital will be next Wed where he will be restaged and have to undergo all the diagnostic tests again to see how the cancer is reacting to the chemo. We will need a lot of prayers for that day, we have appts from 6:30 am to 8:40 pm, and I'm sure it will be both physically and mentally exhausting for both of us.
God is awesome!!
Praises:
- Our nice new apartment!!
- Brian's white blood cell count reacted very well to the Neupogen shots!!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for January 2nd when Brian goes back for several different tests to see how the cancer is reacting
- Pray that Brian's side effects will subside and he will regain some energy
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas!!!
Once again, I'm behind on writing this, but better late than never...
We finally got released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon after a very very long 9 days. On Wednesday he had another lumbar puncture along with another unit of blood transfused. The lumbar puncture went well, although he is now having headaches again because of it. We also found out that Brian is allergic to some of the chemo that was in the second round (and will also be in the 4th and 6th rounds). The rash that he developed after the chemo iv had started to subside, then within a few hours of getting the same chemo injected in his spine during the lumbar puncture, it got a thousand times worse. His entire body was covered in a red rash and he described the pain as a million fire ants crawling on him all stinging him at once. He tried several different medications trying to ease the pain, but the only thing that worked was to give him some pain meds that knocked him out so he wouldn't think about it. The rash is starting to go away now and the itching only lasted for 2-3 days, but he will probably have to endure this during the 4th and 6th rounds of chemo as well since they can't just not give the chemo. They will just have to try to treat the symptoms and hope it isn't as bad as last time.
We also had to go back for a blood test on Saturday to see what his levels were at and we were hoping if they were close to normal we would be able to go home for Christmas. Unfortunately, his white blood cell count and his platelet count were extremely low, so we were advised to stay here. We didn't want to get to Dallas and Brian get a fever or something go wrong and have to go to a local hospital where they didn't have his records or know how to treat him. The dr also set him up with an appt this morning to go in again for his blood counts. Unfortunately again, his counts had dropped even more and his immune system is at a 0.9 and his platelet count is at a 17. After getting these results, we are glad we decided to stay close to the hospital here. They have adjusted his medications with hopes that his counts will increase with time. He also has another appt Thurs morning to get his blood count again to see if he will need a transfusion. He is borderline right now with his platelets, so we are keeping a close watch and are ready to go to the ER if need be. We will be taking as many precautions as we can and will be spending Christmas wearing masks to try to prevent infections. Other than that, we will try to have a normal Christmas, Brian's dad got here last night and my mom, dad, and brother will be coming today. Although there isn't a Christmas tree, and won't be that many presents, there will definitely be a lot of food and the best gift of all is getting to spend time with our families during this wonderful holiday.
God also answered a prayer yesterday by providing us with another apartment. We are currently in a nice apartment, but it is owned by a corporate apartment leasing company and the rent is really expensive. We had put our names on a list for the church apartment ministry and typically the waiting list is several months long, but we were called with an apartment for us after only 1 month! The rent is less than half as much, which is definitely an answer to prayers. Better yet, we can move in starting Wednesday which coincides with the date our lease is up on our current apartment. My family will also be able to stay an extra day to help us move and get settled in our new place. Our new address starting Wednesday will be:
Brompton Court Apartments
7520 Brompton Road, Apt # 684
Houston, TX 77025
They should be forwarding our mail from this address to our new apartment, so hopefully we will still get anything that has already be sent.
I think that concludes everything from our busy week. I hope everyone has a great, terrific, wonderful Christmas and remembers to be thankful for everything that God has blessed us with over the past year. Merry Christmas!!!
We finally got released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon after a very very long 9 days. On Wednesday he had another lumbar puncture along with another unit of blood transfused. The lumbar puncture went well, although he is now having headaches again because of it. We also found out that Brian is allergic to some of the chemo that was in the second round (and will also be in the 4th and 6th rounds). The rash that he developed after the chemo iv had started to subside, then within a few hours of getting the same chemo injected in his spine during the lumbar puncture, it got a thousand times worse. His entire body was covered in a red rash and he described the pain as a million fire ants crawling on him all stinging him at once. He tried several different medications trying to ease the pain, but the only thing that worked was to give him some pain meds that knocked him out so he wouldn't think about it. The rash is starting to go away now and the itching only lasted for 2-3 days, but he will probably have to endure this during the 4th and 6th rounds of chemo as well since they can't just not give the chemo. They will just have to try to treat the symptoms and hope it isn't as bad as last time.
