12 Days Home

Dear Fods,

Sorry for the delay in posting, however, Debbie's condition is not clear. After the transfusion last week her counts have held or slightly improved. Whether this is another rally or turning a corner is not known. Her platelets were 8 when she was transfused last week; they were 22 on Friday and were 25 on Tuesday. Definitely going in the right direction. Also, there has been an improvement in her liver enzymes and her WBC has fallen from 117 to 60 without any hydria.

That said, Debbie is asleep approximately 85% of the day. She is heavily medicated via baseline and push pain pump; catherized; and not able to get in or out of bed without much help. She has taken on a huge amount of fluid and it is not coming off easily. This is making her more uncomfortable and she is now "seeping" from the sides of her hips. Apparently, this is the way the fluid leaves the body when other functions are not sufficient. This seeping is a new cause for concern as her skin is beginning to break down and we all know about Debbie's famous rashes. We are watching closely for bed sores. We found pads to put over the chucks to keep the bed dry and they need to be changed a few times a day -- usually @ 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning!

Jester was here last week and set up many of the care protocols that have helped Debbie after the devastating ravages of the lower regions last week. That has cleared up and Debbie is more comfortable. This week Nurse Edie, Debbie's roommate from Nursing School, came up from Roanoke on Sunday and stayed with us until today. Tonight Kris is coming in from Colorado and will stay until Sunday. Jester will come back up on Sunday and plan to stay for a while.

The boys have been champion care givers over the past days. With Mike's shift work and Joey's devotion to Debbie, we have been able to have 2 men in the house at all times to move Debbie in and out of the bed when it is necessary. They have also stood up to perform chores with the commode, foley bag, etc. that are above and beyond the call. Everyone is pulling hard for Debbie.

Once again, there is no care plan for Debbie because she is off the charts again in "no man's land". We started lasix yesterday to help with off loading the fluids and she put off more fluid today than yesterday. Debbie was out of the bed today for about 1.5 hours with help from Joey, Mike, Edie and Donna. She ate some solid food and compared to earlier days had a good day. For one of us -- a half marathon!

Thanks for all of your cards and blogs. We read them to Debbie when she is awake.

Debbie sends her love to all.