February 15, 2008 Update

Dear Fods,

Sorry for the delay in posting. Debbie was discharged from HUP 8 days ago. It could have been 7 days ago, however, HUP did a HUP and Mike waited out the day shift as long as he could and then he had to go to work. I was dispatched for the second wait and arrived with the gilded wheel chair for our get away. When I arrived, they told us that the pic line was misplaced and that it would have to be realigned on Thursday! After some moaning and groaning, we unpacked the bags, got Debbie back into her PJ's and prepared some dinner. When the X-ray guys arrived, I went home. A few hours later, HUP discovered that the line was fine and that Debbie could go home @ 11:00 PM! She rolled over and went to sleep. She came home with Mike on Thursday morning. Like the trooper that she is, on Thursday night Debbie had pasta with home made Bolognese sauce and did not miss a drop!

Because of the blood infection, Debbie came home with 6 days of IV vanco 2 times a day. She is still on the steroids and seems to be doing fine for the moment. On Monday, her counts were low, i.e., wbc 1.3 and platelets <17k>17K and the trip was not necessary. Except for all the other bad stuff, the dacogen seems to be working.

Debbie is still deaf in one ear and has problems with her balance. The inner ear problem has not improved and this is making her daily living even more difficult. She is so frustrated with the inner ear problems that she threatened to drive her car today (to make a point we did not understand). When we padded the fenders and hung demolition derby signs on the car -- she got the message and handed in her keys! She has special tests scheduled for next Wednesday @ HUP regarding her hearing and balance.

Since Debbie's counts are on the upswing, all of the grandchildren will be visiting this weekend. Even Allie is coming down from LI with Izzie for the event! It will be nice to have the house full. Mike has retreated to the NJ house for the weekend (coward). We have nice chocolate easter bunnies and blue peeps for the occasion. The visit will lighten Debbie's spirits -- even though we have a house pool betting on how long it will take for Debbie to get sick from the most virulent kiddie bug. Hopefully, she will win the bet.

Thanks for all the cards and blogs.

Debbie sends her love to all.

Here....AGAIN!

Hi everyone, this is Jessie typing for mom. She successfully made it through the first week of Dacogen. Unfortunately, she woke up Thursday feeling fluish and had a low grade temp. By the time our friend Kathy, the visiting nurse came, mom was feeling pretty poorly. Kathy took her temp and mom had a fever of 101.3. Kathy had to call Dr. Porter and let him know - HUP of course wanted her to come right down for stat blood cultures. Mom refused since she was getting the chemo at home and wouldn't have made it to HUP before rush hour. She promised to come down first thing Friday AM. Dad had her down by 0730 on Friday and mom was home back in bed by 0845. She received her last dose of chemo on Friday afternoon.

Mom thought she sailed through the week with Dacogen and was thrilled to have it administered at home. The labrynthitis and sinusitis continue - the dizziness and hearing loss is still quite remarkable. She did not imagine the blood cultures would amount to anything. At 0330 this morning HUP called and urged mom to come right down for treatment as her cultures had come back positive. Mom's WBC went from 5 to 2 this week and they were concerned that she needed IV antiobiotics. You know our Debbie. She began arguing with the doctor over the phone that the cultures could be showing a contamination, as she was without fever and feeling better.

Dad took mom down later this morning, and thanks to our Angel (MR), they were whisked through the ER and quickly attended to. They admitted mom and here we sit up on Rhodes 6. We've seen a few doctors since we've been here, and all seem to think mom's pic line is infected. They are making a plan to pull the pic line, but because of the previously traumatic issues with access we are a bit concerned. We've learned now that 3 out of 4 of the drawn cultures have returned back positive so it is confirmed that mom has an infection in her blood. They will begin treating her with IV vancomycin. They also were able to start a whopping 18 gauge IV and will plan to pull the pic line tonight. Let's keep our fingers crossed that mom does not develop a cellulitis from the IV or other needle sticks she's had today. They will do an ultrasound of her left arm to see if they can insert a new pic line there later. That is the arm that has the clot in it - from the pic line she had in August. Mom had been taking the cumadin to help resolve that clot - the cumadin is believed to be the cause of the bleed in the brain - so no more cumadin. We'll see what will be. This is all getting too complicated. Especially now that the Dacogen is working - all these new problems keep popping up! Mom's getting flakier and flakier (she said to type that) and cannot recall the simplest thing. One thing she DOES remember is the love and support you all show her by your frequent calls, cards, and blogs. She says she feels blessed every day by the love that you show her. But she can't remember what I brought her for lunch. We'll keep you up with what's going on but we suspect she'll be here for most of the week. We hope and pray that's all - she claims she will sign herself out after Friday (uh huh...heard that one before!)

Hope you are all well. Love to you and your families.

Jessie and Mom