Saturday August 13, 2011 Part II

This has been an awful day for mom .

Her white blood cells are elevated and they are running some tests to see if she has an infection or if her pancreas or colon are leaking, or if there is inflammation present in the abdomen.
Her vomiting is violent and her stomach is so very sore and painful that she is just miserable. She has had all the anti nausea medicine she can take and continues to throw up.

They want to place a pik line which will give access to her veins for iv meds and to also draw blood, She is low on potassium but the iv potassium burns so much she can't tolerate it. They can't do the line until Monday so she has to take it orally in the meantime. With the pik line it won't hurt going in. She started getting a lot more nauseous after taking it by mouth and they say it has to be ingested or administered one way or another as it puts her heart at risk to be so low.

She is exhausted, sad, and discouraged. She has been asking the Lord fervently to help relieve her of the pain. Please pray for her. It is so awful to watch her hurt and seemingly get little relief, though it is nothing compared to what she is going through. Please pray for Dad. He is constantly by her side and loving on her, but it is so hard for him as well.

Please pray that she will not have an infection and that her white blood cell count will go down.

Please pray that she is able to sleep tonight. ( they still have a few more things to do tonight and I

want her to get some sleep soon.)

Thank you for following her blog and your words of encouragement. She / we appreciate it so very much.

With love,

Kimberly and family

Saturday August 13, 2011

I think the title for today should be "Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down".

Morning= UGLY
Lots of vomiting, nausea, confusion, etc.
Mom's blood sugar was 30 at 11 o'clock and since the glucose went up to 80 then settled at 70 for now. They will check her every hour for a while and then every 3 hours after that.

Leah (RN) said that the last time she saw someone with blood sugar that low, they were no longer responding. Mom was somewhere between conscious and passed out for a couple hours, which has to be a miserable place to be.

Since the glucose, mom has started to come around some. The nausea has subsided, color has returned, and her alertness is returning.

Pastor Bob from Riddle, OR stopped by and gave us all a real life James 5:16a "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much". Shortly after praying, Leah spotted the problem with the blood sugar. It was pretty awesome. He visited for about and hour and gave us some updates and encouragements on Aunt Donna, spent time with Dad and then headed for Riddle. It was a real blessing to Mom and Dad for sure.

Pastor Mark ( from mom and Dad and Troy and Maria's Church) will be stopping by this afternoon to visit and pray with Mom and Dad, so that will be great too.

Troy has been with them through this whole chapter and I am heading up there now. Carmen will be returning tomorrow to stay with them until they are released.

Please continue to pray for mom and dad to not be discouraged and frustrated with this glucose issue. I will update as I am able but not sure what the computer access will be like.

Troy, Kimberly and family

Friday August 12, 2011

A message from Mom:

Mom is dictating some of this for me as she felt like she could add some input into her blog today. ( some of the time she is napping so I will ad lib..... :)

Mom and dad were happy to see Kale come (Carmen's son and their grandson) this morning to pick up Carmen and take her home for a few days. They got to visit for a bit before he had to leave to take sis home and work this afternoon.

I got here (Kimberly) late morning and when I walked in mom was very discouraged. She has had a rough couple of days and you could see it in her countenance.

She was nauseous, sick and hurting. She was thinking the only anti nausea medicine she isn't allergic to was making her jittery and she was frustrated with her information about her diet intake in the last several days. Their morning nurse sought out some information about post op diets after abdominal surgery which was really informative. After reading through it mom felt like she had been doing everything "wrong" in relation to her diet and that it had been a set back that had caused so much more stress and pain than necessary.

She hadn't been started on iv fluids and her iv that had been so carefully placed had been taken out Wednesday and for some reason had never been ordered.

When we spent the majority of mom's stay here in '08 / '09 we were mainly on the 6th floor. Mom and dad had taken a walk yesterday and they ran into a staff member form 6th floor. Before long the news had spread that she was back and she was getting visits from previous nurses and housekeepers.

Then this afternoon her nurse came in and said that we were being moved due to construction. We landed on the 6th floor. That was happy! Today she had a visit from one of her previous nurses that had the day off and came by just to see mom. Wow, she is loved.

Next the nutritionist came by and gave us some good information. More encouragement. Shortly after, Dr. Park showed up. He reassured mom that he is not worried about her. He knows that she feels horrible, but when you break down all the things he has to follow, he has no real concerns. He says this is a common recovery for such a tough, very invasive abdominal surgery and she should try not to be discouraged. There is no rule book for recovery and she did not do anything "wrong" but that she will progress as her body dictates. He was surprised that she 1.) did not have an iv and 2.) was not getting the hydration he had ordered yesterday. We again stressed what a terribly hard poke she is and that she gets concerned with who is going to place it. With that, he walked out of the room, got supplies, took off his jacket and said he would just do it himself. He joked with mom and asked her why she forgot to bring her veins with her when she came in, but in the end, he poked her one time and it was in. Another blessing....... Within 30 minutes she had iv hydration on board. She got an anti nausea patch, pain meds and withing an hour was feeling better.

