03/31/09

I have so much to say and don't know where to begin!

Within 11 days we have gone from hearing that dads cancer has spread and he only has less than six months to live, to him coming home for one week and having his conditon deteriorate at high speed, then back to being himself again!

All last week was a week of family, extended family, church friends, work friends and old friends from way back, coming and visiting, and pretty much to be honest...saying Goodbye to a loved one! As the week went on, he got worse and worse. We had hospice tell us, "oh it will be maybe a month, and he'll be gone" then a day later saying "oh, it will be within days"

So on saturday, he had a good day of visiting with many people who love him. And we had hospice come out, because, his condition had changed from the night before. The nurse assessed him and said, "lets just make him comfortable" sooo....AKA let him die peacefully. Me being the medically talented person that I am (AKA "greatest thing that happened to this family" ha ha (inside joke)) wouldn't take that for an answer, and insisted in finding out what we can do to have him checked out, because I felt something was wrong.

We ended up calling 911. At this time he was just resting, because he had a busy day with all the visiting. Within minutes they came and assessed him and rushed him to the nearest hospital. They told us "he is critical, his oxygen levels were in the 70's, his blood pressure is low" This was NOT a good thing to hear. So I rushed behind the ambulance to get there as soon as i could to be with him so he wouldn't be scared. I got there and they were telling me how bad he was doing, and making it sound like he was ready to check out at any time.

He hung thru the night. He was transferred to the ICU. Me and mom sat by his side the whole time. Basically they were keeping him comfortable. I just sat there the whole night holding his hand, and trying to get him to respond, and he wouldn't. So I knew it was time for him to go. I just sat there waiting for him to take his last breath........

But the next morning, was a different story. He became a little bit more responsive. And continued to respond slowly and randomly throughout the day. They were still telling us that he wasn't going to hang on much longer. Boy did that change. By the time they gave him some blood that evening, he was perking up a little bit more. He had his up and down moments.

Don't ask me how, but after all this, he has now been transferred to the hospital across town, for insurance and Dr. reasons. And he is back to being the same old Marty. He is no longer in distress. He is maintaining his own blood pressure at a normal range. He is alert. No more fever. I just can't believe the difference. Here yesterday we were talking bout starting to make arrangements for his burial, and now we are thinking bout when he gets to come home.

His body became septic (google, i would explain if i had more time) He went in to shock. The blood and antibiotics have helped that. There are still many tests to run, and many questions to be answered, but for now, I just feel blessed that he's still here! God wasn't ready for him yet! There is a reason he is still here, and I kinda think I know why, but I'll share that in another note sometime soon. There are many details that I have left out, but there is way more to tell, but I just don't have the time to write it!

Reality, he still has Cancer. That hasn't gone away. Reality, he almost died, but he didn't. Reality, it will happen, but not today! Reality, I"m going to bed, end of story! :)

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!!!! Prayer is powerful, and I'm seeing that more and more everyday!!

03/21/09

So the time has finally come, for reality to set in. All my optimistic thoughts, and positive attitude, have finally come to an end, and I have to finally admit, that we aren't going to be able to save him anymore.

The liver biopsy came back, and showed that the Cancer, has spread to the Liver. So that is not a good thing. I just wanted to update everyone, so you all can know. The doctor says that with this type of cancer, there is no treatment that will cure it. They would try chemotherapy, to prolong his life some, and try to slow it down, but due to the fact that the 4 weeks of chemo that he had before, his kidneys wouldn't be able to handle it. So, the life expectancy is less than six months. He is going to be released home from the hospital tomorrow, and Hospice will be helping us out. So most people know what that means....."Comfort Care". We don't know how long he's gonna stay with us, but if we all know him well, we know that he is pretty damn stubborn, and never does anything normal. So who knows....could be longer than expected. But for now, we'll take this ending, just like we took the begining 6 months ago when the cancer was diagnosed.....ONE DAY AT A TIME...THATS ALL WE CAN DO. (as Marty said)

Right now I can't even begin to express my feelings in detail, but I can say, I'm hurt, shocked, sad, mad...and any other feelings you can think of to go along with it. I wish I could be telling everyone some great news right now...but its just not the case. Please continue to support us with your prayers and thoughts.

03/19/09

Ok, so as of today, this is what we know.He was hospitalized last thursday and had a high calcium level, which concerned the doctors, and made them think that the cancer has spread. They did a bone scan, and a brain scan, and ruled out the the cancer did not spread to the bone or brain, thank God. Well, they've given him some meds, and the calcium is back to normal. Apparently tho, with a calcium level as high as it was, it is still questionable if the Cancer in the sinuses is still there, and active. We do not know when we will get the answer to that.Right now, the main concern is getting his acute issues dealt with. So, he is still in the hospital being given fluids to stay hydrated, and a feeding tube was placed in his stomach the day before yesterday. Who would have ever thought that Marty, someone who loved food sooooooooo much would ever need a feeding tube because he isn't eating? Werid huh? So the idea is to get the food going in, to get him stronger so he can start working on moving around, considering it has been about almost 3 weeks since he has stood up on his own with out assistance, and about 1 week since he has not stood up or gotten out of bed AT ALL. They did have a concern that he may have been bleeding out somewhere, because is blood levels were low. So they did a scope of his upper GI tract, and a colonoscopy to rule out anything going on in the lower GI tract, with a few minor setbacks, that was done. Everything came back ok on both of those. Not sure where the low blood levels came from.They did find some spots on his liver, which we are still waiting for the results of the biopsy. So, we'll have to wait and see what happens with that. It seems like thats all we ever do is wait.When I left the hospital, he was doing just fine. A little bit loopy from all the pain meds he is on, and a lil bit fiesty cuz thats how he is.....so I suppose thats a good thing that his personality is back. ha ha. The plan is for him to be released from the hospital in a few days. They are working on getting a hospital bed ordered for home, and for nurses to come out and help us care for him, and physical therapy to come and get him up and moving. So God willing, we will have him up and at least pretty darn close to being back to the norm!Thank you for your continuous prayers and support. He does enjoy visitors, it helps lift his spirits up. Give us a call or leave us a message at anytime.

