Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Update # 96
Day Plus 77
Good Evening,
Jeff was diagnosed today with Pneumonia in both lungs so he and I are in St. Louis. I’ll back up and fill you in on the last week.
At Jeff’s appointment on the 19th, I questioned the slight rise in his white count. The associate doctor said there was nothing that appeared to cause this so just to watch for now. The next day some diarrhea began, would clear up and return again. Friday night, Jeff was worn out walking up the family room steps. He knew that he would need those 2 units of blood on the 28th. He spent most of his time resting although Thursday he drove to a couple of places in town – a first since last July. Saturday, his back bothered him in one spot on the right – he thought due to sitting wrong in a chair. Jeff walked at the fitness center on 2 days but only a couple of laps at a time for about a 1/3 of a mile.
Early this morning, about 12:30 AM, Jeff woke us up complaining of that pain in his back again from falling asleep in a chair. In a short time, he was sick to his stomach so I figured it was more than a sore muscle. I phoned down to Barnes and the BMT on-call doctor thought it might be pneumonia or a blood clot. She requested we get an x-ray at our local hospital. The hospital also did a CBC and the white count had almost tripled from the 19th. The BMT on-call doctor said the Bone Marrow Unit and the Leukemia floor were completely filled and there was a waitlist of 8 patients. She said Dr. DiPersio would phone later with instructions on what to do. I knew once he called, we’d still have to take time to drive down there We decided it would be best to already be in StL when he called so Jeff and I packed a few things and we were on the road a little after 5:00 AM.
The 28th was going to be a full day at Siteman with lab work, nurse practitioner visit, blood transfusion and the procedure to replace the trifusion with a port. The eye appointment is early on March 1st so I had made a hotel reservation with the one that is connected to Barnes by a skywalk. I did not want Jeff to miss that eye appointment again. I called this hotel at 4:00 AM to see if there was a room available for us to come down early. There was which is where Jeff and I went when we arrived at 6:30 AM.
Dr. DiPersio’s nurse coordinator then called telling us the diagnosis and that Jeff would need 2 kinds of antibiotics. One of them is the one that made him itch before so we reminded them of that fact so Benadryl could be given to help the problem. Jeff was not admitted in-patient since this seems to be caught early (no fever), both floors are filled, and that we are staying at the hotel that is connected to Barnes. Jeff also was given one unit of blood today so we ended up spending 7 hours there.
Tomorrow after his appointment with the nurse practitioner, Jeff will again receive the 2 antibiotics plus another unit of blood. The procedure for replacing the trifusion has been cancelled. They do not want to do this while he has an infection in his body.
I’ll update again tomorrow evening after we know a little more about how they will continue to treat Jeff for this pneumonia. Driving down this morning, Jeff said the pain was increasing from his back around front to his chest. This evening he says both areas feel better already and he is still fever free.
When we first met Dr. DiPersio back in August, he was explaining the whole bone marrow process and said plan on returning for at least one complication. If this is that complication, we are thankful it was caught early.
Your continued prayers do help Jeff and we have seen proof again. That Sepsis was caught early back in September and now this Pneumonia. We know how critical these can be and are grateful your prayers reach God. We ask that you please keep Jeff on your list. Thank you one and all.
Love,
Marcia