Moving on

Troy passed away at 10:27 am this morning - It's over......but the battle was WON.

TROY CARLTON HENSON
8-25-1973
8-15-2008

Services will be arranged through Wards Funeral Home in Gainesville, GA and information will be posted.

Comfort

Troy's liver values and ammonia levels have continued to rise daily in the past week and his Myeloma markers have also elevated again. After talking with the medical team here at Northside and given several alternatives for his care, we were forced to make a difficult choice of Comfort Care for him. This means no more blood products or lab values and uncomfortable tests. He is on O2 with minimal IV antibiotics, saline, and a Morphine drip for pain. This treatment will allow him to rest peacefully and comfortably.

He rested well last night and has intermittent moments of "alertness."

The family is requesting no visitors at this time as the Bone Marrow Unit is considered an ICU setting. We very strongly request your continued prayers. We have been blessed with so many good and caring friends.

Troy is one tough man. He has endured this fight to date with so much of his battle being fought up hill and he continues to fight.

A little boost

Troy has had some issues with elevated liver enzymes the past few days - which has left him a little confused at times. The MM is also on the march again. So, the doctors have decided to cut back on his new chemo and give him a "booster shot" of his stem cells (the ones left over from the harvest in March). It is hoped that these will help give his immune system a jump start (his WBC has been zero all summer).

Please keep the positive energy coming - Troy needs it more than ever to get through this rough spot.

All call for some fluids

Troy has been in the hospital for a while now, and with all of the drugs and different treatments, he has been given a lot of platelets and blood. If you are able, please, please, please drive to the Atlanta Blood Services and donate. I will testify that it is an easy process. (In fact, the questionnaire took longer than the blood donation.) The nurses are great and they have a wide selection of movies for you to watch, if you can donate platelets. You even get a t-shirt! And cookies! And juice! What are you waiting for?!?

From Atlanta Blood Services:
Georgia does not have enough blood donors to sustain demand within the state and must import most of the products used. During the holiday seasons and especially during the summer months, levels tend to fall because donations decline while the demand by patients increases or continues to remain constant.

Passing the pain

Well, it has been an eventful couple of days at the hospital. The doctors were concerned that Troy's blood wasn't thick enough, so they gave him products to do just that. Turns out those products may have produced very large (some the size of a quarter) blood clots that accumulated in his bladder. As you can imagine, passing those was not a pleasant experience for Troy. However, it seems that things are calming down now.

They also started one of the new chemo drugs today - hopefully it will cut down the MM and give Troy a break before the donor stem cell transplant scheduled for later this month.

Please keep the positive energy and thoughts heading his way - it has been a rough summer, but Troy will win this battle!