Thoracentesis done

The docs were concerned so Adrienee had the larger effusion drained this afternoon. She was not happy at all but now seems to be feeling a bit better and even ate some dinner. They can only do one side at a time so they'll do the other one in the morning. They drained 1.3 liters, about 1.5 times the normal amount. Hopefully it won't fill up again. She's resting comfortably now.

911

Adrienne has had increasing shortness of breath the last two days and spiked a fever last night. By this morning, she was having a lot of difficulty breathing and looked quite gray/blue so I called 911. At least she got a couple of cute EMTs to take her to the ER. They got her on oxygen at the house so she started feeling better right away. They just put her into an intermediate care room, one step down from ICU. She's gotten 3 different antibiotics and a slew of tests. Turns out she has pneumonia in one lung and pleural effusions around both lungs. The plan is to keep her stable today, get more antibiotics on board, and then drain the effusions in the morning. Please pray that things go smoothly. I'll update when I know more.

Day After

Daniel's 21st was yesterday. We all had dinner together and then he went out with his friends to celebrate his birthday. Here he is the day after...with barf bucket at the ready. It doesn't look like he's used it yet. He's not normally much of a drinker but, well, it's his 21st.

Adrienne is about the same. She thinks the pain might be just a little less sharp but her coughing/shortness of breath seems a little worse to me. The procarbazine is easy so far and we found the etoposide so she'll start that on Friday. As always, we remain hopeful that this regimen treats her well and that it does its job.

Going Home

I'm posting really quick as we pack up to go to the airport. We're definitely ready to come home for Adrienne's birthday tomorrow and Daniel's on Wednesday. It's going to be 98 degrees tomorrow. We saw the doc this morning and the plan is to start oral procarbazine and etoposide as soon as possible. The problem is finding the etoposide so hopefully they can find it in Nevada. Adrienne's pain seems pretty stable and manageable for now. The PET scan showed disease everywhere it was last December, plus more in both lungs and a new small lesion in the liver, but overall, it was less than we were expecting. I don't remember the term for the pleural effusion but basically, it isn't the type that's drainable. Getting rid of the cancer will get rid of the effusion.

Here's one more picture of Moe that made us smile (and shows just how tiny he is):


"Ade & Mom, Dad ordered Papa John's pizza. He wouldn't share. Can you please call him and tell him to give me a slice? I have decided to go on a 'hunger strike!' Moe"