This post has been a couple months in the planning. We are still here and kicking... just not as high.
In my last post we were elated to the fact that the essential oils we were using seemed to be working. Stevan's M-spike was non-existent. He felt good and was doing. However since then, there have been some major issues that have arisen.
Stevan had some problems with his collar bone at the end of Sept. He felt like maybe he had broke one when he was rolling a cedar log out of a bucket on a tractor. After several weeks, he finally went to a doctor and got an X-ray to show that it was broken... then he started complaining about his other collar bone. Back to the doctor. Yep it was broken too. The doctor suggested we get an appointment with Dr Selby, Oncologist, even though we had just had labs and X-rays done two months before that showed everything was great!
BAM! The M-spike was back to a 3.1 on Oct 16, when Stevan went to see Dr Selby. By this time Stevan was having some other serious symptoms, incontinence, pain wrapping around from his back to his groin area, and swelling in the groin area. Dr Selby immediately sent Stevan to be admitted to OU Medical Center for an full body X-ray and MRI of his spine to see what was going on, and later performed a CT scan. They found a mass pressing on his vertebra in his lower back pressing small bone shards into the spinal cord. They immediately began radiation, starting with the old block kind and then changed to a new kind of radiation that is pencil lead thin to only target the problem areas and protect the spinal cord. He spent two weeks in the hospital and then came home Oct 30th with the understanding he would have an appt to follow up and continue radiation on his right hip in Paris, Tx, which the oncology team at OU was also concerned about. They were afraid it was going to break.
Stevan finally got into Paris Oncology and began radiation on his sternum Nov 10th. When he was at OU in Oct they told us there was a quarter size hole in his sternum but was now the size of a softball and was now causing a lot of pain and the doctor in Paris wanted Stevan to be more comfortable. Nov 17, the labs showed that his hemoglobin was at a 6.7 and he would be getting 3 units of blood the next day. On Nov 20th, his hemoglobin was up to 8.9, not good but better (the range should be 14-18). They also said that they would stay on top of it and watch it.
Stevan and I spent the week of Thanksgiving up in the hills hunting. The first of the week we had the kids. Wednesday, Stevan's sister Cherl and her other half, Will came up from Mississippi and stayed till Friday with us. Then one of our friends son, Kyle, came up on Friday and spent the night with us.
Overall, not productive in hunting but relaxing and enjoyed the time out side with God's creation.
After Kyle left on Saturday, we decided to load a few things up and take home that afternoon. We should have done this before Kyle left. Stevan asked me to load up one of the 4-wheelers on the small trailer. Long story short, I had problems loading it and it ended up flipping over on top of me, landing me in the ER that evening with a severely jammed left pinky and a broken right pinky. I'm thankful it was me and not Stevan that was on the 4-wheeler. I was able to get out of the way faster than he would have been able to. I was lucky that is all that happened.
Sunday, Stevan's brother, Bill came up and helped us load the rest of the camping stuff. What would have taken all day, only took about two hours with his help.
Thursday, Dec 4, we came to OKC for Stevan's follow up appointments with Dr Herman, Radiologist, and Dr Selby, Oncologist. When he arrived at Herman's office, the nurse noticed that Stevan had blood coming from a his nose. They called Selby's office and they ordered labs which they were able to determine his hemoglobin was at a 5.9, dangerously low. Selby's office ordered us to go to the ER at OU Medical and have them give him another blood transfusion. When we got to the ER, we got in the fastest we ever have, 3 minutes, we didn't even sit down. Within an hour, they had us a room upstairs.
They gave Stevan 4 units of plasma to help his blood to clot. They then began to give him 3 units of red blood over night. He was having sever pain in different areas of his body, so they began to try and see what was going on by scheduling MRIs for those areas. After him spending several days in OKC he was released with nothing really resolved.
The one thing that was discussed was the fact that radiation was not working. It was simply hitting a couple of spots at a time and managing pain. I spoke with one doctor that came to evaluate Stevan and she agreed that the radiation was not working, that his treatment had to be changed.
