Don's progress

Things seem to be improving somewhat. The docs think he has what they are calling "ARDS" - acute respiratory distress syndrome. They are treating him for this and it may be necessary for him to be put on a ventilator at some point in the future. If that happens, it will give his body a break and allow his body time to heal. He is saying he is hungry which is a new thing although he still can't really eat much of anything. He was sitting in bed watching T.V. last night which is also a new thing since we have been in the hospital. They have an NG tube going into his nose down to his stomach. They are going to start giving him "boost" or "ensure" through that so that he can get some nutrition without going the IV route. I don't want to speak too soon, but things appear to be looking up.

Keep praying,

Cindy

Don's progress

Things really haven't improved over the weekend much. We had him in a wheelchair Saturday and outside for a few minutes but he had a bad night Saturday night and slept most of Sunday. He has had a difficult time breathing and with some pain. He still isn't eating much be we did manage to get a few bites down him yesterday. Today they put a tube in through the nose and down to the stomach so that he can be given water with aspirating. He is still pretty strong though and is alert knows what is going on. It is sometimes difficult for him to talk. They have a full oxygen mask on him now as opposed to the one that just goes in the nose. It has been tough but he is hanging in there.

Keep praying.....

Cindy

Don's progress

Things are looking up. They have taken Daddy off of pretty much all the IV fluids he has been receiving (which was a lot) at the cardiologist's direction. All of his levels are pretty much normal now. The kidneys are working good again. The lungs still have fluid in them but we are working on that. The catch is that he has to eat which has been a challenge. Because he really hasn't eaten anything for the last few weeks, he can't eat much at all. It is difficult for him to even a few bites at a time. We keep trying though so hopefully this will improve in a short time. We just need to get him stronger now and back on his feet a little so that he can go home.

Keep praying......

Cindy

Don's progress

The bronchialscope went o.k. The airways looked normal but we won't be certain of infection until tomorrow after some lab work. I dare say he was better today than yesterday. Tonight he was even a little grouchy which to me is an improvement because before he didn't even feel good enough to complain.

He does have congenital heart failure. A cardiologist is being brought in now to devise a treatment plan for this new problem. At this point, everything that he has is at least treatable and we are not giving up.

Thanks for all of your support. Please continue to pray.....

Cindy

Don's progress

Things aren't really improving with Daddy. His heart and lungs are a big concern. He has fluid in his lungs and around his heart which is making his heart work harder. They have been giving him lasics to get the fluid down but we are having trouble getting it out of his lungs. They did a second EKG today to compare to the one before the chemo started because there is some concern that one of the chemo drugs could have caused some heart damage. They are doing a bronchialscope tomorrow morning to take a look inside his lungs for infection. This fluid problem could be a result of either of these things. Cathy and Mark will be here later tonight and Marty too. Please keep us all in your prayers during this difficult time.

Cindy

Don's progress

He continues to have fluid in his lungs. He is struggling with breathing and is real tired. The hospital staff has asked if he would want resuscitation and he has said that he does not. They continue to treat everything aggressively but there is no real improvement at this point. Please continue to remember him in your prayers. His spirits are good and he is wanting to listen to the Gaithers.

Tracy

Don's progress

Forgot someone very important that not only came to visit, but spent the night with him....Josh. Daddy was happy to see him! Thanks Josh for driving all that way and spending the night with Pappaw!

Love you....

Aunt Tracy

Don's progress

Wow, I didn't know how far behind we were on updating this. Sorry. Rather than go back a few days, I will just let you know what is going on today. He had a rough night last night...was wheezing a lot and just uncomfortable. Then ended up giving him morphine during the night, and he seemed better this morning. April and Cindy spent the night last night and I will stay with him tonight. His counts are good. He's had platelets and blood over the last couple of days, but may not need that today. A big problem is his eating. He chokes on everything. I think this is a combination of weak muscles from his stroke three years ago combined with generalized weakness now. They are giving him some IV nutrition to help along. Will let you know more when I know something...

We've had some out of town visitors this last week...Marty, my step brother, Earl Branch and his wife, Aunt Catherine and Uncle FM, and Noble and Faye Carver (our neighbors from Waskom). Jerry Killebrew called him the other night also. Aunt Nita calls him almost daily and he really smiles when she calls!

Tracy

Don's progress

Good news today! Oncologist says mass (tumor) has softened a good bit. The bone aspiration tests finally came back and was negative. The cancer is at stage 3B. Kidney funtion test all came back normal. The catheter came out today. His phosphates are high and calcium is low but that is to be expected and is a sign that tumor is breaking up. Uric acid is going down but still not in the normal range. He's been sitting up in a chair for an hour or so at a time over the last couple of days. Fluid hydration will stop today so swellling should start going down. Platelets are low from chemo and is to be expected. He will be getting platelets and blood over the next few days. Physical therapy is coming in to help him get started moving again. WAHOO!!! We seem to be moving in the right direction.

