A Few Updates

I've been spending virtually all of my waking moments in the room with Jenni, so I'm still not posting regularly the way I was earlier in the week. However, during shift change I get booted out regardless of any extended visitation hours. While I'm out here doing nothing better, I thought I'd let everyone know what has transpired in the last hour or so.

When I returned to Jenni's side after the meeting with those dubious doctors that Layne has been telling you about, I found Jenni worse than when I left. Her swelling had worsened on the left side (the same side from which they removed the chest tube earlier in the day), her oxygen had been raised to 60%, and she seemed a little flushed. I was informed that they had just performed a chest x-ray before I entered the room (proactive... good) to check on the swelling but I was still concerned about her color. The nurse checked her temperature and found it to be higher than earlier, so we turned off the heated blanket and turned it down so that it didn't cover her torso. The respiratory specialist also came in and fiddled with the ventilator. She is now down to 50%, but is breathing over the vent more often now. I'm not sure what this means in the long run... but I am encouraged by the doctors' willingness to follow up on Layne & Stephanie's research on alternate treatments.

When it comes to experimental treatments, there are never any easy answers. Please continue to pray for Jenni, but also pray that God will lend me the strength to make the tough calls that will be coming soon. I really need strength and guidance...

Maybe Some Hopeful Signs?

Today seems a little better at the start.  Jenni's need for the vent seems to be decreased.  The oxygen load has been decresed from 45% to 40%, a slight improvement.  The volume has been decreased from 300 +/- to 250.  They moved Jenni to do her x-ray without crashing.  All of these are good signs.

When we asked if she wanted to hear some music, she opened her eyes and tried to nod her head.  So we played Casting Crowns for her--her favorite band.

Currently they are doing an ultrasound to test to see if there are any blood clots on her left side.

I do not know if she needed any blood last night.

We feel encouraged, but we are trying hard not to get to "up."

Thanks be to God

Grace and Peace
Layne

Crashing With a College Buddy and Updating Before Bed

Today was my last day in the hotel, but a friend of mine in Raleigh (Ben) is letting me crash at his place.

Jenni was still heavily sedated when I left. They are trying to reduce the oxygen percentage that she's getting from the machine, but they can't get it lower than 40% without her oxygen levels dropping dramatically and having to raise it back up to 40. She also started a new drug tonight called Rituximab (a chemotherapy drug usually used to treat lymphoma and leukemia). I knew she was starting a new drug but didn't realize that it was a chemo drug until tonight.

They also decided not to put in another central line at all. They are going to put in another PICC line. I liked that news because it is a much less serious procedure putting in a PICC line.

Jenni's sleeping... and I need some sleep... I'd give an Adsense/donation update but I haven't been able to sign in to Adsense all day... will post tomorrow...

Late Night Update

Tonight, Jenni began receiving a drug that they are calling Factor 7. It has some dangerous side effects, but the doctors think that the potential rewards outweigh the risks at this point. They have to stop the bleeding in the lungs before they can stabilize her and fix the rest. The doctors also added another line to give her drugs, this one in a vein in her neck. They are also slowly decreasing the percentage of oxygen given to her through the breathing tube. They want to reduce it to fairly normal levels, so it is a good thing that it was reduced and she tolerated the lower level of oxygen well.

She was somewhat awake this evening and we talked to her some. She smiled when I told her that Carolina won today, and that really helped my peace of mind. She can't talk, but she can nod her head or squeeze your hand for yes/no questions.

She seemed okay when we left. I'll feel better when I'm back with her again in the morning.

Some of the Toughest Words I've Ever Written

Tonight was tough. Jenni's oxygen level dropped suddenly again (the third time today) and they sent a doctor in to talk to us. He explained the pros and cons of starting Jenni on a ventilator, and Jenni told him to do it. I'm only going to explain the pros because I don't want to write about the cons.

Pros:

• Jenni's lungs and muscles will get a much needed rest. They have been working overtime for a couple weeks now trying to keep oxygen flowing and the machine will take over for her.
• Jenni will be asleep most or all of the time until she recovers and she won't experience any pain.
• She will get closer supervision in the ICU.
  

The doctor told us that the medicines she is receiving usually work, but for her they are taking unusually long to make a difference. He said that if things continue at the rate they are going now, that she would be on a ventilator in the next day or two anyway and that it is always better to do the procedure under controlled conditions instead of in an emergency situation (such as if her oxygen level dropped and they couldn't get it back up). This was the first doctor I heard say that there was a possibility she wouldn't make it. He said that he still thought she would, but that she should keep it in mind when she made the decision about the ventilator. Jenni just kept saying, "I'll do anything to get better. Just do it. Do whatever you need to do to make me better."

So the doctor put things in motion, getting an ICU room ready and whatever else needed to be prepared. I made a few phone calls and we spent two hours talking about the ACC tournament and how I'm going to take her to Sticky Fingers and The Loft as soon as she wakes up. She also made me promise to make sure the doctors keep trying to get her better because she doesn't want to be on it for long, and to stay with her until the doctors made me leave because she was scared. Those of your who know Jenni know that she doesn't get scared. I was worried... but the severity of the situation still did not hit me until Jenni admitted that she was scared.

