Nan Mustard's Recovery

This blog is a record of Erin (Nan) Mustard's recovery.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Nan in surgery again Sat. 12:30

Nan continues to be very critical, so critical today due to a new challenge, fever. We have watched it rise from 101.7 to 102.3 since we have been here this morning. As I write these words Nan is being moved from the ICU to the surgery room where they will remove the 7 packs from her belly, do extensive cleanup and search for evidence of infection. They will also connect her colostomy as it has been stapled off since surgery. They will make a decision as to close her or not depending on how many fluids they have to give her during the 1 to 2 hour process. Jason, Dana and I are in the waiting room and will be for hours. Since it is weekend there is little activity in here and the room is very cold. We are leaning on each other for support between tears and moments of despair. We have all been praying over and over again for God to do a miracle and turn Mom's condition in a better way. Her liver function is not good, they may start dialysis when she gets back to ICU to help the kidneys remove the fluids that are building up in her body. So you now know what we know. We are allowed to be in the room with mom as much as we want but we know we can't upset her so we speak quietly and refrain from touching her as she gets internally agitated and it has a bad effect on her heart and lungs.

Our request is that you pray for her today when you read this message. She needs a miracle really. I believe firmly that God has led us this far and opened and closed doors so we would be in Boston.

By way of recap, Nan's GIST tumors were once again growing during the fall and winter months. Dana Farber Cancer Institute was starting a new trial of a medicine known as IPI504 which showed some promise of controlling GIST tumors. We were accepted in April and traveled back here where after extensive testing she was approved to be in the trial. She received IPI on fridays and mondays for two weeks and then was able to travel home for 10 days before having to return to do it all over again. There was some evidence that some of the tumors were responding to the IPI while others were not. Over the last 3 weeks Nan has started to have more and more bowel blockages which were becoming very serious. A decision was made last tuesday morning between the trial doctor Dr. Morgan and a very highly respected surgeon Dr. Bertinoli to do a limited surgery to take out the tumors that were not responding to the IPI. Within 2 hours of the decision Nan was being wheeled away from me into surgery. The surgery went a different direction though and ended up being nearly 9 hours long. During the surgery she began to bleed from many places. GIST surgeries tend to bleed a lot. By the time the surgery was over she had gone through 56 units of blood and was still bleeding a lot when she was taken to the ICU. Many people prayed for her that night and the bleeding began to stop over the next few hours. During surgery her potassium level rose so much from the new blood being transfused that her heart stopped and had to be restarted by shock. Because this took place her heart, kidneys and liver have been effected and compromised. Her kidneys are putting out about 30 cc an hour but her creatin level has risen to 3 while hers is normally 1.5. She is facing so many different medical issues that her overall statis is not good at this point. While they wish they could have put off taking her back to the OR today letting her rest another day the runaway fever says something has to be done now. So about this time she is starting this next surgical process. When you read this we are asking that you pray immediatelly that God will do his will guiding the doctors, helping the meds to work have having the angels do any extra things possible.

While we are not falling apart it certainly good to have each other at this moment and we are in contact with Nikki by the hour. She is bravely taking Keanna to Sabbath School in Tracy this morning and we have let people know at church about Nan's need for prayer.

Thanks for wading through this long email message but I wanted to share with you what I know and how we got to this point. Nan and I discussed her going in just before we parted on tuesday and we both felt that God had brought us to this point and we were at peace with it. Nan is a strong woman and has a deep faith that God is in control. She would be thrilled at this point to discover that during the surgery all of the visible tumors were removed, something that we had been denied on several occasions by other surgeons. She had no hope that all the tumors were going to be removed and she would be thrilled if she could know that right now. However she has been totally sedated since surgery and will be sedated for at least another couple weeks after her recovery begins.

We send our love, seek your prayers and are chosing to trust that God knows what He is doing.

Tim

7 Comments:

  • At 11:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thanks for keeping us all updated. I am hoping for the best.

    Steve Gratz

     
  • At 12:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Tim & Family,

    We continue in thought & Prayer for Your Family at this most trying time.

    Your Blogg has ben passed on to all that are so very concerned here.

    God Bless You,

    Bob & carrol Sorensen

     
  • At 12:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    We are with you in prayer and would like to thank you for keeping us posted on Aunt Nan's condition.

    Our love to you all,
    Rodney, Shay and kids

     
  • At 1:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thank you so much for keeping us posted. Our thoughts and prayers have been with Nan and you especially this week. We pass this info on to her other NC friends and we are all praying for all of you. May God keep you close in this trying time. Nan's phone call as she was going into surgery meant so much to me. Know we are all close to you in thought and prayer.
    We love you.
    Roger and Carol

     
  • At 5:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Tim,
    Yvonne Miller sent us the info on Nan. Please accept our heartfelt prayers on her behalf as well as yourself and the rest of the family.
    Sincerely,
    Alison & Brett

     
  • At 7:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Tim and family,
    I have been praying continually for God's will to be accomplished in Nan's life. I would like a miracle also, but mostly I pray for peace for all of you and that the Holy Spirit will uplift all of you. Thanks for sending the emails and such well written explanations of all the things that are happening to Nan. She is one strong lady. Our prayers will continue to ascend to God for all of you.
    With love, Patty and Jack W.

     
  • At 8:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Tim
    Thank you for keeping us updated. I am praying for her and for all your family during this diffucult time. Erin is a fighter and she has to make it through all of this and she will be so happy to hear that they got all the tumors. She would talk to me sometimes and she wished that someone would do the surgery to remove them. God is watching over her and she will come out of it so that we can keep our lunch date that we were suppost to have this week.
    Love you both
    Mary Puente

     

Post a Comment

<< Home