Another problem

Ok - now its our cat Fudd. He's not doing well - we came home from a nice trip in NY to find him not eating. He's had problems with his urinary tract system - that is still an issue. But now his liver is the main concern. He's now in a local animal hospital trying to get care and we'll find out more options for his care and life today and tomorrow. Right now - it doesn't look too hopeful - its probably liver cancer or "fatty liver" - which this one is treatable. However, he may not be stable for a feeding tube - and we can't stop working to take care of him full time either. so its just one of those instances where a choice has to be made. As Craig put it - we have extended his life a few times with previous surgeries and treatments knowing he'll have a healthy life. Now - we aren't sure we can say that.

So keep us in your prayers. We at least have Ron out of the hospital - so that is good. And Liz seemed really good this weekend - more good news. Just pray we can do the right thing by our first fur ball and little guy - Fudd. the last thing we want is for him to suffer too.
Love,
Gail

My Dad is moving back to Botsford Common

Dad is moving back to Botsford Common this afternoon
around 1.30p. It's still not clear that they have all
of the answers so that he can move forward, but at
least he'll have an opportunity to gain strength at
the rehab facility with the hopes of going home.

It just seems that they're having a difficult time
regulating everyting with all of the various drugs
they're using, but having him sit in bed all day tied
to a 6' length of oxygen hose isn't helping either.

My Dad has been moved

My Dad has been moved to room 213B. We're on our way back from new york now.

Thursday May 25

Hello everyone. Not too much happening here with mom. Just the same old stuff, radiation and radiation. Chemo is next wednesday. We are looking forward to michgan visiting this weekend.

Dad Update

I realized I haven't updated from Michigan in a while, so I wanted to let everyone know that Dad is in the hospital still. He's at Botsford, but we're hoping that he might be leaving this week. They've prescribed a new medication called Ranexa that is supposed to improve blood flow to the heart and hopefully eliminate angina attacks. This is what led him back to the hospital after being at the rehab facility for a week. It seems that he's still having difficulties getting everything to work right at the same time as yesterday they expressed concern about his white blood cells and platelet counts. They don't understand why these are reduced as they don't feel that there is any problem with his marrow, so I'm not sure if more tests are going to be done.

We're still planning to travel to the Valley for the holiday weekend, and have arranged for additional visits from people at our church, my brother-in-law, Marcus, and my friends Jim and Joyce Warner.

WooHoo

Mom doesn't have to get lovenox shots anymore. We are both quite happy about that! It turns out TJ has Pneumonia not the other thing but mom's oncologist said her white blood cell count was good. Mom went out last night to a church thing and even drove herself. Her appointment went well other than having no shots. I was unable to go so I am not sure of everything that was said.

Wednesday May 17

Mom is doing ok, getting tired again from the radiation I think. She is also either very nauseous or very hungry and she can never decide which it is. I just give her a pill and give her food to eat that takes care of both problems. Her recent appointment with her G.P. Dr Hunsiker went well, still trying to work out getting off the lovenox shots. Hopefully she will be off them by the weekend. She also lost a few pounds, not sure how many I was unable to attend that appointment and she wouldn't tell me. She has another appointment with her oncologist Dr. Razia friday. Hopefully one of her valley friends can take her since Tim, TJ, and I will be in North Creek all day. She has been driving herself but she appears to be getting a titch weak so a drive to utica may not be so good.

TJ recently was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis with apparently is very contagious. He is on antibiotics again I just hope mom didn't catch anything. The doc's keep a good eye on her counts so she should be ok.

Back to Botsford Hospital

Dad is back to Botsford Hopital today. He had some minor angina Saturday night, but had a severe case this morning, and they sent him from the rehab facility back to the Botsford ER. They're going to admit him today, and we should know about a room assignment a little later. They're going to hold the rehab room for 24 hours, and then they'll have to box up his belongings and we'll have to pick it up. This will be a busy week as we're having our annual user conference, and I'm heavily involved in the setup and coordination of the event. Luckily, Gail had already taken today off to get caught up at home, so she's already been to see Dad at the ER, and doped out the situation at the rehab facility.