More later, C

Don's progress

Don's progress

Sorry I posted twice, but I did not think the first one went through.

Don's progress

Went to see Daddy this morning. He looks pretty good. April and BJ stayed with him last night. He is mad at the nurses because they won't give him water without thickening it. They did a swallow study and said the thin liquids are going into his lungs and that is why they need to be thickened. They are going to get speech therapy to work with him on that to strenghten his muscles.

His phosphorus level is high, but the creatinine level has gone down to almost normal (1.6). Both of these are related to the kidney. His urine output is good. He actually looks good! His speech is clear....and he's agravated about things, so I think that is a good sign.

Gotta go for now.

Tracy

Don's progress

Went to see Daddy this morning. He looks pretty good. His color is good and his speech is very clear. He's mad at his nurses because they won't give him plain water. They are thickening all his liquids because he is choking on them and aspirating them into his lungs. They did a swallow study the other day and that is what it showed. Anyway, he is MAD! His arms, hands, feet and legs are swollen. He was looking at his feet this morning and said, "They've left me laying in this bed for a week and now look..." So, you could say he is a little aggravated and I think that is a sign he is better!

His phosphorus level is a little high and they are going to give him medicine for that. The problem is he needs to eat so the medicine will work. I told him that and he agreed he would try. His creatinine level is 1.6 which is almost normal. Both of these labs are kidney related. He does have good urine output and that is a plus. We got him out of bed into a chair and he ate a few bites of sausage and egg. Then he ate a container of applesauce. I would say that is probably the most he has eaten since he has been in the hospital.

He talked on the phone to Aunt Nita, Mark, and Cathy today and they all thought he sounded much better. Maybe he is turning the corner!

Love you all,

Tracy

Don's progress

Just heard that Daddy has pneumonia...not surprising since he has been in the bed a lot. We can work with this.

He is resting well this afternoon.

More later...

Tracy

Don's progress

Dad underwent his first chemo treatment on Sunday and did very well with it. Most of the day Monday and all night (and I mean all night) he stayed awake talking about all kinds of goofy things. Sometimes he was lucid and knew what he was talking about and sometimes he wasn't. It was a little difficult to tell if he was lucid or not and he would kind of aggravated with me if I went along thinking he was talking nonsense when he wasn't. Anyway, when this is all over, there will be a few funny stories to tell about the things he would tell us.

I was there this morning when the oncologist came in. His kidneys are doing o.k. His creatin is back to normal but the urich acids are sky high as a result of the chemo. The urich acids being high is bad for the kidneys but means the chemo drugs they gave him are working. They are giving him something else to try and get the urich acid levels back down. The doctor says he thinks the mass in his stomach is getting softer and may be gone in a week or two. Still don't know the outcome of the bone aspiration test. We should know sometime today. It won't change the treatment at all because this kind of cancer is still treatable if it is in the bone but will make a difference at the end of the chemo treatments to see if he has to have another bone aspiration test.

Daddy got to have three new student nurses taking care of him this morning. They wore him out and he was taking a good nap the last I heard........More later, C.

Don's progress

Daddy's kidney function tests were elevated back to where they were when he was admitted. He is retaining a lot of fluid, but they are working on that. The kidney function tests are not as high as they were at one point. If they can get them back down, it would be great.

The oncologist says he is not going to get better until they start the chemo. He said Daddy is very sick and this will make him sicker, but there is hope.

Daddy has his sense of humor, but is very tired and is hard to understand. They started chemo today and premedicated him with Benadryl, a big dose (IVPB for you nurses) of Zofran (something for nausea), and an IV bag of steroids. He should sleep through most of it today.

They said he would get ulcers/sores in his mouth and to expect it. Also bleeding gums, possibly some blood in the urine, nausea and vomiting, and lab values will all be very low. We let the kids see him one last time today because they won't be able to be around him after the chemo.

Keep us in you prayers and hopefully everything will be all right. By the way, he had lots of visitors yesterday...Ron and Margaret, Jeannie, Jerry and Ruby, Meryl, Jamie and her boyfriend. Also Aunt Nita, Uncle Goza, and Stan were here for the weekend. Of course, all of us were here as well. He really enjoyed it! Ray Wise...he asked about you! We told him you were working and that somebody in your family was in the hospital. Anyway, love you all.

Tracy

Don's progress

To make a long story short, they think the cancer is large cell which is aggressive. However, it also responds to chemo quickly. The oncologist said it is not unusual for it to be gone in a week. He is doing pretty good today. Still very weak and tired. Has not gotten out of bed today...too weak. His appetite is about like yesterday. Keep praying.....