We also had to go back for a blood test on Saturday to see what his levels were at and we were hoping if they were close to normal we would be able to go home for Christmas. Unfortunately, his white blood cell count and his platelet count were extremely low, so we were advised to stay here. We didn't want to get to Dallas and Brian get a fever or something go wrong and have to go to a local hospital where they didn't have his records or know how to treat him. The dr also set him up with an appt this morning to go in again for his blood counts. Unfortunately again, his counts had dropped even more and his immune system is at a 0.9 and his platelet count is at a 17. After getting these results, we are glad we decided to stay close to the hospital here. They have adjusted his medications with hopes that his counts will increase with time. He also has another appt Thurs morning to get his blood count again to see if he will need a transfusion. He is borderline right now with his platelets, so we are keeping a close watch and are ready to go to the ER if need be. We will be taking as many precautions as we can and will be spending Christmas wearing masks to try to prevent infections. Other than that, we will try to have a normal Christmas, Brian's dad got here last night and my mom, dad, and brother will be coming today. Although there isn't a Christmas tree, and won't be that many presents, there will definitely be a lot of food and the best gift of all is getting to spend time with our families during this wonderful holiday.
God also answered a prayer yesterday by providing us with another apartment. We are currently in a nice apartment, but it is owned by a corporate apartment leasing company and the rent is really expensive. We had put our names on a list for the church apartment ministry and typically the waiting list is several months long, but we were called with an apartment for us after only 1 month! The rent is less than half as much, which is definitely an answer to prayers. Better yet, we can move in starting Wednesday which coincides with the date our lease is up on our current apartment. My family will also be able to stay an extra day to help us move and get settled in our new place. Our new address starting Wednesday will be:
Brompton Court Apartments
7520 Brompton Road, Apt # 684
Houston, TX 77025
They should be forwarding our mail from this address to our new apartment, so hopefully we will still get anything that has already be sent.
I think that concludes everything from our busy week. I hope everyone has a great, terrific, wonderful Christmas and remembers to be thankful for everything that God has blessed us with over the past year. Merry Christmas!!!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Still in the hospital
Sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog, but as I have said many times before, this has been a long week already. The weekend was another good one, we were both able to catch up on our sleep and relax as much as you can in a hospital room. As we become more familiar with the process it seems like the days you have chemo are the easy ones and the bad ones are the days following chemo. Brian finished his second round on Sunday without too many problems, however since Sunday he has had several different complications. He developed another temperature of 102 that lasted close to 2 days, he was having severe chills as well, so he was bundled up in blankets with ice packs on his head trying to cool down and sweat it out at the same time. Since he had the temp, the drs took some more blood tests and x-rays to make sure there weren't any infections, and in the x-ray they discovered that his CVC had moved and wasn't in the right spot of his heart anymore. They had to power flush it again, which is very painful. The past 2 days Brian has been extremely sick to his stomach and has been throwing up a lot and hasn't been able to eat. He was able to take a few different meds and is getting better today and was able to eat a little dinner tonight. Also, today he developed a rash all over his body that has been very itchy. I tried rubbing lotion on his legs and his hair started coming out, so we are thinking hopefully the itchiness is just from his hair follicles and his hair coming out. I doubt I will be able to talk him into shaving his legs though. I guess these are all just standard side effects of chemo, but it is still hard to just sit by and watch Brian in pain without being able to help very much. Everyday we think we might get out of the hospital, Brian develops another side effect and they keep him to observe him and make sure everything is ok. He still has one more lumbar puncture to do this week so they can inject his spine with chemo, and we are really hoping that it goes as well as the puncture last week. Hopefully we will still be able to go home for Christmas, but we won't know until Friday when he has his last blood work done before the holidays. We won't get go home if his blood results are less than normal since we will be 5 hours away if something happens, but they have already been giving him the shots to boost his blood counts, so we are optimistic. We are still keeping in good spirits and have been able to laugh a lot in between the bad times. God is still watching out for us and we know that things could be a lot worse so we can't complain. I guess those are all the updates for now, hopefully I'll have a better report next time.