Then the nurses came to get her and asked me to leave for a few moments while they unhooked all of the machinery and got her ready to move to the ICU. I did, and when they pulled her out of the room they even let me walk with her down to the waiting room of the ICU (which the nurses wouldn't let me do last time). I waited in the waiting room until they got her settled and they allowed me to come back for a few minutes before they sedated her.

She gave me that look, like she was worried more about me than about herself, but I don't think she noticed when my voice cracked. I didn't do as I promised. I told her that I was going to hurry and get out of the doctors' way so they could get her better quicker. I squeezed her hand, kissed her on the forehead several times, told her I loved her, walked away, and held myself together. If I had stayed and kept talking, I think I would have lost it, and I didn't want her going to sleep with that on her mind.

As far as holding myself together, I think I did quite well until I got back to the hotel and started writing this...

I'll post an update as soon as I know something tomorrow. If I don't answer phone calls, I apologize ahead of time. I would rather not do a whole lot of talking right now. Goodnight, all.

Quick Update

About an hour ago, Jenni's oxygen levels dropped and they had to raise the oxygen she's getting through the mask to 80%. They lowered it to 70% about ten minutes ago and her oxygen levels have remained stable. 'Twas just a scare, apparently.

Another Little Scare

I was sitting in the room with Jenni just a few moments ago, typing some responses to questions about the blog, when her oxygen levels just randomly dropped. The nurse came in almost immediately, rechecked her stats, raised her oxygen to 80%, and called for the doctor. By the time the doctor made it to the room, her oxygen level had stabilized and she was asking what happened. She didn't even realize she was breathing with any more difficulty.
Three doctors came in (one was Dr. Chute, the others I'm not sure) and checked her out. They couldn't discern what caused the drop, but suggested that your body naturally fluctuates some and that it was probably natural. However, (and this is why I like Dr. Chute so much), even though he talked like it was probably perfectly fine, he still called in a specialist to come see her and is going to order a CT scan. I don't know how quickly either of those will happen, but it makes me feel better that even though he thinks things are probably okay, he's staying on top of things just in case they aren't.

Right now, other than her oxygen being at 80% instead of 60%, she looks and sounds like nothing is any different. The lung specialist just said that he was going to add an inhaler to her treatments (the name just slipped my mind; I'll have to fix this later). It should help with the lungs as well. He also said that he would step down her oxygen from 80% back to 60% in small steps this evening, so this was probably just a false alarm even if it did scare the mess out of me.

I'll keep going with the FAQ and I'll keep updating as I learn new things.

A Busy Morning: Lungs a Little Worse & New Breathing Treatment

This morning, the nurses noticed that her oxygen level had dropped, so they changed the oxygen mask a little. They added a tube on each side that should help keep the concentrated oxygen close to her mouth and nose longer. It wasn't a huge change, but it put her oxygen level back up into the normal range again. We have been joking about how the new tubes make it look like she has antennae, so Jenni suggested that I take her picture and show everyone her new mask. I didn't even know that she had a camera here, but she brought one for some reason.

When breakfast came, she tried removing the mask long enough to take a bite of food and then replacing it while she chewed, but her oxygen level dropped dramatically when she did so I broke a plastic fork in half and fed her through one of the holes in the mask. That was a fiasco... we only got about a fourth of her food through before we replaced the blue tube, but she did get in all of her fluids (sweet tea, apple juice, and a cup of water).

When the doctor arrived, he started her on a new treatment, a bronchodilator called albuterol. I'm not sure exactly how the drug works, but they hook it up to the mask so she breathes it in and it is supposed to help out her lungs. Her kidney functions are slightly worse than yesterday, but no worse than they were last week so it may just be a small fluctuation.

She is also off of the insulin drip, but they are still giving her insulin shots. I'm not sure if that's good news... it means she needs less insulin but it also means that they are poking her more often now.

Judi is visiting and she brought a friend from nursing school. We took some more pictures, so I thought I'd share. Jenni gave the "ok" on these as well. I'll post a slide show with pictures of Jenni in good health soon and I still plan on posting more information about the Adsense program later today. It has just been a busier morning than anyone expected.

Another Scare

Image via Wikipedia

I came to the hospital earlier than normal this morning. The nurse called my phone (which didn't show a missed call... odd) and then called my mom's (who was with me at the hotel). They had to put her on an oxygen mask last night, but this morning they had to raise the oxygen to 80%. (Note: That isn't Jenni in the picture, but its the same exact kind of mask that she's using.)

What is frustrating is that they really don't know why her oxygen levels keep dropping all of a sudden. It seems like every time they feel like she's improving, something like this happens and she's back on a mask.

In any case, they did an ABG (arterial blood gas) and another chest x-ray. They will decide based on those test results whether or not to move her downstairs to the ICU.

Right now she is stable. Hopefully I'll know more soon.