Ξ December 28th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Jay |
Hey I just checked my email and found out that Sheila has been updating us all via email so I thought I would share her version of all that I have been telling you:
In Date order:
December 27th morning:
Jay is in good spirits (I’m very proud of him) but he’s having a VERY tough time
physically.
His kidneys shut down yesterday and he will be undergoing kidney dialysis in a
few minutes. Unfortunately, fluid is now filling his lungs and he has a pretty
severe cough from it. They just took blood gases and he is on oxygen and an
oxygen monitor. They gave him a mild chemo pill last night to help bring the
white blood cell count down and it didn’t seem to help much. They are hooking
him up to a paresis machine now to remove some of white cells. He is also going
to get an LP, and MRIs (if he can stop coughing). The respiratory Doctor was in
and they may do a bronchial scope too. This morning they placed a central line
in his groin so that they can do the dialysis and paresis. He also had 2 chest
x-rays and a sonogram of his bladder. He has been very busy.
They gave him some miracle drug that eats away uric acid last night and they
gave solumedrol (steroid) this morning to help with his lungs.
The Doctor Kaplan (one of the oncologist here) came in and spent well over an
hour with him last night just talking to him, trying to put him at ease. He is
doing remarkably well mentally for all he is going through.
The Doctor told me that his white cell count (normal is 5,000 - his was
134,000), LDH (normal is around 500 and his was 52,000), and uric acid counts
were the highest he has ever seen. What is amazing is that his bone marrow
biopsy on the 13th was normal and his pet scan on the 10th was normal. This has
all happened in less than 10 days. The 23rd was the first day we thought his
symptoms might remotely be the cancer.
If I didn’t include his phone number here at the hospital it is 412-578-4450.
Again you can email me at shollums@dam.com if you need anything. I will be
working often online from the hospital so it may be hard to get through. Just
email me and I will get you a time you can call or I will disconnect.
I’ll keep you updated. Thanks Sheila
========================================
December 27th evening:
Things have changed since the last email. Jay is now in the ICU at West Penn.
They had to do a bronchial scope on him and since he was not breathing well they
have placed him on a ventilator. They are hoping to remove him tomorrow but I
am not allow to stay with him tonight since they are keeping him unconscious but
we are hopeful that all will be well tomorrow. The found what they think to be a
hemorrhage in his lungs due to the low platelet count caused by the cancer.
They took samples and they analyze it to see if it’s actually the cancer in his
lungs. I will email you tomorrow to let you know when he is released from the
ICU. They also did the paresis and kidney dialysis today. They are set to do
more paresis tomorrow morning while he is still in the ICU.
I will email all of you tomorrow to let you know how he is.
Thanks,
Sheila
===================================
December 28th morning:
I just got off the phone with the ICU. They still will not let me into see him
until 1:30 (unless they move him).
The good news is that he is no longer on the ventilator and is breathing on his
own but they told me that he removed the tube himself unexpectedly this morning.
They couldn’t explain to me if he came out of sedation early or not or how he
did it himself. They said he is doing well though. The Doctors have not rounded
this morning so they couldn’t tell me when he would be going to a different room
or if he would be staying in the ICU. I’m heading out to get him some things he
needs for the hospital and to put some pressure on them to give me more
information.
I will let you know as soon as he is released to a normal room.
Thanks,
Sheila
OK there you go. Hope all this information helps,and I can’t tell any of you how much your thoughts and prayers matter to us all!
Ξ December 28th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Jay |
Well, all I can think about is the scene in the matrix where Neo did the same thing…but
Sheila called this morning and told us that the Dr. told her that as soon as Jay work up from the procedure this evening or morning (not sure) he ripped out his own breathing tube!!!!! This is funny, and scary, but this also means that all of the fears that he would never come off of the breathing tube are gone. He is doing very good and Sheila is looking forward to them sending him to a room today so she can go see him.
My parents and I are leaving this Wednesday to go see him and I will keep updating everyone on this blog…….because I know yall care so much and you need to focus your prayer just like we do. Thank you and sure do love all yall!!!!!!!
More updates coming soon……………KUTPs!!!!!!!!!!!
Ξ December 28th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Jay |
Well, I talked with Sheila today, and Jay took a turn for the worse today. When we talk about 3:00 pm today Jay was in ICU unconscious and on a ventilator. They did a Bronchial Scope to him today and he should get the ventilator and breathing tube out tomorrow, but they would wait and see. The Dr. said the procedure went fine. They think three thing might have happened….
1) pneumonia
2) Fluid in his lungs due to renal failure
3) Or he could caugh so hard and the burkkitts (sp?) Lymphoma was getting in his lungs.
They sent the fluids off for testing.
Jay right now is in ICU and is only allowed to be visited by Sheila or anyone for one 15 mins at a time. The Dr. and Sheila agree that that is probably very good, because Jay has not gotten too much sleep in a while.
They did a phoresis (sp?) test that filtered out the Whit Blood Cell Count and the Dr. felt good about it…(but I don’t know why)
They can’t give him any chemo right now, because they have got to get his White Blood Cell count down to normal before chemo or his Kidneys would die on him. A normal White Blood cell count is 4,000 and as of this afternoon Jay’s white blood Cell count was 150,000.
One good thing is that his kidneys seemed to be making urine, so they are not totally shot and might bounce back from all of this, but they still have him on Dialysis to help his kidneys function properly.
They made the decision to have this proceed done kind of fast, but they had to make it fast. He was coughing so bad that he was not being able to breath even with a Oxygen mask.
His platelets count was very low 15. and They also thin that he might have hemorrhaged his lungs from coughing so hard, and then when his plateletes count was so low that the burkkitts Lymphoma would go in and cover up the hurt spot instead of the plateletes.
He has been having severe nose bleeds to top it al off. The Dr. was amazed at how fast the Lymphoma was coming back…His Cretan (sp?) level(kidney something), WBC count, and BUN # (kidney something) were all way messed up.
Sheila, said that the Dr. was giving lots of his time with Jay and doing the best he could for him right now.
Sheila said it is a difficult time right now, but his Spirits are up! it is al amazing, but Jay (and Sheila) are scared. Jay should have a hard time talking for a few days due to the O2 mask, and the breathing tube they will hopefully take out tomorrow.
Sheila has also, told me and my parents that we might want to come and see Jay on an airplane, because this s the worse that she has seen him since all of this happened.
so……………Tiffany and I will go see her parents tomorrow in Lovington and have Christmas with them, and then Wednesday we will all be traveling up to see Jay via VERY expensive airplane flights. (Thank you to Tiffany who spent the entire afternoon and evening booking flights for a family who just could not handle all the stress right now.
========================
We opened up presents with my grandmother and family tonight, and it was great as always even with Jay and Sheila hovering over all our thoughts and conversations the entire night.
I am not sure when we will be back, from seeing Jay. I thin that Tiffany and I will come back in about a week, unless we need to stay there longer. And I am not sure about my Momma and Daddy, they could be up there for a while. And who knows maybe after they stabilize him that I can still be used for a bone marrow transplant?
What ever the way, or what ever the time………one thing is for sure…………………….Jay needs your prayers now more than every, and I can not tell you how much they mean to us! Love you all and God bless!
Oh and yes I realize that my spelling is horrible and such, but I am very sick (went to get a Marcela shot and a Z-Pack, and cough syrup today, and I think my fever broke while we were opening up presents. So, I am extremely tired, but I just had to let you all know about Jay, and ask you all to be praying for him! Thank you soooooo much!
KUTPs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
