Back in the Hospital

On Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day, I was told that my brother was taken from school to the ER. They noticed that one of his knees was red and starting to swell. Group home was called and was taken to the ER. He was admitted to the hospital. Doctors said this time the infection was caught early. Back in January, just before his birthday, he spent a few days in the hospital due to an infection in one of his knees. Mom thought he would went home today, but he didn't. I will see him sometime this weekend.

Mom, got a call this afternoon, saying that somebody from the hospital was going to call to get permission to put my brother's feeding tube back in. I do not remember the hospital calling in the past, to get permission to put it back in, when it came out. As, I said, his feeding tube came out last night. Around 5 pm or so, mom got the phone call, and she gave them permission. She asked how they fed him today without his feeding tube. Get this, they didn't feed him all day! He went over 18 hours without food. He probably signed food and drink all day, and they probably had no idea what he was saying, but then since he is in restraints that probably makes it too hard to sign. My mom is mad and is going to go and complain tomorrow. She even asked them about going all day without food. My brother does not talk, and as no way to express what he is feeling or thinking. He does not understand what is going on.

All of my brother's problems started back in November 2007, with the first infection that was in his finger. Since then, he probably has been hospitalized about 10 times. There has got to be something wrong besides getting infections too easy. Mom says doctors have been running tests and can't find anything wrong. Why else would he keep getting infections, if there isn't something else wrong with him? Only God knows.

Snow Day!

Today was a snow day! Even the Universities are closed today, that meant no class tonight. Today was either snow day 4 or 5 for the school districts around here. That means if there are anymore snow days, school districts will have to make them up. More systems are on their way. So gorgeous up here. The snow reminds me of what God does for us when we ask for forgiveness of our sings, He makes us white as snow. I got to try out my new boots this morning. I picked them up yesterday afternoon. There was so much snow, that if I tried to take the car out, I probably would've gotten my car stuck in the driveway, so I walked down to get the newspaper this morning. The snow in the driveway was about calf deep. The yard next to the driveway seemed about knee deep. I had to check it out. The snow on the deck, looks to be about waist deep. As usual, I took pics this morning. I took both the camera and my phone with me on my walk. I was going to walk back down later this afternoon, but our driveway got plowed, and my dad had to move his van so that area could get plowed, so he drove down for the mail. There will be school tomorrow and my other curriculum class as well.

My mom saw Timmy on Monday at the hospital. He was admitted last Saturday night. Mom talked with a nurse on Monday, and was basically told that Timmy has MRSA. That would explain why he keeps getting infections and have been in the hospital so much in the past 15 months. Timmy's birthday is this Friday, so I will go to the library, check out a few books then head over to the hospital to see him. No birthday presents until he gets out of the hospital. I so feel for him. I wonder if this is God's way of telling me I need to let him go, loosen my grasp on him. I love him very much, and my time with him is pure unconditional love.

Good News

The doctor called here not too long ago. Timmy didn't have surgery this afternoon, but he was put to sleep, so they could put a scope with a camera down his throat. The infection that is in his blood has not touched his heart. His heart and the valves are fine. That is wonderful news! Now it is up to the infectious disease doctor what they will do next.

Not Working

Timmy has been on antibiotics since last Friday, adn they are not working! He had surgery this afternoon, went in about 2 pm. They have been doing blood cultures, and have seen that the infection is growing, not going away. He had surgery to see if the infection is growing around his heart, to see if it is affecting his heart in any way. As of now, he is not transferring to a nursing home.

I am not, will never be ready to give him up. I know that when he dies, he will go to Heaven, but I am not ready to let him go. I will always need him. I call him my baby.I know he is nowhere near being a baby, but that is what I have called him for years. Please keep him in your prayers.

A Nursing Home We Will Go

My mom went yesterday afternoon to see my brother. She said that he looked good and acted fine, just like what I said on Sunday. Doctor thinks that maybe when he has gotten his previous infections, that when they kill it, it doesn't completely die. So it goes to "sleep" and it "wakes" back up at sometime. The doctor wants to prescribe a really strong antibiotic that they will give him every 12 hours for twenty-five days. A pic line is being inserted, to make it easier for the IV and being given the strong medicine. A social worker at the hospital is going to check into the same nursing home he was in last year for him to go to again. Depending on when he can go, will determine if he will be discharged from the hospital this Friday or next Monday. He will be in the nursing home over Christmas. :(

I've made comments to my mom that he has been in the hospital more since he recieved his feeding tube 6 1/2 years ago, than before that time. She said something about asking /making a comment about that to whoever if that could be a possibilty of him getting sick more easily. My brother has to have one on one care, because of him being active, able to get into things, pull out things from his body, etc.

