New blood makes a great positive difference

Dear Friends and Family,

Friday evening at about 11:10 pm. Nan has just gone up to bed with a fresh TPN bag and a lot more energy than this morning. We have enjoyed our evening visiting with Pam, Nan's long time friend from Lodi. She was kind enough to drive over this evening in spite of the nasty levee roads and shared her evening with us. It was so nice to relax with a friend and to have Nan feeling so much better than even this morning. Thank you Pam for your wonderful visit.

This morning started with Nan vomiting three different time between 5 and 8:30. She felt so rough when she dressed to travel to the hospital for blood. She rode in the bed in the back but felt every sudden stop and every bump the entire way there. We have a 110 outlet in the back of the Odyssey so can plug in the vacuum pump as we travel. She bundled up with blankets and pillows to keep warm. Finally we arrived at the Concord Campus of John Muir Hospital and we went to short stay on the third floor. The nurse was ready for her and got started immediatelly. I asked about extra hydration but was told the they would be giving lasix. However the lady oncology Dr. came over during the morning and went over several ideas to help Nan. 1) stop the Lovequin 2) put a patch behind her ear which is usually used for sea sickness on cruise ships (very creative solution) 3) extra liter of hydration to be given along with the TPN for the next few days. Nan started to slowly feel better after the 1st unit of blood was in. Of course the little steriod they give always gives her a bit of energy so as the day progressed her phone calls became more and more animated and alert. I drove from Concord to Waterford which is about 1.5 hour trip and inspected a nice home with delightful people. Then back to Taco Bell for a wholesome lunch, then on the Ripon to another lovely home and great owners. Then back to Tracy where Nan had me stop and pick up a burrito from her favorite place, this is the same lady that has not been able to eat or drink almost anything and keep it down over the past few days. I made the stop and used a card some kind person slipped me in church at ARCO and filled the tank of her car, then on to Concord to pick her up. It was like seeing a new person, a bit more color in the cheeks, a full rounded voice and quick movements. We loaded up the wheel chair with the pump, the TPN bag, the purse,a nice pick bucket just in case. When we got to the car she decided she wanted to ride up front. We had a nice ride home and got to talk to Nikki and Keanna, Pam Whitted and Sharon. We got home and few minutes later Pam arrived and we relaxed. nan had two mocha hot drinks, water and enjoyed her recliner. We tried to get Pam to just stay over in the guest room but she needed to get back.

I managed to forget to prime the line of the TPN and Nan looked down with alarm at the clear air filled tubing at about the same time as the pump started beeping telling me there was air in the line, stupid care giver, need to be more careful!! We primed the line and then everything worked fine.

As I reflect on the past week it has been a time of conflicting emotions, seeing Nan so sick on so many different occasions this week has been very tough, she has suffered not so much from the lower back pain but from pain in her incision wound where the vac sponge is and ongoing nausea which even Zophram did not touch. The low hemoglobin certainly has not helped at all. We have been in a circle of distress. We were taking the antibiotic every night which usually causes some GI problems and vomiting, with vomiting she was losing more fluids than she could replace so she became dehydrated which caused creatins to rise to 3, highest since Boston and high creatins cause vomiting and nausea. Complicating things is the high output of fluid into the canister of the vac pump from the incision wound, about 300 cc a day, fluids that need to be replaced somehow. As we go to sleep tonight I think we have a handle of solving some of these problems. Nan feels much better this evening, the best she has felt for several days.

We were thinking about a week ago. We were in the motorhome at Jason and Jo's place and we enjoyed our time there so much with them and having Sharon along to keep us sane. We thank God He has helped us through this week and we thank him for sending Sharon, Mary, Pam, Sylvia and for my friend Art and my brother who are my phone buddies. Steve, our son in law has also been great about dropping in with Keanna and seeing what is going on, Nikki with her visits and kind calls. We are blessed in so many ways. Dana too has been a great phone buddy for Nan and had good news this week at MD Anderson regarding the health issues around her knee and leg.

Bob and Carrol have a long time friend who is recovering from a very tough surgery in Lodi and has been struggling with the aftermath of surgery for about three weeks now. We sure want to remember him in our prayers.

If it works out I may get to take Keanna to Sabbath School in the morning, I love to do that when I can. Right now I believe I'll go to sleep. Long week, many stressful moments, many blessings received, treasured moments with the woman I love.

Please keep us in your prayers and also express some thankyous for His continual watching over His children.

love

tim and nan

ps

We sure hope to see people tomorrow, come if you can, we'd love to see you.