I'm not sure why he's continuing to have angina pain as they were supposed to be getting him on a new drug regimen to assist with the blockage in the one vein, but it's evidently not doing what it needs to.

May 11

Today was a good day for mom, she drove. First she drove from herkimer to ilion with me in the car. Then she drove herself to herkimer later in the day. She did ok but drive a bit slow with me, like 40 in a 55. But she isn't going to drive to utica so it's ok. Tomorrow is the colonoscopy as planned. Tonight she is preping, probably not a good time to call for those who are interested. Yesterday the nurse told mom to get out more and not be so home bound so mom is getting out more.
She went to wal-mart so all is right with the world again. Sunday we may attempt church if she isn't too tired from chemo and other stuff.

May 9

Today mom had her markings done for radiation. She will have 15 more days of radiation starting this thursday. This morning I began giving her shots of lovenox to thin her blood a little. She has blood tests everyday this week to see if they can do the colonoscopy friday, we won't know until thursday if that will still happen. That is all.

Monday

Today we found out mom's blood is normal and they want it thinner. So I have to give her a shot twice a day now, we'll see how that goes. Radiation is still on for tomorrow, and chemo wednesday. I guess the colonoscopy is still a question up until thursday, depending on her levels. More tomorrow.

Dad's Moving

Dad will be leaving the hospital today, but isn't quite strong enough to head back to his apartment by himself. He'll be going to a geriatric rehab facility associated with the hospital called Botsford Commons. They said they're planning to move him today by ambulance at about 2.00p. They'll be working on building his strength back up and he should be able to return home soon.

Help

TJ's birthday present is to ride thomas friday the 19th in north creek ny, which is 2 1/2 hours away. I can't drive that by myelf (and all our friends are busy) so tim is going to drive but that would leave mom alone. I am not comfortable with that at all so I was wondering if anyone can come up and stay with her. We would be leaving early probably 8am and we'd be back at night. If anyone can I would be very grateful.

Thursday

Well, no colonoscopy this week. They are still checking coumadin levels and they are not happy with it yet. So we actually have NO appointments tomorrow! Wow. Next week is really busy. Radiation starts at some point, Chemo next wednesday and they say the colonoscopy will be friday. Plus there are some random appointments thrown in there.

Mom is tired, and losing much more of her hair. Our pastor came today for a visit which was nice. She has been out of it as well so if you speak to her and she says funny stuff i guess it is a side effect of chemo or drugs or something like that.

Latest Updates

I spoke to Jennifer last night to get the latest news on Mom. She's continuing her treatments, and is proceeding with a wonderful colonoscopy on Friday that was scheduled way before any of this started. The doctors recommended she move forward with that to see what's what and deal with anything they might find. The side effects from the treatment have been more difficult to contend with. She's got sores in her mouth, and the medicine they gave her helps for a little while, but it makes it painful for her to eat, so Jennifer and Tim are working with her to try to get her to eat something each day. The next chemo is scheduled for next Wednesday, and there are some new cat scans scheduled to see where things are at.

Dad is still in the hospital, and had a catheterization yesterday. They determined that one of the grafts from his bypass surgery is partially blocked. Dad didn't have the whole story, but I doubt it's cholesterol build up because that's been closely monitored since the bypass, so it's most likely scarring that has developed over the years. They plan to do another catheterization to "roto-router" the vein so that it allows for better blood flow. This is critical because he's had three more incidents of angina pains since he thought he had a heart attack last week. There were two events overnight Sunday, and I haven't heard any more today. The next procedure will likely take place at a different hospital, but they said that it would just be a day trip, and then he would return to Botsford. If this procedure opens up the vein, then hopefully he can return home, maybe by the end of the week, but we'll have to wait and see.