Much pain, much joy

Dear Friends, Family and fellow GISTers,

11:30 here, I'm home from the hospital and Pam just called as she is leaving the hospital for Lodi. Nan is sleeping soundly with the help of Adavan. She has had a day of extreme pain and the joy of Nikki and Keanna coming to spend hours with her. This evening Mary came after her work and then Pam came as I was leaving at around 10 or so. Doctors suggest that the pain may be caused by necrotic tumors, ones that have nearly died and have fluid in the center that might be leaking out. The primary source of the fevers has been determined to be staph infection in the blood once again with some bugs showing up in the urinary tract and bags. She is having some nausea again, actually started before we restarted the Gleevec last evening. She has had some meals today and lost several meals. Suction is continual to remove stomach fluids. She has been getting Dilautid up to 4 mg every two hours or so when pain dictates. She slept long periods of time last time puctuated by extreme pain. Kind nurses helped her find a comfortable position which afforded her several extra hours of rest.

Dana arrived first today and they enjoyed time together hatching plans of how to see the baby and help Jo and Jason. I arrived at 11:20 having decided to stay home and finish an appraisal that was promised out this morning. Then at 12 I left for an appointment of an interesting home in Alamo, 11 minutes from the hospital. That one was COD which is always nice. Then back to Spaghetti Factory to have lunch with Nikki and Keanna who surprised Nan with a visit. Nikki took the day off so she could spend time with her mom. It was a great investment, Nan enjoyed the two of them so much as you can see from the photos I took. While mom slept after taking some meds Nikki and Keanna hit the mall, then back to be with mom again for awhile and then finally home to eat with Dana here at the house. I took a nap also as I only get a few hours of sleep each night and it catches up with me.

At one point the pain was almost overwhelming and nan asked to get up into the recliner. We did that and she had some relief and stayed up for the next few hours. When she is awake she is totally lucid now with no memory loss or confusion. Her hands are steady and her resolve is strong.

I once again called our oncology office this morning to find out about AMN and they promised to call back by end of day but NO CALL. I'm losing my patience with these people, a call back, how hard can that be. I did not hear back from Dr. Warren at UCSF either as to whether I should drive the CD of the CT scan over. A day of waiting for the phone to ring. Meanwhile the care at the hospital has never been better. The doctors are doing what they can but much is beyond them, she is complex in so many ways. Today her calcium is running high, no one has a clue why. Her creatins are down to 2.5 now, much better than 3.5 a week ago.

Nan thinks her visible tumor might be a little smaller today, I hope she is right.

On a different and less important front our financial situation has been going steadily downhill for a couple weeks with almost no income. The Lord saw fit to bless us with over $6,000 today which will allow us to make a sizable payment to AMEX that I have been promising to them for nearly a week. Thank you Lord and dear clients, thank you.

So now its to bed for some rest until 6 tomorrow morning. It has been a day of terror, watching nan in such pain and a day of joy as Keanna and Nikki lifted her spirits. How this dear woman needs God's help and soon.

Pray please...

love

tim and nan and dana and john