Special Guest Posting from Rhoades 7011

Dear Fods,

Hello dear friends! I finally have a voice and feel well enough to dictate a message to all of you. It has been a terrible and complicated hospital admission and for the first time at HUP, I started to feel like I was falling through the cracks. The doctors were not in agreement with my treatment and when I became critically ill on Sunday they could not decide if I should be intubated or treated with steroids. Even though I could hardly talk, I was saying, "give me the steroids and not the tube!" Dr. Stud intervened and they moved me to ICU, to watch me closely and give me steroids. He said that because I am so neutropenic, the tupe would only have caused more problems. Dr. Stud was actually at the Phillies game when all of this happened and he called and gave his instructions from the ball park! So by the grace of God and all of your continued prayers, I dodged another bullet.

IV access has been a huge problem and they thought I would need a jugular catheter inserted because the left arm was clotted off and the right arm had the celluitis infection. They hesitated to put the line in my chest in case they punctured a lung. Today, God intervened and and they were able to put a new pic line in my arm. Everyone is a little nervous about the placement of the pic in the right arm, but it is in and working now and we will see how it goes.

My throat is much improved and I am able to eat soft food and to swallow pills again. This is the update for today.

Dear friends, I really cannot tell you how much you mean to me. In my darkest hours I feel your strength and you keep pulling me through. I too pray all the time and God must still be with me because I have made it through a lot of hurdles on this admission. So thank you for all of your love and support.

I love you all.

Debbie