As I type this, Troy is on his way up. I know mom and dad both are looking forward to seeing him. He has a way of making us all laugh and smile. He is good medicine to the soul as they say. ( "they" say that, not me, just for the record Troy :)

Dad has perked up a bit since mom has perked up. He has on these shoes that squeak really loudly on the floor in her room. I started razzin him about them and told him he should wear his slippers. To this he promptly decided he had to walk all over the room. He had quite a swagger too as he twisted and turned as he walked. He made mom laugh and of course the little bit of encouragement just fueled the fire for him to be even more obnoxious. Ya, I know, BIG surprise. :)

Tonight mom is looking better and I believe is more hopeful and positive about the next several days. Dr. Park does not feel they will need to spend a week at Cancer Care housing, but that by the time she is finally discharged she will be going straight home.

Carmen has read all the comments posted on the blog to mom and dad daily. They love hearing them and feel like they are little short visits from you all. Please keep them coming. They put a smile on their faces.

With much love and gratitude,

Kimberly and family

Thursday August 11th 2011

I am writing this blog for Carmen as mom's computer seems to have decided it is done.

I want to just take a quick minute to thank Carmen for all she has done. Carmen went up on Tuesday August 4th with Mom and Dad for Mom's pre op. She has stayed around the clock with mom and dad since then, either sleeping on a cot next to mom or in the waiting room with dad one night. She has been home only one night when I was able to be there and off work.I just want to publicly thank her for her constant love and care of mom and dad during this time. Troy and I (and family) love and appreciate you and your time spent there loving them. We are in a different season than we were when mom went through treatment the first time.

Anyway, I just want to thank you sis. We love you. You are doing a wonderful job.

Ok, on to Mom. While she was doing better last night, today prompted new issues. First she ended up with a firestorm of consequences when it was noticed that she had blood in her urine. This triggered a bunch of tests and procedures that mom was miserable through. They never really figured it out but since it was only one time they decided to just watch her for now and stop further procedures and tests.

She gets really sick to her stomach with either something to drink or food in any small degree. She has been getting some conflicting advice about her diet but has decided to follow Dr.Park's advice to go slow and not push it and she will know best what she can tolerate. This seems to indicate that nothing is digesting. Tonight she threw up everything she had taken in for the entire day. It is such a disappointment to her as this could potentially keep her at UWMC and not allow her to transition to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance housing.

They have talked about restarting hydration for her. She gets pain with even a sip of a beverage or a bite to eat. There is speculation that her abdomen has not woken up yet and struggling to function properly after such an extensive surgery.

We covet prayer for her and ask that you pray for her to be pain free, for her abdomen to wake up and for her to be able to eat or drink without pain or repercussions.

Thank you for your love of mom.

It encourages us so much.

With much love,

Kimberly and family

Wed., Aug. 10th - Evening update

It was a long day, but it is ending well. We have had multiple doctors visiting Mama throughout the day, with multiple opinions of what was wrong and what to do. She has had a lot of cramping and pain with some nausea most of the day. Her surgeon is on vacation now, so his associate Dr. Park has been making the final calls on her care. I have to say....we love Dr. Park! He has been wonderful. He finally got all the problems turned around and Mama is finally feeling better.
Mama is getting stronger every day. She has a long road of recovery ahead, but she is making progress each day. I read her blog comments to her, as we do each day, and she open up cards she has received in the mail. Mama said it was a big shot in the arm. She was moved by all the thoughtful words of kindness and encouragement and feels loved. When you show love to my Mama, you show love to our family. Thank you.
We have gotten two different opinions from doctors as to when she will be discharged from the hospital. Either Thursday or Friday....we will have to see how tomorrow goes. From here we will be going to Seattle Cancer Care Housing for about another 5 days. We are really looking forward to getting there. You never get much rest in the hospital, so we are looking forward to sleeping in real beds and catching up on sleep and rest.
Thank you for your continued prayers. They are being answered one by one. :)
With love,
Carmen & family

Wed., August 10th - Morning update

Well the doctors came in this morning and now we are getting another story. There is no blockage, no kinks in anything from surgery..........no real answers. They did blood work this morning, so maybe it will show something. Meanwhile we wait for the Resident to talk with the surgeon to make some decisions. Mama continues to be on no food or drink. Please pray that she doesn't get dehydrated and her pain and nausea don't get out of control. I will give another update later this evening when hopefully....we will have some resolution and relief.
Thank you for keeping Mama lifted up in prayer.
With love and appreciation,
Carmen & family

Tuesday, Aug. 9th

Doctors made the decision to remove Mama's epidural and IV pain pump today and switched her to oral meds. Unfortunately, the transition has not gone well and pain has been a big part of her day. She wasn't able to keep down any food or drinks. Each time she would eat or drink, she would got sick to her stomach and had a lot of pain in just minutes.
She has continued to get up and go for walks and sit up in a chair trying to get better and stronger. Her determination is amazing.
We are blessed to have Ernie for her evening nurse again. He really went to bat for her to expedite getting to the bottom of the problem. Mama went for X-rays this evening so the doctor could see what is going on. They found a blockage that will be dealt with in the morning. This is better than some of their other thoughts of what it could be. For now she has been told no food or drink by mouth. We appreciate your prayers regarding this problem causing her so much discomfort and pain.
A day full of pain and tears has really worn on Mama's nerves. She told me this evening, that she keeps thinking of scripture that says His mercies are new every morning. So she is looking forward to tomorrow and planning to have a better day.
At this moment, her pain and nausea are under control. She didn't get any rest today, so we are praying that her pain and nausea remain under control and she gets the sleep she so desperately needs tonight.
Thank you for your continued prayers and words of encouragement. We are so blessed.
With love,
Carmen & family