Well the good news is, and I am being very liberal with the definition of "good", TGL survived another week, but not without a bit of drama. The phrase "not for the faint of heart" has a new meaning for the Lewis family.
Dad finished chemo a week ago Saturday and has been "hanging out" waiting for his white and red blood cells to hit rock bottom. Not exactly what one waits with baited breath for or puts on a Xmas list. The nausea has continued but generally just in the mornings until he can get some food in his system.
The following string of emails explains what happened:
Jul 1, 2009, at 10:44 am, Lewis, Carrie (Carrie) wrote:
Dad just called. He blacked out and fell down twice again this morning. Turns out when he stands up his blood pressure drops and then he blacks out. They are moving him to a new room so they can monitor his heart more closely. His new room number is 3307. He doesn’t know what his new phone number will be yet.
Wed Jul 01 12:06 2009 Sara wrote:
I just read this. Is someone there now? Why is this happening? Is it the chemo, or the leukemia, or something else. Has he seen the dr. today?
Jul 1, 2009 at 12:15 pm Rand wrote:
I'm here. They don't know why. He saw Dr today. They believe it is because he is "dehydrated". It isn't really dehydration, but when the body has cancer and is exposed to chemo the tissues/vessels lose their ability to hold/absorb/retain water. This could cause fainting. They have moved him to watch his heart for 24 hours. He is wired to sensors. They noticed his BP dropped when he stands compared to laying/sitting. He feels OK and wasn't hurt on the falls. They won't let him get out of bed w/o a nurse. His neurtophils are at zero and the counts are falling. I assume he'll have a fever before long. This means the chemo is working to wipe out the marrow.
He apologized to me that his timing will mess up our vacation. Always thinking of others.
They monitored his heart for 24 hours and then he moved back up to his original digs. Despite his total lack of appetite; he still orders and eats each meal. Thursday night I was there for dinner. He ordered 1/2 egg salad sandwich on whole wheat bread, sides of mac 'n cheese and fried potatoes, a strawberry ENSURE and a chocolate chip cookie (which was for me). He ate the sandwich, took a few bites of the sides and then opened the ENSURE. He said mattera factly "this wasn't what I ordered" since the ENSURE was chocolate. Then I mentioned "and the sandwich was on white instead of whole wheat". He hadn't noticed or complained.
In other news
· Dave figured out that through his laptop he can access TGL's home cable from anywhere. His only concern is changing the channel while TGL is watching another.
· Crosby had a physical and is in the 80th percentile for height. We couldn't be prouder.
· Thursday night after dinner, Carrie put on the Lion King soundtrack and Brig, somewhat awestruck, witnessed Kathleen, yah yah, carrie and dave dance around like 14 year olds at their first Stake Dance. [michael jackson eat your heart out].
· TGL is now sporting not one but THREE different styles of pj bottoms.
Again, THANK YOU all so much for your prayers, emails, "blog comments" and friendship.
1 comment:
Gordon and Lewis Family,
We just returned to "the world of email" after our 2-graduation celebration vacation in Maui. It was a great trip, and I won't even mention golfing. (Whoops, I guess I did.)
We are sending you prayers and many good vibes for strength and spirit to continue to win your battle.
We were happy to hear that your neighbor is tending your garden and jealous of your tomato plants--ours are still acting like it is early May rather than July. However, the lettuce has loved the rain and cool weather.
Take care and know that we are praying for all of you,
JoAnn Zelasko and Bart Prieve
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