Prayer Requests:
- Brian's side effects, that they will subside and he will start feeling better
- That Brian's blood counts will be normal and we will be able to go home for Christmas
Praises:
- We have such wonderful family and friends that are incredible and do everything possible to support us (I know I say this every time, but we can't thank everyone enough)
Prayer Requests:
- Brian's side effects, that they will subside and he will start feeling better
- That Brian's blood counts will be normal and we will be able to go home for Christmas
Praises:
- We have such wonderful family and friends that are incredible and do everything possible to support us (I know I say this every time, but we can't thank everyone enough)
Friday, December 14, 2007
Chemo, chemo, and more chemo...
Brian is 2 days into his second round of chemo and we have yet to have more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep since we have been here. His first chemo drug was started at midnight Wednesday night and lasted through the night with the nurses having to come in every 15 minutes to check his vital signs. I don't know why they couldn't have waited until during the day to do this one, but they wanted to get it started right away when we got here. It is typically the strongest chemo drug, so they have to keep a constant watch on you to make sure your body doesn't have any adverse reactions. Thankfully, Brian's body did well and he hasn't had any bad reactions to any of the drugs. On Thursday, he was able to have a CVC line inserted in his chest so he won't have to be poked with IVs as much. The procedure was a long and painful one for Brian, the sedation he was given before the procedure wasn't strong enough, so he was able to feel everything as it was happening. They also had problems getting the line to his heart and it had gone up into his neck when they were trying to insert it, so they had to "power flush" it with fluid to hope that it would redirect itself. He had an x-ray to make sure it was in the right place and started getting chemo through the CVC last night. He also had to have another lumbar puncture today. He was really anxious about this procedure since he had so many problems with the first one, but as with everything we lifted him up to God and continually prayed that he would be in God's hands and everything would go well. Thankfully our prayers were answered and this one went a lot better. We insisted on him getting the strongest medications he could to make sure he was calm and sedated for the procedure and they also had the head dr of the department to do the procedure since he had so many complications before. Luckily, they didn't hit any nerves, and although it was still painful, Brian was a lot happier with the outcome. Also, we will be able to request the same dr for the rest of the lumbar punctures, so that is reassuring as well. So far, he hasn't had any headaches since the procedure either, so we are continuing to cross our fingers. If everything continues to go well, we should get to be discharged from the hospital on Monday with follow up appointments scheduled for nearly everyday for the rest of the week.
We continue to be extremely grateful for all the support our friends and family provide. There has not been a day since we have been here that we have received any less than 3 cards in the mail letting us know that everyone is thinking about us and praying everyday. We also are extremely grateful for those that have contributed to the medical fund for Brian and I to help ease the burden of the medical bills and all the other expenses that come along with this trial. It has allowed us to focus on getting well and not spend our energy worrying about monetary responsibilities. We are truly blessed and can't thank everyone enough.
We continue to be extremely grateful for all the support our friends and family provide. There has not been a day since we have been here that we have received any less than 3 cards in the mail letting us know that everyone is thinking about us and praying everyday. We also are extremely grateful for those that have contributed to the medical fund for Brian and I to help ease the burden of the medical bills and all the other expenses that come along with this trial. It has allowed us to focus on getting well and not spend our energy worrying about monetary responsibilities. We are truly blessed and can't thank everyone enough.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
We're back in the hospital
After a very nice, relaxing 4 days outside the hospital, we're back for round 2. Of course every time you come in to be admitted you have to go through the process of blood work, dr appt, then wait a few hours for a room to open up, so it turns into a very long day. Unfortunately there weren't any rooms open on the Lymphoma floor this time, so we are in a different area with different nurses, but everything seems to be going well so far. The blood work showed all his counts were at or above normal, so that is great. We did get the bad news from the dr that Brian is going to have to go through a lumbar puncture before and after every round of chemo, so that isn't good, but hopefully things will go better and he will have more drugs for the upcoming procedures (the lumbar puncture is what caused Brian's migraines before). We just got admitted to the room tonight, and they are going to begin chemo as soon as they can get it from the pharmacy and hopeful he will have a CVC line inserted Thurs or Fri. I think the chemo is going to last 3-4 days and we should get out on Sun or Mon if everything goes well.