Please pray that there is no problem of him getting into the nursing home, and that this antibiotic does the trick, adn he gets no more infections.

Back in the Hospital

NO, I am not in the hospital, but my brother is, again! This is his fourth or fifth stint in the hospital this year alone. Since re received his feeding tube, 6 1/2 years ago, he has gotten sick more easily than before that time. Before the feeding tube, he was rarely hospitalized since he was a baby (he spent time in the hospital for awhile then.) I do admit he was in the hospital a couple of times after moving to the group home, but nothing like this past year.

He has an infection. The doctors believe this infection started in a kidney, then moved into his bloodstream. The worse part is, this infection is immune to a lot of different antibiotics. A doctor who specializes in infectious diseases is being called in to see about prescribing a much stronger antibiotic, to kill this infection.

I went after church and lunch to go and see him. My brother sure didn't act sick. I was told that he was very sick. I went into his room, saw him and started complaining. Why would I complain? I saw his hands in restraints. I warned my parents in advance, that if I saw him in restraints I would have a hissy fit. Don't get me wrong, I understand why, but I do not like it one bit. My brother can not express himself and tell us what is wrong, but being in restraints is a scary thing. I should know, because I woke up in in ICU on a respirator and my hands in restraints, a little over 6 years ago. That is another story for another time.

When he saw me, he became agitated and started moving around, and trying to get out of the bed. He got his arms tangled up, and the IV to stop working, and causing one of his hands to become blue from not getting any blood to it. They had to undo the restraints, and allowed them to stay off while I was there. They did try to put them back on, but he started to have a fit. (Such a good boy.) I read to him, and it was very uncomfortable to hug him and sing to him, but I did do that. When I was getting ready to leave, one person mentioned how well my brother obeyed me, and not them. He doesn't always obey me. They put him back into restraints after I left. Please keep him in your prayers. I will never be ready to let him go to Heaven, but some day, it will be his time to go home to Jesus.

Dancin Snowflakes

I didn't go to church yesterday, and my ear and throat felt much better. Since I had called off from ushering the night before, I chose to end up staying home. They both bothered me a tiny bit, but nothing like the previous days.

I worked today. Wasn't a bad day. The coolest part was during lunch duty. It started to snow, which usually puts a smile on my face. At first it didn't look like it would stick to the ground, but then it started to come down pretty hard. The flakes seemed big to me/ Then it looked like they dancing. It was so cool to watch. The kids there were amazed as well. They are hoping for a snow day for tomorrow, but I don't think it will happen. 4-5 kids ended up outside without any coats on, and they were enjoying it. The birds were fun to watch. Seemed like the snow was confusing the birds. Looked like they were diving into the snow. The s now did let up, and by the time school got out, the snow was gone. I truly enjoyed the snow, and thanked our Father for it.

After school, I had an appointment with my family doc. He called me "waxy" for all of the wax that was in my ears. I do have a small ear infection. I was given a prescription and had it filled.

The snow came back late this afternoon, and soon I will be able to take pics of the snow. I so wished I had my phone with me this morning to take pics of the snow.

Scan Results

First off, I have a sinus infection. I have not been feeling well. I stayed home from church yesterday, and slept for a few more hours. I got an antibiotic from my onc this morning. I have had a few nose bleeds since Thursday evening.

I had an appointment to see my onc this morning. Bloodcounts are fine. As you all know, I had my CT Scan two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I had a kidney stone. I didn't know that I had one. I've had one before, very painful. I wasn't really having much pain. I have the usual stomach ache at different times. I also have a cyst on an ovary. My onc said that it is commen for women to get cysts. This Friday morning, I am scheduled to get an ultrasound.

After seeing my onc, I was scheduled for a appointment at the Breast Imaging Center there by the hospital. My appointmnet was for 10:20 am, and I didn't leave there til about 1 pm. I had a mammogram on them both. She showed them to the doctor, and I had to wait for about 30 minutes to get an ultrasound on them both. Then I had another mammogram, then went in for another ultrasound. One of the techs explained all what went on. This was my first mammogram, and with my history, the doctor was erring on the side of caution, and setting up a baseline to have something to comapre it to in the future. The doctor saw some tissue mass around my port. (I saw the port on the xray.) Doctor is not sure if it is residual from the port being put in. I have to get another mammogram in about six months. They are going to take a wait and see stance on it.