03/15/09

So nothing is for certain yet. I can tell you that since my past update, they have found that he has too much calcium in his blood, which can be caused by a number of things. They've had to give him 2 more units of blood. They've found that he has some spots on his liver that need to be biopsied. They have found that he has a fractured rib, from what, we don't know. Like I said, nothing is for certain yet until they run many more tests, but they are trying to rule out that the cancer has spread to his bones or his brain. NOT SURE YET THO! I'm hoping and praying that they won't find that, and it could be something else causing all of this mess.He has been so disoriented. And has gotten to where he doesn't really know who any of us are. So as you can imagine, this is a hard thing to process. I'd like to think this is just a minor set back in his recovery and he's gonna get through this just fine.Please continue to pray pray pray pray!! We all need the strength physically and emotionally to get thru all of this right now

03/13/09

Last night we took him to the ER, to be checked out because of our concerns of him just sleepin for the past few days and hard to wake him up and get up and what not. He's also been very incoherent, and disoriented. They ran some tests, told us they are keeping him in the hospital for further evaluation. He is still waiting for a room cuz the hospital is so busy, we have to wait to get a bed. So he is still in the ER and the tests are being done in a timely manner. For right now I do not have the answers, we are still unclear at what is going on. He was however severly dehydrated and has perked up a lil bit since they've given him fluids. I just wanted to give ya'll an update and as soon as I know more...I will keep everyone posted.Please keep him in your prayers!! Thank you!!P.S. sorry for this being so short, and if anything is misspelled its cuz i JUST got home from the ER, couldn't leave him alone, so my relief showed up this morning and now that i have been up for 24 hours...i'm gonna go to sleep. ha ha.

03/04/09

Okay...so here's my story. As most everyone knows, my Dad (Marty) hasn't been feeling so well. For a few weeks now he has been having some lower left back pain. He's on pain meds for it....but nothing seems to help. He also has very weak legs, and is having a hard time walking, standing, and getting himself anywhere beside in bed. Also, when he stands up, he starts to feel dizzy and "see's white fuzzy things" and then he has to sit down really quick so he don't fall over (which has actually happened a few times now) So me, being the good lil medical assistant/respiratory therapist, says..."hmmm...i'm gonna check your blood pressure" So I do. And I've been finding that when he stands up, his blood pressure drops WAY low. Like not normal low. So because of that and that he was in so much pain, about a week ago, I decided to make him go to the ER to see what could be wrong with his back. Well, the doc said "hmmm...sounds like it could be Kidney stones" So all they did was scanned him, found no kidney stones, ran some blood tests, found that he had a low hemoglobin level which showed he is Anemic. Usually a normal hemoglobin is 13-17, his was 8.5. So, really low. What did they do for him?? Gave him some pain meds...and sent him home.Then 2 days later, we decided to follow up with his primary care doctor. He said, "well, I don't know why you are having the back pain, lets do some more scans to see what we can find. Oh and by the way, you are really anemic" He decided he needed to find out WHY he was so anemic, and sometimes that could mean he could be bleeding out somewhere, possible stress ulcers, or something of the sort. Or possibly even a lack of iron thing. So, he did some more blood tests. Did some X-rays, told us to come back in 2 weeks. Told us we need to see a GI doctor to possibly see if he is bleeding somewhere and wants him to check it out. Well, we were told we couldn't see that doctor until March 17th. Tell me....if you knew possibly that a low hemoglobin could be caused from "bleeding out"....does waiting another 2 weeks make much sense?? Again, me being concerned, didn't wanna wait that long. So I called and expressed my concerns, and got his appointment moved up to an earlier date, tomorrow.Well today, my mom called me and said that he was just shaking really bad, extremely weak, kept falling over when he would stand. So, I got to thinking. I'm scared. I'm worried. I'm nervous. I want answers.After struggling to get him out to the truck. I took him to the ER. Well, I told them EVERYTHING that is going on with him...including the continous back pain, which was not my main concern. I want them to tell me why he has a low hemoglobin. Why is he getting weaker and weaker and weaker and weaker by the day? Why is his blood pressure dropping so low? Is he dehydrated like he was before and had the shakiness like that? See...all good questions right?So after being there 3 hours, they ran some blood tests, did a scan. Talked to his primary care docor and he told them what to do for him. Give him some pain meds, AND SEND HIM HOME. It was a waste of time!!! I got NO answers.I know some of the answers. I know why he has the back pain....because he is in bed for 23 hours a day....who's back wouldn't hurt after that???I kinda figure that all this is related to the anemia. But what I don't get is...why am I the only one worried about this? Why are they taking their time to get this stuff done? I don't get it! I know it can be done quicker, because I've been on the medical side of these situations. I know how this gets done quicker...why are they toying with us?? It makes no sense.I'm frustrated!!!