These past few days have been great. Brian has been feeling good and has had minimal pain and I have been able to work quite a bit. We were even able to have a date night with an early bird dinner at Texas Land & Cattle Monday night so we could eat before it got crowded. Monday night is all you can eat sirloin, so I think Brian gained a few more pounds just to make sure he wasn't losing too much weight with the chemo. Each round of chemo is supposed to be tougher on the body and it should take longer after each time for him to recover, but we are still hopeful that his body will handle it well. There is even the possibility that we may be able to make it back to Dallas for a few days for Christmas. Of course it all depends on how he feels and his blood counts, but just being home and sleeping in our own bed would be the best Christmas present we could have.
Besides that, everything else has been going great. Everyday we realize how much God is watching out for us and how we shouldn't worry about the minuscule things of life. We are soo lucky for everything that has been given to us and how great our life is. This is only a short trial of our faith. My mom sent me this verse from her bible study earlier this week and it is perfect for our situation so I thought I would share:
1 Peter 1:6-7
vs. 6
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.
vs. 7
These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
These past few days have been great. Brian has been feeling good and has had minimal pain and I have been able to work quite a bit. We were even able to have a date night with an early bird dinner at Texas Land & Cattle Monday night so we could eat before it got crowded. Monday night is all you can eat sirloin, so I think Brian gained a few more pounds just to make sure he wasn't losing too much weight with the chemo. Each round of chemo is supposed to be tougher on the body and it should take longer after each time for him to recover, but we are still hopeful that his body will handle it well. There is even the possibility that we may be able to make it back to Dallas for a few days for Christmas. Of course it all depends on how he feels and his blood counts, but just being home and sleeping in our own bed would be the best Christmas present we could have.
Besides that, everything else has been going great. Everyday we realize how much God is watching out for us and how we shouldn't worry about the minuscule things of life. We are soo lucky for everything that has been given to us and how great our life is. This is only a short trial of our faith. My mom sent me this verse from her bible study earlier this week and it is perfect for our situation so I thought I would share:
1 Peter 1:6-7
vs. 6
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.
vs. 7
These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Wonderful weekend
Brian and I have been able to spend the entire weekend at the apartment! He had a follow up appt on Friday to have routine blood work done and it showed that he is doing very well. Last week when he was admitted, his immune system was at a 0.5 (the normal level is 11-14), and on Friday he was at a 55!!! The dr said he definitely wasn't at risk for infection anymore and he thinks he's Superman now. They took him off the shots to boost his white cell counts and his counts should come back down to normal by next week. Also, since he is doing so well he doesn't have to go back to the hospital until next Wednesday when he is scheduled to start chemo again. Of course we are still being cautious with germs, taking all his medications, and checking his temperature, but so far everything is going great. He also has been feeling so great that he hasn't had to take any pain medications in 2 days! He is still a little low on energy though and is pretty much just staying on the couch all day watching tv, playing xbox, and napping.
Brian's dad came down for the weekend and was able to spend some time with him, and I was able to do my routine Saturday activities of running errands, doing laundry, and cleaning. The big event this weekend was shaving Brian's head. His hair had started coming out by the handfuls, so he decided to go ahead and shave it. He was brave enough to let me play barber, until I accidentally nicked his head and he took the razor away. It was kinda sad, but we weren't going to give cancer the power, and Brian wanted to go ahead and shave it himself before cancer took it all away for him. He should definitely get some good use out of the hats we have now. With how great the weekend was, I would have to say the low point is not being able to watch Cowboys games down here. For some reason the tv stations want to televise the Texans games over the Cowboys!!
Praises:
We have had a great weekend
Brian's body is recovering well from the first round of chemo and the infection
We are very lucky to have such a wonderful family and friends that we are so grateful for
Prayer Requests:
That Brian's body will continue to fight through the second round of chemo
Brian's dad came down for the weekend and was able to spend some time with him, and I was able to do my routine Saturday activities of running errands, doing laundry, and cleaning. The big event this weekend was shaving Brian's head. His hair had started coming out by the handfuls, so he decided to go ahead and shave it. He was brave enough to let me play barber, until I accidentally nicked his head and he took the razor away. It was kinda sad, but we weren't going to give cancer the power, and Brian wanted to go ahead and shave it himself before cancer took it all away for him. He should definitely get some good use out of the hats we have now. With how great the weekend was, I would have to say the low point is not being able to watch Cowboys games down here. For some reason the tv stations want to televise the Texans games over the Cowboys!!