My last CT Scan in July, the onc saw nodules in my lungs. They are still there, and are still small. There is no change in the nodules. That is good. He was able to see a few lymph nodes, but they were visible because I haven't been feeling well.

Again, thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray. I see my onc again on March 7.

Good Days

I have had two good days. I did take a nap yesterday and two today, but I've been awake both days. It is good to be awake, not sleeping for hours on end. I was able to work on my Beth Moore Bible study both days. I did take an anti-nausea pill this morning after eating breakfast. Even Timmy had a good day today. He was sleeping naturally this afternoon when Dad went to see him. He wasn't sleeping because of drugs.

My blood counts are good again. I have two more days of the high dose! Yeah!!!
I will see my onc next Monday, and I start the injections that day. I saw my surgeon this morning. The resident felt my thigh and she said it felt warm, and looks red. She told me if the redness increases on my thigh in the next couple of days, then I am to fill the prescription for anti-biotic.

Yesterday, I went to see one of the fitters of my stocking, and she kept it to send it back, to have a silicone strip added to it. She thinks hopefully this will help keep it up, and not fall down. I go back to see the surgeon in a month.

My brother left ICU on Monday. He is getting over pneumonia. He is going to a nursing home in the next couple of days, because his finger is still open, and visiting nurse won't go to the group home to change the bandage 3x a day. I guess it is draining. He is going to be able to get the antibiotics through his feeding tube.

Every time my parents go to see him, he is sleeping. I keep telling them he is protesting, because they won't let me go see him. He would be awake if I was to go and see him. I'm saying that. It would be funny, if it was true.

More on Timmy

The phone rang around 7am this morning, to let my mom know that Timmy didn't have a good night. He is running a fever, and having a hard time breathing. He was put on oxygen. By the time, mom got to the hospital later this morning, Timmy had been moved to ICU, and they didn't tell mom. My baby brother is not doing well at all. Dad went by this afternoon, and Timmy had to be given something make him sleep, so they could take his blood pressure. He was kicking about and not co-operating.

I told the Lord, that if he was going to take my baby home, to please allow me to go and see him and tell him bye in person. I am not ready to give him up. I still need him in my life.

The doctors are not sure what caused Timmy to get a fever and have problems breathing. Please keep him in your prayers.

I took an anti-nausea pill this morning, and it made me sleepy, where I slept off and on from 9:30-3:30. I have one week left of the high dose. I am so looking forward to that. On Monday afternoon, going to the place where I got my stocking to see if they can look at it, and let me know if I put it on correctly or not, and how to keep it from falling down.

Day #14 and Timmy

Today was a good day for me. I did not need to take any anti-nausea medicine. I did take a pain pill this afternoon, because of my headache. I was awake all afternoon, even though I did take a nap late this afternoon. My mom thinks I caught a bug of some sort, that is why I slept all afternoon, and I had a fever Tuesday night. I also did take anti-nausea pills all of those days, too. I have a new one, and this one can make me drowsy.

We picked up my stocking yesterday afternoon. Didn't put it on, until this morning, because of there being less swelling in the morning. The stocking is hard to put on. There is a belt that goes around my waist. It doesn't feel too bad, except for on upper thigh. My thigh hurts, and the stocking doesn't help matters. The stocking doesn't want to stay up on my inner/upper thigh. I am constantly having to pull it back up. I do not have to wear the stocking at night, but for now I will, because of needing help to pull it on. The stocking helps with keeping the swelling down.

I have another update on my precious baby brother. (My mom hates it when I call him baby. he is the youngest of us three kids, so he is the baby.) Timmy has a non-contagious staph infection in his right index finger, and it went into his tendon, but not the bone. That is good news. That is why he has to have six weeks of IV antibiotic. He will receive the antibiotic every eight hours. For now, he is staying in the hospital. Next Wednesday, we have an appointment to go check out a nursing home, to see if we like that place, and to make sure they will have somebody one on one with him 24/7. They said that they are willing to do so. Mom is going to see if Tim can still go to the workshop during the day, since he gets the medicine every 8 hours. His hours at school (workshop) is from 10-4. He can't go back to the group home, because they do not have a nurse who can give Tim his IV. Once this treatment is finished, and the doctor gives his okay, then Timmy will go back to the group home that he lives in. Hopefully, I will be able to go see him in a couple of weeks.