I will post more when we have more information...
Us before Myeloma
Celebrating our 5 year Anniversary a few days early. Wow! We've both changed over the past few years.
Showing posts with label platelets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label platelets. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Friday, June 8, 2012
And Things Had Been Going So Well Day +16
We have been at the hospital for 19 days now. On Day 11 post transplant (14 days in hospital) we were in hopes of going home in a couple of days. Yesterday we were told maybe Monday. Today... they wont tell us when Stevan will be released. But they are going to aim for us to be home by next Friday.
This morning I told you that we were waiting for the doctors to come in and tell us the result of the bone scan done yesterday. Dr Holter told us that there was something peculiar on his left humours bone (the bone that was broken last year) where the rod was placed in his arm last year. She was sending Infectious Diseases and Orthopedics to come in and talk to Stevan.
One of the Infectious Disease doctors came in and after the exam and scan, they believe he has Osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone. This can occur when there is bacteria somewhere in the body. Since Stevan's immune system had be compromised by the chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, it is possible for this bacteria to go to the area of the titanium rod and grow there.
They are not sure what kind of bacteria it is, so they are wanting to get a bone biopsy of the area infected. In order to do this they want Dr Holter to stop the antibiotics she is giving Stevan so that they can get a biopsy that is not effected by antibiotics. They want him off of antibiotics for at least 48 hours.
First they want to get a MRI of the shoulder and arm. This will give them a better look at what is going on with the bone. That probably wont happen til Monday.
Last night Stevan had some problem with his central line. It was giving the nurse problems when she went to draw his labs. She could flush it, but it wouldn't draw blood. They decided to put a blood thinner in the line to sit and dissolve what ever was blocking the flow. It worked but this morning, blood was leaking around the line site, so they cleaned it and redressed the port area. For some reason it began to leak again and by this afternoon it looked bad. They tried to apply light pressure on the area hoping it would help stop it from seeping. It didn't work.
The unit supervisor, Debbie ordered platelet for Stevan, even though his platelet count is the highest its been. She is in hopes that it would help stop the bleeding by boosting it again. It helped, but its still leaking a bit.
On to the counts for the last few days.
6/6 6/7 6/8
White cells 3.2 2.5 1.8
Red cells 3.01 2.78 2.70
Platelets 22 55 70
His potassium has continued to be around 3.3 which has continued to get him IV potassium each morning. As you can see his white count has continued to drop so he was given a nuepogen shot this afternoon. This lead me to ask the nurse the question "If Stevan's got an infection, why is his white count dropping? It should be going up? Right?" Her answer, "Yes, you would think so." Guess I will have to ask the doctor this in the morning.
I have to end this post by switching topics a bit. We of course have been here a few days longer than expected and obviously more to come. We have met some pretty amazing people in the BMT unit who are going through transplants as well. Most are having Allogeneic (donor cells) transplant. It has given me the opportunity to talk to other caregivers.
I met one gentleman whose wife had an allo transplant using her sisters cells. He was a truck driver and she had been so sick that he took several days off to stay with her. He was so worried about her lack of progress after the transplant. She has had a lot of visitor up here, many her siblings, considering she is one of 12 children in her family. She took a turn for the worse Wednesday night and Thursday morning she was taken to ICU. I don't know her name but please remember her in your prayers. I could see the pain and frustration on her families faces.
Another caregiver that I instantly connected with is also a teacher, Jackie Strack. Her husband's first transplant had been an auto, but was here this time having his second transplant (Allo). The Strack's were right across the hall from us, as well as another couple (I never got their name) who's husband had a transplant a month ago. The good new for them, they both got to go home today. There is now only three patients in the unit. It's kinda of lonely.
I mention these people because as caregivers, I learned that we click very quickly. Its difficult to explain except that only we understand what we are going through caring for our spouses, as they go through their cancer treatment and transplant. We look out for each other, making sure each of us are ok and have someone to talk to as we "have to step out and take a break." I may not have my friends and family here with me, but here in the unit... the nurses, that I talk about have become my friends, and the other caregivers have become like a family to me.
