Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Update from Mayo-Day 18

Well, I will try this again, somehow the update I just wrote didn't work, so I'm starting over.
Some of you have called and know pretty much the latest that is going on, but I will try to summarize for the rest of you.

It has been a trying week to say the least, we knew this wouldn't be a walk in the park, but it seems like everything I worried about is happening. Saturday evening Zed's nose started bleeding about 6:30 and we couldn't really get it controlled until about 4 am. I was putting pressure on the bridge while the nurses were putting cold compresses on his forehead and getting platelets in him. He also had blood running down his throat, which caused coughing and vomiting, and made things worse. Once we finally got it stopped, they told him to try not to disturb the clot and so he could hardly breathe. It was a very LONG night. He also gained 2 kilograms of water weight in 12 hrs which is a lot!
Sunday morning he finally said, "I'm getting rid of this clot" which scared me to death. I thought we were going to start all over again, but it actually helped and he could finally breathe normally again. He had a pretty good day Sunday and even managed to lose some of the water weight, with the help of some diuretics. But on Monday morning his weight had gone back up and his liver functions had gone WAY up. They do labs every morning and give us the report so we know where we are. (His blood counts are actually looking pretty good.) Anyway, after discussing this with the team of Dr's, they have decided that he may have a condition called, "Veno-Occlusive Disease". This is something they have been keeping their eye on but when the liver functions went way up they felt that may be why his legs and feet have been swelling, he has had rapid weight gain and swelling in the abdomen. It is a condition that is caused by the high dose chemo and described as a "potenially serious" problem. What happens is that the tiny vessels in the liver become swollen and clogged and therefore the liver is unable to process the blood and clear the toxins out of the body. They called in a couple of liver specialists to consult on the case as well. They can't be 100% certain that is what he has without a biopsy, but don't want to do one as it would be too risky because of his low platelet and clotting problems. They did decide to try an "anti-clotting" medication that may thin out the blood in the liver and allow it to start working properly again. They have also taken away any medications that may be stressful to the liver. About the only thing they can do now is wait and watch and hope that it starts to heal on its own. I said before that one of the lessons that we were probably supposed to learn from all of this was patience and it is really being tested! The Dr's here seem to be very good about making sure that I am aware of everything they are and can be doing, but sometimes you wonder if they are telling you everything and you want them to say exactly what it is and whats going to happen, even though I know they don't have crystal balls.
The High Priest group leaders have come and given him a couple of blessings and have been very good to keep calling to check on how things are going. We appreciate the calls of encouragement and concern, they help to keep me from getting too discouraged. He does have some pain and they are good to control it for him, but it does make him sleep alot. But I think that helps him not only to heal, but to be able to deal with all that is happening. He keeps asking where the back door is though. He doesn't really have a desire to eat and I have to keep nagging him, while being careful that whatever goes down, stays down. He calls me "the food pusher".
I know you are all praying for him and we appreciate your faith and prayers so much. It's about all we can do, and does bring peace and comfort. I hope to be able to post in a few days with better news, I'm trying to just take things "one day at a time", until then thanks for all the love and encouragement. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving with your various families.
Love,
Zed and Lannis

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please let dad know how many people love and care about him. There are so many people pulling for him to get well. He has a lot of love and support behind him and he must be positive. You are doing a great job providing positive support for him. Please keep him positive. A POSITIVE mindset, faith, and prayer will get him through this. Tell him to be positive and that he must know and believe that he can get well. We love you both and will see you soon.

Teddy said...

We love you and look forward to the good news post.