Adrienne was discharged late this afternoon and is now enjoying a long shower without IVs and poles. When she's done, we're going out for a nice meal since the hospital food was as bad as hospital food gets. I tried to go out and get things she'd like but there wasn't much close by.
She is still feeling a bit weak and tired, but she's so much better. The liver numbers are still high but they seem to be coming down slowly. I called SCCA where Adrienne had her allo transplant and they don't think that's the cause but the docs there will discuss it. They think the problem is the clinical trial drug. Hmmm.
Adrienne will go back to see the doctor on Monday so we can figure out what to do for treatment. I'll stay here for 2 to 3 days more to make sure she's okay and then go back to Las Vegas. Curt and I will be back in just two weeks for Thanksgiving. Hopefully she can catch up with her school work between now and then as her profs so far seem willing to do whatever is needed to get her through the semester.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Making Progress
Adrienne is doing much better today. She had pizza for breakfast (I know what you're thinking but food is food) and she's sitting up now reading a book for school. Temp is normal and the thrush in her throat is almost gone. The only remaining issue is the liver. We saw the GI people yesterday and they said the problem could be due to the pneumonia, and they'd like to watch and wait. They'll decide at the end of today whether or not to explore further. So all in all, things are good here in NY.
Monday, October 29, 2007
We Have Internet!!!
Sorry for the lack of updates but we've had very limited Internet access. Yesterday, our friend Karen was able to get an update on the blog so you're mostly caught up. We don't know much more today.
Adrienne is running low grade fevers (99-100) but that's a big improvement over a few days ago. She has a major infection in her throat and if that doesn't improve by tomorrow night, they'll go down and take a look. Her liver numbers are up again but her MRI and ultrasound were fine. If they don't improve in a couple of days, a liver biopsy will be the next step. The doctors think it might just be due to the pneumonia so let's keep our fingers crossed.
Yesterday, we were moved from a general medical unit to the oncology unit, and it's so much better. The nurses on the other unit couldn't draw blood from Adrienne's port and they couldn't administer some meds. This is much more of what we're used to and the nurses are very, very nice. We even have a frig in the room.
Adrienne is running low grade fevers (99-100) but that's a big improvement over a few days ago. She has a major infection in her throat and if that doesn't improve by tomorrow night, they'll go down and take a look. Her liver numbers are up again but her MRI and ultrasound were fine. If they don't improve in a couple of days, a liver biopsy will be the next step. The doctors think it might just be due to the pneumonia so let's keep our fingers crossed.
Yesterday, we were moved from a general medical unit to the oncology unit, and it's so much better. The nurses on the other unit couldn't draw blood from Adrienne's port and they couldn't administer some meds. This is much more of what we're used to and the nurses are very, very nice. We even have a frig in the room.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Update
Adrienne's fevers got much higher on Thursday night (above 103F with Tylenol) so we went to the ER at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. We were in the ER for 10 hours but Adrienne had her own room and they took very good care of her.
Since then, the fevers have persisted on and off despite her getting the strongest of antibiotics. The pneumonia looked much more advanced on Thursday than it was on her Tuesday scan and totally surrounds the tumor in her right lung. She has some shortness of breath and coughing when she takes a deep breath but otherwise her breathing is pretty good.
Adrienne has been complaining of a sore throat for about a week now and yesterday her pain was up to 8/10 on the pain scale. After a number of cursory looks the last few days, last night the doctor took a lot of time to see as far down her throat as he could and there's both puss and thrush (yeast) in there. They are now treating the thrush and hoping the antibiotics clear up the puss, but it seems that the throat is getting worse and worse. This morning I asked for more continuous pain meds to make her more comfortable. Hopefully yesterday's throat culture will tell us more about the puss.
Apparently, Adrienne's liver function tests were increased when we came in on Thursday night and were up significantly again on Saturday. She's had an ultrasound and MRI of the liver, but we have no answers as of yet. Her liver is tender when they press on it and she has one area of sharp pain. If they can't figure out what's going on with scans, the next step is an endoscopy to visualize the liver better. This seems to be a problem with the bilary system and could be as simple as backup in the gall bladder or as complex as more tumor. Obviously, we're hoping for the former.
Adrienne has been unable to do any school work for a week and missed two midterms last week. They have been rescheduled for Monday but obviously she isn't going to make that. We'll just have to see where this takes us. We're still hoping to avoid a withdrawal but may have no choice if she doesn't improve soon.
We're all trying to remain calm and not overly worry but we know how difficult these situations can be. Adrienne is getting very good care and they are running every test possible. Hopefully she'll be on the mend soon.
Since then, the fevers have persisted on and off despite her getting the strongest of antibiotics. The pneumonia looked much more advanced on Thursday than it was on her Tuesday scan and totally surrounds the tumor in her right lung. She has some shortness of breath and coughing when she takes a deep breath but otherwise her breathing is pretty good.
Adrienne has been complaining of a sore throat for about a week now and yesterday her pain was up to 8/10 on the pain scale. After a number of cursory looks the last few days, last night the doctor took a lot of time to see as far down her throat as he could and there's both puss and thrush (yeast) in there. They are now treating the thrush and hoping the antibiotics clear up the puss, but it seems that the throat is getting worse and worse. This morning I asked for more continuous pain meds to make her more comfortable. Hopefully yesterday's throat culture will tell us more about the puss.
Apparently, Adrienne's liver function tests were increased when we came in on Thursday night and were up significantly again on Saturday. She's had an ultrasound and MRI of the liver, but we have no answers as of yet. Her liver is tender when they press on it and she has one area of sharp pain. If they can't figure out what's going on with scans, the next step is an endoscopy to visualize the liver better. This seems to be a problem with the bilary system and could be as simple as backup in the gall bladder or as complex as more tumor. Obviously, we're hoping for the former.
Adrienne has been unable to do any school work for a week and missed two midterms last week. They have been rescheduled for Monday but obviously she isn't going to make that. We'll just have to see where this takes us. We're still hoping to avoid a withdrawal but may have no choice if she doesn't improve soon.
We're all trying to remain calm and not overly worry but we know how difficult these situations can be. Adrienne is getting very good care and they are running every test possible. Hopefully she'll be on the mend soon.
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