Out of ICU!

Andrea left ICU about 7 p.m. last night. It was good to sleep in a quieter room on the 11th floor without hearing all the alarms beeping from other rooms. Many nurses came by as she was coming in to say "you go, Andrea, we are here to help you get back home". That was just so supportive of them to do that! She is also getting her trache adjusted tomorrow so that it should be easier for her talk, and for us to understand. Today Andrea was already sitting in the neuro chair and sitting up on the side of the bed with the help of the physical therapist. Every bone and muscle of her body aches, but she is limiting pain meds so she can move about and get going again.
Thank you for your prayers. As our regular doctor was leaving rounds this a.m., Charley, a pastor from Second Baptist came in and led a powerful, thankful prayer for Andrea leaving ICU and improving. It was perfect timing as all of your visits are just when Andrea needs a boost. You must know too, that we do feel YOUR prayers from wherever you are. We thank God for you.

Talk of leaving ICU

Progress has been slow, but steady. Andrea has been in a chair, sitting up and trying to communicate as best as she can with a trache. I have to admit it is hard to try to read her lips because everyone knows how Andrea like to talk, and she goes too fast for us sometimes. They will change the trache to one that is easier for her to talk, and we are just waiting for them to do that, and then maybe they will release her to a regular room so we can get physical therapy and get back home. That week home was just soooo good, and Andrea wants to be there so much.
Thank you for your faithful prayers. They really, really do mean so much to Andrea and us, too.

Let the Healing Begin - Again

Andrea had a trache put in her throat Monday night. She passed her breathing test this morning and they took her off the ventilator and is on a low level of oxygen. She is much more awake and we are all looking forward to get out of ICU now. Again, she has amazed some doctors who have not seen her before.
Thank you for your faithful prayers. I read the blog notes, cards and letters to her and she is so appreciative.

Path Forward

After several days on the breathing ventilator and medicines, Andrea's lungs have cleared except for the left bottom lung that was not crystal clear the last time doctors declared her "clear". She is also breathing more on her own, has been weaned off the pain meds and is awake more during the day.
The doctors plan to put in a trache early this week to prevent Andrea from aspirating and getting pneumonia all over again. The trache will need to stay in several months to allow time for the neurological condition to continue to improve. We were seeing signs of improvement when this second round of aspiration pneumonia set in.
It was wonderful that Andrea was honored as the Shining Star recipient at The American Cancer Society Gala last Saturday night. Lindsey did a great job speaking on her behalf. Thanks, Lindsey!
As always, thank you for your prayers.

Broncoscopy and Breathing Ventilator

Andrea said she was "exhausted" from her breathing rate and how hard it is to breathe from having pneumonia. This morning her heart showed slight stress, so the doctors decided to put her on a breathing ventilator and that also gave them the opportunity to do a broncoscopy and find out if they could give her more specific antiobiotics to kick the pneumonia.

Some of her other blood numbers improved since yesterday, so we are still hopeful that she will continue getting better day by day.

Andrea needs your continued support and faithful prayers.

No broncoscopy for now

Once Andrea got to ICU, they found a urinary infection and started her on a wide range of antibiotics which could clear the lungs, too. So, one step at a time ....... and as frustratingly slow that is for her, they are monitoring her closely and could decide to do something else at any time. Please pray for clear lungs, eradication of the infection they found, but most of all for the neurological condition to heal completely. Thanks so much.

Please Pray Tonight

Please pray tonight for Andrea's lungs. She was admitted to ICU earlier due to the pneumonia in her lungs. This afternoon she was short of breath and very uncomfortable. Her doctor decided it would be best to monitor her all night in ICU. They are planning to perform a broncoscopy tomorrow under close supervision. This will give the doctors the information needed to treat her lungs and the ability to remove some of the junk in her lungs. Thanks in advance for all the prayers.

Hospital.....again

Nice try, but after one week at home, Andrea was remitted at her one week check up Monday because of a low grade fever and really bad pain on her right side abodmen. She told them while in the hospital last week of the pain but after CT scans, they could "see" nothing, so they allowed her to go home on a reduced scale of antibioitcs and so now they figure something is brewing and they need to find out what that something is.......
Well, home was just toooo gooood, so we need to figure out what this something is so we can get back there by the weekend.
Please know that we continue to think of you and your family as we go through this latest trial.

Home! Monday April 27

Andrea came home from the hospital Monday late afternoon just before the big 10 inch rain came across Houston. It has been wonderful to be home, and very, very busy trying to find all the right spots to put things into the new house. She continues to get just a little bit stronger every day with exercises and visits from friends who help her. The home health care nurse has already come for her weekly visit and a physical therapist should be by soon.
Many nurses said "unbelievable" when we took Andrea home after almost 3 months in the hospital, but we say "All things are possible with God".
Thank you for your unending prayers, as we can see that God has answered our prayers the way we asked for again. She still has a lot of recuperation to accomplish. She wants so much to walk again, and it may take months for the neurological condition to improve. Love and prayers to all.

Home Monday??

Plans are being made to go home Monday, April 27, but Andrea says that with reservation because she does not want to "jinx" anything thing in the works. However, with prayer, we are making plans that it will happen. The swallow test today was better than that one month ago, which means the neurological condition is improving even if it is slow. She is still having problems with high blood pressure which the kidney doctor attributes to blood vessel leakage rather than kidney function. The kidneys are trying to do their part....somewhat!
Your part in prayer is very critical, so thank you very much. We continue to remember you and your family in our prayers.

