Whoo-hoo! Troy is at home! I wanted to wait a day or two before I shared with y'all, considering what happened last time. Although the view from Northside was pretty sweet (he had a great view of the king and queen buildings), he is glad to be back home.
And if you have nothing else to do except watch some movies, you could always donate platelets or blood. :) We need to start stockpiling for the second transplant.
As always, thanks for all of the positive thoughts and prayers.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The blood cultures have come back and the news is that the infection is an antibiotic resistant blood infection. They are keeping him for at least a couple more days and are determining if the rest of the treatments can be done outpatient. He has a picline, which I guess is like a smaller, semi-permanent port, so no more getting stuck. Yay! He also got a round of chemo this weekend.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Well, crud
So Troy had one day of freedom before his temperature started creeping up. He spent Father's Day with his dad at the Towers getting fluids and stuff. On Monday, his temperature passed the safe threshold of 100.5, so Dr. Solomon re-admitted him to Northside. At first, they did not know what was causing the infection, but they now know that it a blood infection, which is an especially bad thing when you are neutropenic, because it defends you against other infections. So as a precaution, he is having his central port removed, because it is a site for infection, and he has a normal IV now. The bad news is that he has to be stuck every time he has a lab, which can be four times a day. He'll need to stay at the hospital until his counts come up. Keep praying for him.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Home Sweet Home!
Yay! Yay! Yay!
After 25 days at Northside, Troy was cleared yesterday and is safely ensconced at his parents' house! He (and we) are very appreciative of the wonderful doctors, nurses, and staff at Northside, but he is happy to not have to see them. (Stir crazy maybe?) He was projected to go home on Friday, but had some issues with dizziness. The doctors were adjusting his medications, which caused the lightheadness. He is looking forward to growing some white blood cells and getting healthy enough for the second stem cell transplant. Right now, his schedule will consist of visiting the Tower for fluids, platelets, and blood as needed, so keep those donations coming. Please contact me at hsaile at hotmail dot com for an address to send well wishes. Thank you for all of the positive thoughts and prayers!
After 25 days at Northside, Troy was cleared yesterday and is safely ensconced at his parents' house! He (and we) are very appreciative of the wonderful doctors, nurses, and staff at Northside, but he is happy to not have to see them. (Stir crazy maybe?) He was projected to go home on Friday, but had some issues with dizziness. The doctors were adjusting his medications, which caused the lightheadness. He is looking forward to growing some white blood cells and getting healthy enough for the second stem cell transplant. Right now, his schedule will consist of visiting the Tower for fluids, platelets, and blood as needed, so keep those donations coming. Please contact me at hsaile at hotmail dot com for an address to send well wishes. Thank you for all of the positive thoughts and prayers!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Marathon!
Sorry the updates have lagged lately - things are good, so don't worry!
Troy has continued to improve over the past few days - in fact, he walked the equivalent of 1 mile around the transplant floor today (28 laps to be precise)!
His heart function is also improving and creatin levels are low - so it looks like things are good. Hopefully he will be back home at his parents soon.
Troy has continued to improve over the past few days - in fact, he walked the equivalent of 1 mile around the transplant floor today (28 laps to be precise)!
His heart function is also improving and creatin levels are low - so it looks like things are good. Hopefully he will be back home at his parents soon.
Friday, June 6, 2008
One step forward, one step back
Good news - Troy got out of the ICU yesterday and is breathing well on his own.
Bad news - his blood pressure was extremely low today and they may need to readmit him to keep an eye on what is going on.
Sorry, I don't have any more information than that, but will keep you posted as things develop.
Bad news - his blood pressure was extremely low today and they may need to readmit him to keep an eye on what is going on.
Sorry, I don't have any more information than that, but will keep you posted as things develop.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Even better news
They took Troy off the respirator this morning! His voice is coming back, although it is VERY hoarse - sounds kind of like a bull frog if you ask me. He is alert and making jokes and goofy faces - as only Troy can do!
Assuming he continues to improve, they hope to move him back to the 3rd floor and resume the chemo treatment tomorrow.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - please continue to help him fight this battle.
Assuming he continues to improve, they hope to move him back to the 3rd floor and resume the chemo treatment tomorrow.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - please continue to help him fight this battle.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
June 3 - Better News
Dear family and friends we are so very grateful for each of you. We have had more challenges still. Saturday he had some oxygen added due to his O2 stats being a little low when he woke up from a nap. Sunday had some minor issues including 2 more units of blood and 2 units of platelets due to low counts but nothing seemed really major until after shift change at 7:00 pm. He was talking and just out of the blue said he felt hot and started fanning and then started with some shortness of breath even with the O2 on.
We got his nurse who in turned called respiratory and from there things "really flew" with his O2 stats dropping and blood pressure rising and bottom line he had to be intubated (put on a ventilator) and taken to ICU. He has been sedated since then.