Praises:
We have had a great weekend
Brian's body is recovering well from the first round of chemo and the infection
We are very lucky to have such a wonderful family and friends that we are so grateful for
Prayer Requests:
That Brian's body will continue to fight through the second round of chemo
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Home sweet home
Brian was released again this afternoon after another 5 day stay in the hospital. He is feeling a lot better and no longer has a fever or infection. His white blood cell count is back up considerably so his immune system is almost normal again. The doctors decided to forgo the day 11 chemo that we originally went in for and he will just start again next Wednesday with round 2. We had the option of staying in the hospital for another 2 days so Brian could have the blood patch done on his spine tomorrow, but his headaches have improved and are able to be controlled by medicine, so he elected not to have it done this time. The lumbar puncture is supposed to heal itself after 2 weeks, and it is getting close to that time, so if he isn't completely healed by the time we go in for his appt next week we may reconsider. When given the option of going home or staying in the hospital for another 2 days, you have to be feeling really bad to elect to stay at the hospital. We go back again tomorrow for another blood test and follow up just to make sure everything is fine and his counts have remained normal. Hopefully this really will be a quick visit and it won't be like our last appointment when he had to be admitted. By the way Brian is feeling, I think the blood and antibiotics really helped and now we will know what to look for next time he is feeling bad. All of this is new to us, so we don't really know what to expect, some of what we think is "normal" for chemo isn't, so we will learn over time how Brian's body will react and how well he will be able to tolerate the treatments and what his "good" and "bad" days will be like. So far the only consistent side effects have been the headaches and fatigue and we have gone to classes on how to try to manage these side effects.
We have had a great night at home, it has almost been like normal. We ate dinner on the couch, and even though I just cooked a simple meal, it beat anything we could have had at the hospital. The hospital food really isn't that bad, there just isn't much variety when you have been eating off the same menu for a month. Then we watched Survivor and CSI and now I'm on the laptop while Brian's playing XBox. It's good to have some normalcy back. Hopefully Brian will feel like this the remainder of the time before the next chemo treatment.
We are so grateful to God for everything He has done for us and is continuing to do for us. It's really easy to lose focus and to get mad, irritable, or disappointed, but we know that God is watching out for us and has His plan already laid out. This is only a small trial in our lives and we know God has given us the courage, determination, and faith to get through this. We have to remain positive and remember that trials in life are preparing you for the greater journey ahead.
We have had a great night at home, it has almost been like normal. We ate dinner on the couch, and even though I just cooked a simple meal, it beat anything we could have had at the hospital. The hospital food really isn't that bad, there just isn't much variety when you have been eating off the same menu for a month. Then we watched Survivor and CSI and now I'm on the laptop while Brian's playing XBox. It's good to have some normalcy back. Hopefully Brian will feel like this the remainder of the time before the next chemo treatment.
We are so grateful to God for everything He has done for us and is continuing to do for us. It's really easy to lose focus and to get mad, irritable, or disappointed, but we know that God is watching out for us and has His plan already laid out. This is only a small trial in our lives and we know God has given us the courage, determination, and faith to get through this. We have to remain positive and remember that trials in life are preparing you for the greater journey ahead.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
No such thing as a simple appointment
Well we are back in the hospital again. It has been a very stressful 48 hours for us and we hope the rest of the week gets better soon. Brian came in yesterday at 3 pm for day 11 of his chemo. It was supposed to be a simple IV dose and we wouldn't be here for longer than an hour. Since he has a blood clot in his right arm, they had to try to insert a new IV in his left arm, and unfortunately the nurse couldn't find the vein. She called in the IV specialty team and they couldn't find a vein either even though they tried several times to find one with the needle. Finally 3 people later, they finally found his vein and they were about to get started with the chemo when he developed a fever. They had checked when he first got there and he was fine, but after being poked and prodded with the needles he had a fever of 101. While he is on chemo anything over 100.5 is considered critical and he has to go to the ER. Since we were already in the hospital they went ahead and did a few tests and then wheeled him down to the ER where we had to wait for an ER room to open up. His fever was up to 102.1 by this point and he had an excruciating migraine since his spine still hadn't healed from the lumbar puncture a few days earlier. We finally got into an ER room where we stayed for 6 hours not knowing if he was going to have to be admitted back into the hospital or not. Then at 2 am they decided to admit him and we were moved up to a regular hospital room. His fever has since gone down today with the help of tylenol and antibiotics, but his white blood cell count is extremely low. On a scale of 1 to 10 they said his immune system is at a 0.5 and his body doesn't have any defense left and is very susceptible to infections. Every one that enters his room now has to wear a mask to prevent the spread of germs and we are having to limit visitors. He received 2 more units of blood today and they had to postpone the chemo and blood patch for his spine until the infection is gone and his blood count is back up. Most likely we will be in the hospital this time for another 2-3 days and then hopefully have the weekend at the apartment before he has to be admitted again next week for the second round of chemo.