Plans

Yeah, feeding tube working again! No more disruptions! We are still making plans for Andrea to go home but do not have a date yet. Please keep those strong prayers coming!

Closer, but not there yet

Andrea is getting stronger and we all keep talking about going home, but in the wee hours of Friday morning her JG feeding tube clogged. They put meat tenderizer in it to clear it, but it did not clear. As of Friday afternoon, she is still on the waiting docket for Interventional Radiology to do something about it. Urrrrr. We are so encouraged by your prayers, and it has been very routine for us to pray for you all daily, too. Oh yes, those dogs do keep us laughing, don't they!!

Biopsy results

Biopsy results showed healing taking place in the "tubes" of the kidney and just a little scar tissue. The filtering part of the kidney was not inflamed. The doctor did not think Andrea would be on long-term dialysis. Since there is swelling in her legs/ankles, he thinks it is blood vessels leaking fluid. This is just one of the many specific details of figuring out how to help Andrea get well. She is still exercising as much as she can, trying to gain strength to sit up and maintain balance.
The fun part is that she did get to see Zeus over the Easter weekend and Mary's new French bulldog puppy.
We appreciate your prayers as we pray for your families, too.

Kidney Biopsy

Andrea had a kidney biopsy today and she could not stay on her "getting well" routine of physical therapy and exercises for now. We will not know the results of the biopsy until Tuesday, but they are suspecting the kidney to be the one not functioning up to par and causing the high blood pressure. Based on the findings, they will adjust treatment one way or the other. Please continue to pray for the neurological condition to improve, as it slowly has. Prayers work! We also pray for you and your household.

MDA day 57

My, how time passes quickly even when it is not so fun. We are constantly busy trying to piece the puzzle together on how to help Andrea get better and go home. She started exercises to make the muscles in her throat stronger so she can swallow properly again. The headaches keep popping up which make it hard to work out in physical therapy as hard as she would like to. The kidney doctor today said he thought the high blood pressure may have to do with the kidneys, so we will be looking at an ultrasound and maybe a biopsy this coming week.
On a sadder note she will be missing Chris and Alicia's wedding which she wanted - oh so much - to go to. She sent hugs via J. since he is in the wedding.
Please continue to pray for the neurological condition to improve, as we feel like that is the biggest hurdle. We continue to pray for all of you dear friends and family too.

MDA day 50

Well, it is day 50 here and we are not "supposed to" be counting anymore. But, that is a way that Andrea knows just how long it is taking her to recover from this aspiration pneumonia gig. We do now know from tests this week that she can aspirate just from normal saliva each day, most likely when sleeping or even nappping when Andrea cannot grab the suction tube to get the stuff out of her mouth before it goes down into the lungs. She has started coughing, (that is good) otherwise it would go straight to the lungs. That is what aspiration is .....when any fluid goes to the lungs instead of the stomach. Anyway, Andrea is getting better, but the steps are smaller than she would like. So, we continue to pray for aspiration to stop and the neurological condition to improve.
Thank you for your prayers as we continue to pray for you and your family too.

MDA day 47

Good things are happening, like seeing Zeus on the outside benches of MDA this past weekend. Oh, relatives were visiting too, which was a great bonus as they could actually talk! But, the visits were good and uplifted our spirits. Andrea also had a "wheelchair fitting" yesterday so she can be more comfortable as she is trying to be more mobile. She is being unhooked from all the meds every day for a few hours so rehab can work with her in their facility at MDA. We are starting talk of "going home" even though no one knows when that will be. A swallow test will be performed tomorrow, so hopefully that will be another step forward in figuring out why this aspiration pneumonia occurred and what can be done about it.
Thank you for your prayers as we remember to pray for you and your families.

MDA Day 43, Spring

Today is the first day of spring and after 43 days, Andrea happily got to go outside in her wheelchair for "real air and sunshine". She is doing better each day with physical therapy. We are real glad that she is sitting up, but she is hard on herself because she is not sitting up "straight". We know that it will happen as she becomes stronger, but it's hard for her to not be able to do that now. (You all know her "can do" personality.....) I am now waking up with a "to do" list for the day, and that makes me happy : ) We think dialysis will either be 2 or 3 days a week, but I'm predicting it will be less sooner rather than later.
Thank you for your prayers as we remember you and yours, too.

MDA Day 40

March 17 Happy St. Patrick's Day. It was one year ago Andrea received her 2nd stem cell transplant from her sister, Kristin. She's as anxious to get out this time as last year. Andrea had a really good morning. Her bed can be manuvered to a sitting position with her feet dropped down. She stayed that way 2 hours this morning and then the PT and OT came in and moved her to wheelchair. She used her left arm to help the therapist push the wheelchair around the 11th floor. She continued sitting in the wheelchair for a shampoo and stay there until well after lunch. I think she will be sore from so much activity, but knowing Andrea she will count it as gain because of using muscles she so desperately wants to use. The lungs are improving and please continue to pray for the neurological condition.

MDA day 34

I'm sorry it's taken me a week to get back to this blog, but we have been working real hard with Andrea. I had a bad feeling when Andrea was bleeding from the dialysis catheter insertion. She also had too much fluid removed in dialysis that same day and it caused her blood to desaturate (not enough oxygen in the blood). She had taken 5 steps forward in recovery, then with this desaturation, she took 10 steps back. Her goal is get out of the hospital and it is not happening as quick as we would like for it to. Please continue to pray for the neurological issues to clear.