He is still in ICU and still has the vent in but they have been weaning him off the oxygen since late yesterday and since lunch today he is actually breathing on his own and has been awake each time we have gone back since about 1:00 pm today though still has some light sedation. They have the ventilator set on CPAP so it only kicks in if he goes to sleep or relaxes enough to not be breathing deep enough to get the proper level of oxygen.
Dr Solomon said that they would be checking him with some simple commands and if he "passes" their test they will try removing the vent tube later this evening.
He has been responsive with eye contact and blinks and eyebrow raising so we feel they will take it out soon.
His heart rate is decreased per the Echocardiogram that was done yesterday and Dr Solomon says it is operating at a fraction of the strength that it was prior to his transplant but he says this could be temporary will just have to wait and see. If you remember his ejection ratio was decreased in February when he had his transplant pre-testing but when his scans were repeated it had come back up so we are hopeful that it will do the same in this instance and the decrease at present is just due to the trauma from the events of Sunday nite, his recent transplant and the chemo sessions he has had this week.
He is due for chemo tomorrow and we have not been told that he will not get it as scheduled so we will think positive on that.
When he stabilizes he will be moved back to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit upstairs as his counts are wiped out from the chemo so he will still be in isolation also.
Prayer is so very powerful and we have surely felt the results from all of the many that have been lifted on Troy's behalf.
Thank you again for you faithfulness and support for Troy. He is a FIGHTER.
We got his nurse who in turned called respiratory and from there things "really flew" with his O2 stats dropping and blood pressure rising and bottom line he had to be intubated (put on a ventilator) and taken to ICU. He has been sedated since then.
He is still in ICU and still has the vent in but they have been weaning him off the oxygen since late yesterday and since lunch today he is actually breathing on his own and has been awake each time we have gone back since about 1:00 pm today though still has some light sedation. They have the ventilator set on CPAP so it only kicks in if he goes to sleep or relaxes enough to not be breathing deep enough to get the proper level of oxygen.
Dr Solomon said that they would be checking him with some simple commands and if he "passes" their test they will try removing the vent tube later this evening.
He has been responsive with eye contact and blinks and eyebrow raising so we feel they will take it out soon.
His heart rate is decreased per the Echocardiogram that was done yesterday and Dr Solomon says it is operating at a fraction of the strength that it was prior to his transplant but he says this could be temporary will just have to wait and see. If you remember his ejection ratio was decreased in February when he had his transplant pre-testing but when his scans were repeated it had come back up so we are hopeful that it will do the same in this instance and the decrease at present is just due to the trauma from the events of Sunday nite, his recent transplant and the chemo sessions he has had this week.
He is due for chemo tomorrow and we have not been told that he will not get it as scheduled so we will think positive on that.
When he stabilizes he will be moved back to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit upstairs as his counts are wiped out from the chemo so he will still be in isolation also.
Prayer is so very powerful and we have surely felt the results from all of the many that have been lifted on Troy's behalf.
Thank you again for you faithfulness and support for Troy. He is a FIGHTER.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Not Good News
Last Wednesday, some of the tests for the marker proteins for the presence of myeloma came back positive. That and the increased levels of creatin led the doctors to start another round of chemotherapy. He seemed to respond well to the chemo and Troy and his family seemed to be dealing well with the setback of the timeline. His second transplant, once the myeloma goes back into remission, will be pushed back at least six weeks, when we were looking at starting the transplant in a month.
Last night, Troy was complaining of being hot and it became difficult for him to breathe. The doctors and nurses rushed in and quickly transferred him to the ICU. They had to intubate him to help him breathe. There was a lot of fluid on his lungs, which may be pneumonia, and the doctors were also concerned about his heart function. The good news is that they have removed a lot of fluid from his lungs, and they reduced the vent to 40% this morning. The doctors have done an echo cardiogram to check his heart function and a bronchoscopy to look into what's going on inside his lungs.
Please keep praying. The doctors have been saying that it will take a lot of luck and fighting for Troy to get through this, and we need all the good luck, thoughts and prayers possible.
Thanks,
Helen
Last night, Troy was complaining of being hot and it became difficult for him to breathe. The doctors and nurses rushed in and quickly transferred him to the ICU. They had to intubate him to help him breathe. There was a lot of fluid on his lungs, which may be pneumonia, and the doctors were also concerned about his heart function. The good news is that they have removed a lot of fluid from his lungs, and they reduced the vent to 40% this morning. The doctors have done an echo cardiogram to check his heart function and a bronchoscopy to look into what's going on inside his lungs.
Please keep praying. The doctors have been saying that it will take a lot of luck and fighting for Troy to get through this, and we need all the good luck, thoughts and prayers possible.
Thanks,
Helen
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