I want to close on something upbeat tonight. Yesterday as Stevan was getting ready to head out for one of his test, our nurses Debbie and Morgan, came in to help him get "suited up" to leave the unit. Stevan was sitting on the bed as we were helping him into his yellow "gown", gloves, shoe covers, head covering, and mask. He goes to stand up.... and his PJ bottoms fall down....
Needless to say, he gasps and bends down to pull them up, as the rest of us bust out laughing. After we all had a good laugh, Debbie admits she shouldn't laugh at him, but then says "it was funny." I must admit though, it felt good to laugh... and Stevan was laughing and smiling too.
We must all count our blessings and laugh even when things are not going as planned. Things will work out for us and even though we have now hit a bump in the road, God is on our side and with his help all will go well.
This morning I told you that we were waiting for the doctors to come in and tell us the result of the bone scan done yesterday. Dr Holter told us that there was something peculiar on his left humours bone (the bone that was broken last year) where the rod was placed in his arm last year. She was sending Infectious Diseases and Orthopedics to come in and talk to Stevan.
One of the Infectious Disease doctors came in and after the exam and scan, they believe he has Osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone. This can occur when there is bacteria somewhere in the body. Since Stevan's immune system had be compromised by the chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, it is possible for this bacteria to go to the area of the titanium rod and grow there.
They are not sure what kind of bacteria it is, so they are wanting to get a bone biopsy of the area infected. In order to do this they want Dr Holter to stop the antibiotics she is giving Stevan so that they can get a biopsy that is not effected by antibiotics. They want him off of antibiotics for at least 48 hours.
First they want to get a MRI of the shoulder and arm. This will give them a better look at what is going on with the bone. That probably wont happen til Monday.
Last night Stevan had some problem with his central line. It was giving the nurse problems when she went to draw his labs. She could flush it, but it wouldn't draw blood. They decided to put a blood thinner in the line to sit and dissolve what ever was blocking the flow. It worked but this morning, blood was leaking around the line site, so they cleaned it and redressed the port area. For some reason it began to leak again and by this afternoon it looked bad. They tried to apply light pressure on the area hoping it would help stop it from seeping. It didn't work.
The unit supervisor, Debbie ordered platelet for Stevan, even though his platelet count is the highest its been. She is in hopes that it would help stop the bleeding by boosting it again. It helped, but its still leaking a bit.
On to the counts for the last few days.
6/6 6/7 6/8
White cells 3.2 2.5 1.8
Red cells 3.01 2.78 2.70
Platelets 22 55 70
His potassium has continued to be around 3.3 which has continued to get him IV potassium each morning. As you can see his white count has continued to drop so he was given a nuepogen shot this afternoon. This lead me to ask the nurse the question "If Stevan's got an infection, why is his white count dropping? It should be going up? Right?" Her answer, "Yes, you would think so." Guess I will have to ask the doctor this in the morning.
I have to end this post by switching topics a bit. We of course have been here a few days longer than expected and obviously more to come. We have met some pretty amazing people in the BMT unit who are going through transplants as well. Most are having Allogeneic (donor cells) transplant. It has given me the opportunity to talk to other caregivers.
I met one gentleman whose wife had an allo transplant using her sisters cells. He was a truck driver and she had been so sick that he took several days off to stay with her. He was so worried about her lack of progress after the transplant. She has had a lot of visitor up here, many her siblings, considering she is one of 12 children in her family. She took a turn for the worse Wednesday night and Thursday morning she was taken to ICU. I don't know her name but please remember her in your prayers. I could see the pain and frustration on her families faces.
Another caregiver that I instantly connected with is also a teacher, Jackie Strack. Her husband's first transplant had been an auto, but was here this time having his second transplant (Allo). The Strack's were right across the hall from us, as well as another couple (I never got their name) who's husband had a transplant a month ago. The good new for them, they both got to go home today. There is now only three patients in the unit. It's kinda of lonely.
