Saturday, February 28, 2009

Still Struggling

Day 23 at MDA (Sat.), Andrea is still struggling to get her lungs clear. Respiratory therapists are in and out of her room a lot. She is weak, but she will still gather her strength for the physical therapists to help her move about and exercise. It takes about 2 to 3 hours for dialysis each day and it has been helping quite a bit.
Please remember to pray for the neurological condition to clear. We are so grateful for each of your prayers.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Finally!

Finally, about noon today, Andrea had a tube put in lower tummy so she can receive nutrition. She told us yesterday, "let me eat and I will get well". So, by late this afternoon, Tuesday, she can get some formula into her tummy so she can get stronger and help her beat this congestion in her lungs. It really is a difficult battle, because it is hard to have strength to cough up what is in her lungs. She is a resiliant young lady who has your prayers to call upon God for healing, and she definitely thanks God for you all daily.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Last 4 days

These last few days Andrea's kidneys have been responding well to dialysis. However, her lungs are still on a roller coaster of looking better one day and relapsing the next. Tomorrow (Monday) the doctor plans to put a tube in her lower tummy to feed her until the swallowing reflex gets stronger again. Even though she is weak, she insists on physical therapy. That's our Andrea......go for it! We appreciate your prayers so much, especially for the lungs to clear and become strong again.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Regular MDA room

Late yesterday Andrea was able to go to the Stem Cell Transplant floor at MDA. They will concentrate on clearing her lungs, helping the kidneys along with dialysis, figuring out how to feed her since she still chokes some when swallowing and physical therapy. She is encouraged so much by your thoughts and prayers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

ICU Tues 2/17

Andrea received dialysis all morning today. She coughed a lot last night which is "good" because the lungs are responding to treatment but it did keep her wake most of the night. The doctors are saying she'll go to a regular room "soon". Thank you for your prayers!

Monday, February 16, 2009

ICU Mon 2/16

Andrea started talking yesterday afternoon and this morning she is telling us about all kinds of events. Some of them are very factual and others we have had to tell her that it was just dreams she's been having over the past week. Last night we had the dr. give her Ambien because she has been in such a half wake/half sleep state that she really was sleep deprived.
Today they are taking her off some antibiotics, increasing her tube feedings, and giving her dialysis to help her kidneys. She's been coughing a lot of stuff from her lungs, so they will be watching that too. They want to more comfortable with her lung and kidney capability before they let her go from ICU. I know Andrea is "back" with us because this morning when I was massaging/exercising her feet and ankles, I asked her where she wanted to walk to. She said "Home". I told her everyone is praying for that and it will happen as soon as the lung/kidney function gets in sync. Your prayers are being answered in the way you are asking and what you are asking for. Thanks.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

ICU Sun 2/15

Better today than yesterday, but not well enough to leave ICU. Each day's progress brings us hope that not only are Andrea's statistics better but that she actually feels better. She is moving her arms and feet around this morning because she remembers the repercussions of being in bed for too long of a period of time. She still seems very tired and it is hard to get rest in ICU with all the machinery and tests being run in the wee hours of the morning.
Thank you for your prayers.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Prayers Heard

God heard your prayers to clear Andrea's lungs. They are not perfectly clear, but so much better than yesterday. She woke up this a.m. trying to tell me something but I didn't get it, so she leaned forward for me to discover one of the blood pressure cords was between her and the bed. They will try to start weaning her off the BiPap machine today and will start the tube feeding again. She was shaking her head and seemed really concerned about that, but the nurse explained to her that she would only get about a teaspoon an hour and they would be checking to make sure it would not aspirate into the lungs. Andrea is listening and comprehending everything we are saying. It is good to get a definite "yes or no" head shake today for what is going on.
Please continue to pray that the after effects of chemo continues to clear in the brain as we pray for all you in your daily lives, too.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

ICU Thurs 2/12

The potent antibiotics kept the pneumonia from getting worse. Andrea can respond by blinking for yes and shaking her head for no. She is on a BiPap breathing machine that supplies both pressure and oxygen, so hopefully the result will be somewhat related to what the doctors were looking for in the hyperbaric chamber by adding pressure and oxygen in the blood stream. We are being reminded of the blood gases and acid in the blood that we all deal with every day and are never aware of because we just feel okay.
Please keep up your kind prayers because we feel she is better today than yesterday. Prayer is THE very best thing you can do for her.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

ICU Tuesday

The tests revealed blood urea nitrogen levels and creatine (kidney) ratio way off plus this bad infection in Andrea's lungs are the main reason for her unresponsiveness. However, she has responded to some light and some voices today but is not able to speak yet. We believe she will respond to the "big guns" antibiotics and prayers will be answered again.

Monday, February 09, 2009

ICU

The doctors moved Andrea to ICU today so they could run more tests in a quicker fashion. Her lungs did not respond to the antibiotics like they had anticipated they should on Saturday and Sunday. They are looking at some sort of renal (kidney) failure or other infection that could be sending her blood numbers askew. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Critical Monday

Monday will be very critical as the MDA team of doctors decide to (or not to) put a feeding tube in Andrea's tummy until this nerve disruption subsides which is causing her to choke on liquids and escape to her lungs. The brain doctor says he sees an indication that it will subside and she can recover from this fully. She is still in the hospital and resting not so comfortably, but as always, Andrea is a real trooper and tries her very best. She sends her prayers and love to each of you, because she is so grateful for you praying for her.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Hospital, again

The pain block in the face trigeminal nerve seems to have worked, but since Andrea is supposed to taper off the pain meds for it, we won't really know until Monday or Tuesday.
The last two days has been strange, though, because this chemo nerve disruption has caused Andrea to cough or almost choke when eating or more especially drinking fluids, which most of you know she tries to have a water bottle around all the time to help her kidneys.
Today we started out at physical therapy at MDA, had lunch, went shopping for some Puma tennis shoes, went to an MRI, then to the Brain & Spine doctor. He examined her and personally pushed her wheelchair to the MDA Emergency Room to get all the tests they needed on a Friday at 5 p.m. (He knew there was no other way to find out what he needed to know at this time of week day.) As he suspected, Andrea has infiltrates (- fluids-) pneumonia in the right side of her lungs. She can't eat or drink until Saturday when they find out if she can eat or drink without it going to her lungs.
Again, all this just seems unbelievable, but we keep praying. Thanks for yours.