3.8.08 ...sorta

so technically it's sunday the 9th but i haven't gone to bed yet and the clocks change at some point i think so, ...whatever. it's still the 8th to me.

very long day.

john's fever is down. yay.
they do not know the cause of the fever. boo.

john's steroids have been reduced. yay.
...therefore the vasculitis spots have started to come back. boo.

john's white blood cell count is low enough that he was temporarily taken off chemo. yay.
this ironically increases his chances of catching an opportunistic infection. boo.

john was moved to a private room today. yay.
...because his fever may be from the blood clot, or it may be from an infection. boo.

the antibiotics he's now on are are way stronger than before (they can't be touched by sunlight so the IV bag has a brown bag over it) and are more likely to address more problems. yay.
his glucose levels have skyrocketed to over 400 (normally around 150-200) due to stress, illnes and/or the bloodclot. boo.

to keep the blood clot from spreading john was put on a heparin IV to start the blood thinning process until the oral coumadin can take its place (about 3 days). the oral has now started working so he was taken off the IV blood thinner today and switched to just oral. yay.
all this process does is keep the clot from spreading. it does not dissolve the clot. the body has to do that on its own and that can take about two months during which time he will most likely be in a lot of pain when trying to walk and put weight on that leg. boo.

so far all tests that have come back (ekg, colonoscopy, lung x-ray, blood work, biopsy, cat scan, etc.) have all come back clean and exactly as the docs had wanted. yay.
john is continuing to have blood in his urine, blood from his nose, on and off fever, spots, pain, swelling, and the newest development...memory loss and some cognitive stuff going on. it's minor, but it's definatly there. boo.

doc has ordered a new lung x-ray to make sure there's nothing new going on in the past 48 hours that can account for this fever, ordered daily blood work instead of weekly, and ordered a brain cat scan b/c apparently vasculitis can go to the brain. (it's not his pain meds b/c he's weaned himself off those for the most part).

so, ...now what? the next thing to come needs to be a yay. so we are waiting for those tests to come back clear and exactly as the doc wants. that is our hope for tomorrow or monday.
that will be a great big yay. please pray for that; all clear test results.
k