I mention these people because as caregivers, I learned that we click very quickly. Its difficult to explain except that only we understand what we are going through caring for our spouses, as they go through their cancer treatment and transplant. We look out for each other, making sure each of us are ok and have someone to talk to as we "have to step out and take a break." I may not have my friends and family here with me, but here in the unit... the nurses, that I talk about have become my friends, and the other caregivers have become like a family to me.
I want to close on something upbeat tonight. Yesterday as Stevan was getting ready to head out for one of his test, our nurses Debbie and Morgan, came in to help him get "suited up" to leave the unit. Stevan was sitting on the bed as we were helping him into his yellow "gown", gloves, shoe covers, head covering, and mask. He goes to stand up.... and his PJ bottoms fall down....
Needless to say, he gasps and bends down to pull them up, as the rest of us bust out laughing. After we all had a good laugh, Debbie admits she shouldn't laugh at him, but then says "it was funny." I must admit though, it felt good to laugh... and Stevan was laughing and smiling too.
We must all count our blessings and laugh even when things are not going as planned. Things will work out for us and even though we have now hit a bump in the road, God is on our side and with his help all will go well.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Platelet Infusion Day 8 and 9
Sorry I missed yesterdays post, but this one is coming earlier in the day. Stevan had a pretty good day yesterday. He had some trouble sleeping on Wednesday night, the first since he's been here at the hospital. When Dr. Holter came in yesterday, she said that she give him Ambien (5mg) last night to help him sleep. Well... it didn't work. He took it at 9pm and at midnight he was still wide awake. This morning Dr. Holter told him she would give him something else tonight that might work better.
Yesterday they decided to flush out one of his ports on his central line. They had been having trouble drawing blood from it. Later yesterday afternoon it seemed to be leaking blood from the skin, pooling under the sterile clear bandage over where his line was placed. Yesterday while he was fitfully sleeping off and on, he was constantly playing with his IV lines and pulling on it. We thought maybe this was the cause of this. They came in and change it around 10:30 PM.
Here is his numbers from the last two days.
5/31 6/1
White Cells 0.1 .2
Red Cells 3.18 3.04
Hemoglobin 9.6 9.4
Platelets 21 8
Since his platelets dropped below 10, he received a bag of platelets this morning. They decided that the low platelets was the reason his bandage was leaking blood. When there is low platelets, it doesn't allow his blood to clot properly. The nurse came back in later this morning to tell us that his platelets went up to 32. She said that its normal for patients to receive a bag of platelets every other day or so. If he begins to run a fever, over 100 it will "burn up" his platelets, dropping his count again. For the third morning in a row he received potassium this morning as well.
Stevan's line bandage was changed yet again around noon for the third time in three days. Since last night it had leaked more blood around the line under the bandage. So now it is very tender from the nurses pulling the tape off of his chest. Hopefully he wont need it changed again until next Wednesday, the day they always change central line bandages.
Dr. Holter told us this morning she could see us coming home in the middle of next week, if all continues to go well. The only problems Stevan is having is being able to sleep. We hope the new medicine he gets tonight will do the trick. Thank you for following us on this journey. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
Yesterday they decided to flush out one of his ports on his central line. They had been having trouble drawing blood from it. Later yesterday afternoon it seemed to be leaking blood from the skin, pooling under the sterile clear bandage over where his line was placed. Yesterday while he was fitfully sleeping off and on, he was constantly playing with his IV lines and pulling on it. We thought maybe this was the cause of this. They came in and change it around 10:30 PM.
Here is his numbers from the last two days.
5/31 6/1
White Cells 0.1 .2
Red Cells 3.18 3.04
Hemoglobin 9.6 9.4
Platelets 21 8
Since his platelets dropped below 10, he received a bag of platelets this morning. They decided that the low platelets was the reason his bandage was leaking blood. When there is low platelets, it doesn't allow his blood to clot properly. The nurse came back in later this morning to tell us that his platelets went up to 32. She said that its normal for patients to receive a bag of platelets every other day or so. If he begins to run a fever, over 100 it will "burn up" his platelets, dropping his count again. For the third morning in a row he received potassium this morning as well.
