No flight home yet

Well, the flight home last night was definitely canceled. When Kathie woke up (from getting in at 3 AM from the ER the night before), it was already 1:00 in the afternoon. The diarrhea had not stopped and she now had a fever. So, we decided to head back to the ER. But, Kathie decided to make it a little more exciting than that. She hopped in the shower for a quick soaping, and instead, ended up getting dizzy and falling in the tub. No injuries were sustained in the fall, thank goodness. But, because of the fact that she had obviously gotten worse rather quickly, we decided to call the ambulance to take her in.
After a few hours in the ER (blood tests, EKG, urine sample, etc), they decided to admit her in to the hospital. They started some general antiobiotics at that point as the fever was not going down, and the white count had dropped even further (1.3). The red count appeared to be "OK" as it had not moved from the night before really. After finally getting to a private room a few hours later, we started trying to get her on the mend. Kathie spent the night in the hospital trying to recover from neutropenia (low white count). She had a pretty high fever for much of the evening (up to 103 at times). Tylenol did not seem to knock it down too far. And, each BM was still only water, but they were much less frequent after finding a drug called Lomotil.
We also begged the local oncologist for a neupogen shot (tries to kick start the bone marrow in to making more white cells). The antibiotics continued and was alternated with general fluids.

The next morning (Friday), Eddie arrived bright and early, ready to talk to the doctors to see how things were going. Unfortunately, not much happened until 11:30. Our internist came in to tell us that the white counts were getting slightly better, but that the red count had dropped to 8. (Below 8 is the point that requires a transfusion). We asked for a red cell booster shot, but we were told that the oncologist would make that decision. Finally, at 4:15, the oncologist came in. He actually recommended a transfusion over the shot for the red cells. So, we will soon have a blood transfusion done (one bag tonight and one tomorrow). In theory, this should kick start the hemoglobin counts, and should give Kathie a lot more energy. The oncologist also agreed to another neupogen shot as well, which was our hope. He is also starting something called Sandostatin and Questran to try to "firm up" Kathie's trip to bathroom. (OK, not as funny as Lauren, but thought I would give it a try anyway). So, those things should all happen soon/tonight.

Kathie is still quite weak. Her fever is down to about 100, which is good, but still not home free. She is definitely getting up to go to the bathroom easier than before with no dizziness, too - another good sign. But, her abdomen has some soreness to it - especially when she stands. The doctors say it is just b/c it is irritated so much after so much diarrhea. She is trying to choke down some canned pears - another good sign as she really has not eaten anything except 2 cubes of jello since 6 pm on Wed...

I asked her if there was anything "juicy" to tell you, but she just smirked... she loves having her personal habits posted on the internet...

If you have a moment, some prayers wouldn't hurt. She needs to get better soon or things get a bit interesting. She is supposed to be back to Lafayette to pack for a trip to MD Anderson on Monday. We are hoping to get some good news that the chemo is working during that visit. Directly from there, she goes to Disney World with the whole family for a few days. We are hoping she can get well enough to make the trips - soon.

Posted by Ed