Between Brian's health and the stress of normal everyday life like work and bills that we are trying to keep up with, this has already been a very stressful week for us. We have to trust in God to provide for us during this time and can't let the stress of life overwhelm us. We know God is in complete control and everything happens for a reason, so we have to hold on to that truth and focus our energy on more important things (which is easier said than done).
Praises:
Overall Brian has had minimal side effects apart from the headaches, fatigue, and fever.
Brian's fever had gone down and we hope to be released again in 2-3 days.
Prayer requests:
Pray for Brian's immune system to get stronger and be able to fight infections.
Pray for our stress levels as we try to manage Brian's health, my work, bills, etc.
Between Brian's health and the stress of normal everyday life like work and bills that we are trying to keep up with, this has already been a very stressful week for us. We have to trust in God to provide for us during this time and can't let the stress of life overwhelm us. We know God is in complete control and everything happens for a reason, so we have to hold on to that truth and focus our energy on more important things (which is easier said than done).
Praises:
Overall Brian has had minimal side effects apart from the headaches, fatigue, and fever.
Brian's fever had gone down and we hope to be released again in 2-3 days.
Prayer requests:
Pray for Brian's immune system to get stronger and be able to fight infections.
Pray for our stress levels as we try to manage Brian's health, my work, bills, etc.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
We're home.....kinda
Brian was finally released from the hospital last night after 12 long days!!! We made it to the apartment and it has been so great to be able to sit on a couch and relax with him. We still have to go back to the hospital tomorrow for another small chemo IV, but it should only last about an hour and we will be able to go home afterwards. He also has another procedure on Monday to put a blood patch on his spine to help with the healing from the lumbar puncture. The fluid they took out during the first procedure hasn't equalized yet so it has been causing Brian excruciating headaches whenever he stands or sits up. He has been laying flat as much as he can and that seems to be the perfect position to watch tv or play xbox, so I guess he lucked out. Unfortunately, he will have to have the lumbar puncture every time he does chemo A since there is a 30% chance that the cancer could spread to his spine. We also have 2 other dr appts scheduled for next week, so we should be staying busy. When Brian was released from the hospital, they also gave us a huge bag full of prescriptions to keep up with. I've made a spreadsheet for all his medicines so I can keep track of them and try to be a good nurse when he's in my care.
My dad had been here helping us the entire time we've been down here, but went home today to allow Brian and I to have some much needed normal time together. Even if we are only able to spend a few days at the apartment in between chemo sessions, it definitely rejuvenates us and gives Brian the energy to keep fighting. He has been so strong both mentally and physically during this time and is determined to go home cured. Struggles like this make you realize how precious life is and that we shouldn't take the little things for granted. The welcoming hug, admiring look, quick kiss, comforting shoulder are just some of the routine things that we can quickly become accustomed to and not realize how precious they are until something happens that makes you cherish them even more.
My dad had been here helping us the entire time we've been down here, but went home today to allow Brian and I to have some much needed normal time together. Even if we are only able to spend a few days at the apartment in between chemo sessions, it definitely rejuvenates us and gives Brian the energy to keep fighting. He has been so strong both mentally and physically during this time and is determined to go home cured. Struggles like this make you realize how precious life is and that we shouldn't take the little things for granted. The welcoming hug, admiring look, quick kiss, comforting shoulder are just some of the routine things that we can quickly become accustomed to and not realize how precious they are until something happens that makes you cherish them even more.
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