Love,

Tracy

Don's progress

October 13, 2006

Dad was awake a good bit during the night, probably because he slept off the anesthesia until around 11:00pm. Cindy and I spend the night with him and Cindy sat up most of the night. He speech was more clear than it had been. He was hungry this morning and was drinking a lot. He got out of the bed into a chair to eat his breakfast. He ate less than a quarter, but he has not eaten since Tuesday. My office brought a huge basket of fruit and I dug out an orange and squeezed the juice for him to drink. I asked him if it made me his favorite and he said almost. He ate half a nectarine and then his breakfast. He was so exhausted from sitting in the chair, I think he slept the next two hours.

The oncologist (cancer doctor) came in and said it looks like a lymphoma. The lab is running tests to make sure it is not some rare form of cancer. We will know on Monday what it is. We thought we would know today, but they want to make absolutely sure so they can treat it right. Not only that, they wanted the kidney labs to get back into the normal range before treatment. The kidney labs were down, but still not normal. His urine output has increased and the kidneys look like they are on their way to recovery.

She also said there are two types of Lymphoma. Large cell and high grade. High grade lymphoma is what she is suspecting and the treatment for that would be worse than the other. He would probably be in the hospital for about three weeks for the treatment. There is a 60% cure rate. The treatment would be very hard on him, but if that is what it is, that is what we will do. If it is a large cell lymphoma, he would have the first chemo treatment in the hospital and then once a week. She didn't say for how long. She said that treatment is also hard, but it would be better than the other. They did a bone marrow aspiration today to stage the cancer.

Aunt Nita, Uncle Goza, and Stan came today and it brightened up his spirits. Of course Faye is absolutely wonderful with him and he perks up when she is there or when the kids are there. Ray-Ray did a picture of Kipper, his dog, and we framed it and it is sitting on a shelf so he can see it. I am going to get some string and hang across the curtains and hang cards and pictures up with clothes pins. The kids are all going to do some artwork for him.

It's going to be a hard fight, but it will be worth it if it saves him. We have our armor on and are ready to stand on the frontlines and fight this thing!

Keep praying for him and us.....we all need it.

Love to all,

Tracy

Don's progress

Kidney output has increased and it looks like kidney function is kicking back in. Kidney labs are still high but doctor thinks they will normalize in next couple of days.

Today Daddy underwent a biopsy. Preliminary biopsy results indicate some form of lymphoma. We should find out what kind of lyphoma tomorrow sometime. Kidney doctor says not to give up because lymphoma is usually very sensitive to chemo treatments.

When Daddy has been awake today he has been joking a little and seems to be keeping up that good attitude. He seems just a little stronger today. Please keep him and us in your prayers not just for his healing but to keep his spirits up as well and to give him that detemination he needs to beat this.

Thanks to all for your continued support and prayers. We love you.

Cindy

Don's progress

I just got back from the hospital. Daddy's potassium level is back down to normal which is a good sign. Will update with more info tomorrow after talking to doctors again.

Keep praying,
Cindy

Don's progress

October 11, 2006

Update…Today he is still sleepy. Kidney function tests are still elevated. Actually at least one kidney test is higher today than yesterday, which is bad. His blood pressure is still low today, but they changed his fluids in hopes of raising the blood pressure and it is helping some. The last BP was 93/56. It has been running 80’s/40’s. Temp today is better. It is low normal…96.0, but last temp was 98.7, which is great. Yesterday, the temp was 94.5….very low.

He is sleeping a lot today. Everything tires him out. This morning, the nurse came in and asked him if he knew where he was. He said Gulfport. The nurse said, no. He said Biloxi? She said no. He said Thibodeaux! She said no but told him where he was. So maybe a little confusion, but mostly, he is with it!

They are still waiting to get a CT Scan of the abdomen. He has to drink the dye because it is not as hard on the kidneys. Anyway, he HATES IT!

Love you all. Will let you know as soon as we know something.

Tracy

Don's progress

We have set up this blog to let others know of Daddy's progress at their convenience. We will try to post updates everyday.

As of today, it looks like there is more concern regarding his kidney function than anything. His creatin (no idea if I spelled that right) levels are too high. It could be partially from dehydration or something else. He was admitted today to the Baton Rouge General Medical Center on Bluebonnet (not mid city as we have been before). Today they are working on getting him hydrated and ready for more tests tomorrow. There is a mass in his stomach which is suspected to be either lymphoma or a carcinoma. After they get his kidney function at a better level they will be doing a cat scan to try and see more. They will also be doing a biopsy in the next day or two. He was knocked out most of the day from some pain medication but he was awake this evening before I left the hospital at about 11. His attitude is good and we are all hoping for good news.

I will try to update the blog as more results come in.

Keep praying!! Cindy