Father, thank you for allowing me to write some good things tonight, not just bad things. Thank you for the good day I had. Thank you that Timmy's infection didn't go into his bone, but stopped at the tendon. Please wrap your arms of comfort around him, and let him know that you are there. You know how much I still need him in my life.

Timmy and Interferon

First, I watn to talk about my brother. If you scroll down my blog, there is a pic on the side of me and my brother. My brother is the baby of the three of us kids, and he means teh world to me. Because of my cancer, I havne't seen him as much as I would. We recieved a few phone calls Monday night about Timmy. The first one around 7pm, was to let my mom know that Timmy had been taken to the hospital and was being admitted to the hospital. When Timmy came home from the workshop (school) in the afternoon, his right index finger was swollen about 4x its normal size. (Timmy sucks his fingers from either hand, and has all of his life. He has a couple of fingers, a little swollen, a littl yellow and gross looking.) Turns out, he has an infection in his right index finger. Timmy had surgery late Monday night, like around midnight.

Mom stopped by the hospital yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon to see him. My heart goes out to him. His arm and hand are wrapped up, and his arm was elevated and hanging from some chain. The surgeon, cut open his finger and went down to his palm, to clean and scrape out the infection, and pour antibiotics through it. His finger is still cut open.

Timmy doesn't keep IVs in, so somebody called the house today, to get permission to put a PICC line or a port into Timmy so they can do a six week treatment of antibiotics through the IV. During this time, Timmy will be in the hospital. That is right, he will stay in the hospital for six weeks. As of now, I am not allowed to go see him. They supposed to tell my mom tomorrow, what type of infection he has. With my immune system being compromised by the Interferon, and with him having an infection, mom doesn't want me to catch anything.

Please keep him in your prayers. My mom did take a bag full of books to the hospital yesterday, so they have something to read to him. He does have a sitter, who is in the room 24/7, so he doesn't get out of bed, try to pull anything out, etc.

I now have 7 days of the high dose left to recieve. I am taking an antibiotic this week, one per day, and recieved more anti-nausea pills. The new anti-nausea pills makes me sleepy. I have been extremely fatigued this week. I sleep most of the afternoon. Twice so far, I've had the shakes. Yesterday morning, I took my temp and it was 100.2 F. I didn't go to Biblestudy last night, I couldn't keep my head up during supper. I couldn't get any more sleep after supper, even though I did try. I ended up running a fever. Like around 7 pm, I took my temp, because I was so warm. My temp was 101.1F. I called the doctor, like I was told to. My onc was paged, and he called me back. He asked me some questions, and I answered no to them. My onc said to take Tylenol, and my fever was due to the Interferon. Two hours later, it was at 99.5 F. This morning, it was at 99.4 F. I had to have blood drawn and send to the lab to check my blood count, and everything was fine, so thye started my treatment after 10:30 am. I am slightly warm now. Now you can see, as to why my mom said I can't go see my brother.

Thank you for your prayers.

Day #11

The nurse didn't start to get me ready for treatment today until a little before 10 am. She waited so long, because she called my onc, and had to talk to him first. I told the nurse, I saw a bit of blood in my urine on Saturday, and that it hurt at different times when I went to the bathroom. My onc told the nurse for me to give a urine sample, to have it tested to see if I might have an infection. Then when I was finished, I was supposed to stop by his office to pick up some more anti-nausea pills, and a prescription. I was given a different type of anti-nausea pills, and five samples of an antibiotic to take, one a day for five days. This is precaution, in case I did come down with an infection.

I received results from my blood work. My white blood count is still low, but it did go from 1.9 to 2.0. The two word one, that begins with a "n" and a "p" went up 10 points from 22 to 32. They also look at my live enzymes, and they seemed high, but still within level to receive my treatment. I still received 49 million units of Interferon.

I will find out tomorrow the results of the urine test, and I will ask for a copy of my blood tests.

I spent most of the afternoon sleeping. First in the car, because mom had some jobs to do, and we didn't get home till almost 3 pm. Then I slept off and on till almost 5:30 pm. I became cold, and needed a second blanket to cover up with. I even started to shake a bit this afternoon.

Yesterday, I bought some Crystal Light Hydration to go packets, with lemon flavoring. I have used two of them today, and I like the taste it gives the water. They are for my bottles of water. But, what really needs them are the glasses of water I drink here at home.

Mom is making soup tonight. I love our homemade soup. I am still tired, probably will go to bed early, or pull one of my dad's tricks and fall asleep while watching tv.