Dad went in for his second bone marrow transplant on August 12th. All the doctors and nurses were very happy with how healthy he looked and how well he was doing. At first, he did very well and even though things appeared to be getting difficult for him, no one seemed to realize how sick he was getting over a 1-2 day span. As he fever went up (as it can during this process), we monitored it and gave him some antibiotics to hopefully beat the infection he had gotten. On the night of August 26th, his fever got to 102.4 and the next morning he was transferred to ICU for his fever which had gotten to 103.5. By the afternoon, he had gotten confused and had a hard time following commands. At that point, they decided to put him on ventilator to calm him down and get his fever under control. Over the next few days, the fever went down and we had to wait 4-5 days for the sedation drugs to wear off. Over the past weekend, that has happened and he is able to communicate in a limited manner since he is still on the vent. He is having a difficult time getting off the ventilator mainly because he had put on 48 pounds of weight in the ICU (mostly from IV fluids). Over the last 2 days, he has lost some of the weight and we are hoping he can come off the ventilator soon. The next steps after that are up to the doctors, but it would appear he would be on this way to a rehabilitation hospital as he hasn’t moved in nearly 2 weeks. The good news is that his transplant appears to be going well and if we can get him started on building his muscles and communicating with us that will be a huge step in the right direction.
As you can imagine, it has been a stressful time for everyone and we have done a good job keeping each other informed and helping out when we can. Beth came back from Nashville for a week and then has driven back for a 24 hour visit today. Laura decided to not travel with Pete & Claire to OH over Labor Day weekend to help out. I’ve been able to help during lunches during the weekend and some parts of the weekends. Mom’s been holding up well and doing a good job managing the situation. Everyone’s support and prayers near and far have been felt and we hope to have better news and updates in the September edition on our blog.
Earlier in the month, we did get a chance to travel to Chicago to visit with the Andersons, Ragos and Bencks. We had a nice dinner on Friday night downtown and then went over to listen to Kings of Leon at Grant Park. The next day we went with Jeremy and Erin on an architectural tour of Chicago and then went to comedy show that evening. It was good to see everyone and how excited Jeremy and Erin are for their baby girl which is due in mid-December.
Deb utilized her birthday gift and took a photography lesson in August. She is now researching her next gift…a SLR camera! She really enjoyed it and is looking take more photos and she even got some books so she can continue to improve!
Julie came to visit in late August and we enjoyed having her. The first night we had dinner at the condo and then went to a comedy show (with the Ferrands and Lawton). The comedian was so funny at times we were crying. After the comedy club, we went to have some drinks in Broad Ripple. The next day, Julie and Deb went to get massages and we went out to get sushi. After the sushi, we went to the Wellington for some blue-grass music and stayed out to midnight (with the Steffeys, Lawton and Michelle). As you can tell with these pictures, Julie and Deb had a good time!
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