Stevan's line bandage was changed yet again around noon for the third time in three days. Since last night it had leaked more blood around the line under the bandage. So now it is very tender from the nurses pulling the tape off of his chest. Hopefully he wont need it changed again until next Wednesday, the day they always change central line bandages.
Dr. Holter told us this morning she could see us coming home in the middle of next week, if all continues to go well. The only problems Stevan is having is being able to sleep. We hope the new medicine he gets tonight will do the trick. Thank you for following us on this journey. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Counts are Down Day +5
Stevan slept most of the afternoon yesterday after getting sick and up-chucking his dinner from the night before. His nurse Elaine gave him an anti-nausea medicine that made him sleepy. His throat is getting sore and they say the mouth sores are soon behind. His ribs are still hurting but they are feeling better.
Stevan's appetite is still down. He forced down some chicken noodle soup last night and ate a few bites of eggs and pancakes this morning. Soon after he started getting sick to his stomach again. His nurse for today, Grace, gave him some more anti-nausea that she says shouldn't knock him out. But he's now sleeping again with out loosing his breakfast, so he's doing good.
Here are his counts for today. As you can see his white cells are almost as low as they can go.
Platelets 112
They are speculating that they may need to give him platelets this evening. With his counts being so low, they think he will begin to run a fever and that tends to eat up his platelets. What will a low platelet count mean? Well that could cause bleeding. The platelets allow the blood to clot to keep from bleeding to death.
Now what can you do to help? There is always a need for blood at hospitals and at the local blood bank. With this being a holiday weekend, there is even a bigger need, due to higher rate of accidents. I'm asking everyone who can, to find a place to donate blood in the next couple of weeks. If you donate with the Oklahoma Blood Institute you can request to donate in the name of Stevan Ray Womack, which will give him a credit to his account. You may need his birth date is 5-9-71. This will replenish what he uses from the blood bank.
They ask that you don't request for your blood to be sent to him. For those of you in Texas, Arkansas or other states, I'm not sure if you can donate in his name but you can try. Just tell them his name and that he's at OU Medical Presbyterian Tower. If not you are at least helping someone who will need it.
Since Stevan is sleeping, I'm headed out this afternoon to spend some time with a friend this afternoon out of the hospital. Thank you for the continued prayers. I know they are working because Stevan could be going through a lot worse than what he is.
Stevan's appetite is still down. He forced down some chicken noodle soup last night and ate a few bites of eggs and pancakes this morning. Soon after he started getting sick to his stomach again. His nurse for today, Grace, gave him some more anti-nausea that she says shouldn't knock him out. But he's now sleeping again with out loosing his breakfast, so he's doing good.
Here are his counts for today. As you can see his white cells are almost as low as they can go.
White Cells .2
Red Cells 3.45Platelets 112
They are speculating that they may need to give him platelets this evening. With his counts being so low, they think he will begin to run a fever and that tends to eat up his platelets. What will a low platelet count mean? Well that could cause bleeding. The platelets allow the blood to clot to keep from bleeding to death.
Now what can you do to help? There is always a need for blood at hospitals and at the local blood bank. With this being a holiday weekend, there is even a bigger need, due to higher rate of accidents. I'm asking everyone who can, to find a place to donate blood in the next couple of weeks. If you donate with the Oklahoma Blood Institute you can request to donate in the name of Stevan Ray Womack, which will give him a credit to his account. You may need his birth date is 5-9-71. This will replenish what he uses from the blood bank.
They ask that you don't request for your blood to be sent to him. For those of you in Texas, Arkansas or other states, I'm not sure if you can donate in his name but you can try. Just tell them his name and that he's at OU Medical Presbyterian Tower. If not you are at least helping someone who will need it.
Since Stevan is sleeping, I'm headed out this afternoon to spend some time with a friend this afternoon out of the hospital. Thank you for the continued prayers. I know they are working because Stevan could be going through a lot worse than what he is.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)