Bryan didn't come home yesterday, and after my phone call with him just now, he most likely will not be coming home today! We are disappointed.
We were very encouraged as his hematocrit raised as high as 34, Monday evening. Since the 34, though, he has had a downward spiral to 31 and now 27. This is a good indicator of more internal bleeding. Anything below 25 justifies more blood. Please pray for it to remain above 25!
He is no longer in the PCU. Last night they moved him to the oncology floor. It is a rather morbid place. Very stark and people coughing and yelling. I've been spending nights with him while he was in the unit, but came home last night to get things ready to bring him home. Now, I wish I had stayed. He did say he had the best sleep since he arrived at the hospital. Thank you, Lord!
We really appreciate all the prayers, love, thoughts, notes, comments which you have sent our way. We are truly blessed.
In His Grace,
Susan
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Improvements
Today was a better day for us. My dad was hoping to come home today, but God's plan was different. It appears only one more night will be necessary.
Many improvements were made today. His hematocrit rose on its own to 29. Praise the Lord! Obviously, the wound is healing. He is no longer confined to a liquid diet and relished his first real meal since Saturday morning. When I visited him this evening, he was a completely different person. He was sitting up in bed, with good skin color and a strong voice. Continue to pray that the wound does not reopen and lower the hematocrit, requiring another transfusion. Also, that we get the pathology report from the endoscopy.
Dad spent several hours at the hospital alone today, as Mom came home to spend a little time with us, and used it to pour through the Word of God to find encouragement and comfort. Isaiah 41:10 was one of the verses he shared with me.
Many improvements were made today. His hematocrit rose on its own to 29. Praise the Lord! Obviously, the wound is healing. He is no longer confined to a liquid diet and relished his first real meal since Saturday morning. When I visited him this evening, he was a completely different person. He was sitting up in bed, with good skin color and a strong voice. Continue to pray that the wound does not reopen and lower the hematocrit, requiring another transfusion. Also, that we get the pathology report from the endoscopy.
Dad spent several hours at the hospital alone today, as Mom came home to spend a little time with us, and used it to pour through the Word of God to find encouragement and comfort. Isaiah 41:10 was one of the verses he shared with me.
" Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you,
for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will
uphold you with My righteous right hand."
May God be our comfort and strength through times of difficulty.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Endoscopy Results
Bryan had his endoscopy this morning.
We are thankful no current bleeding was found. His esophagus and stomach were normal.
We are prayerful for the mass engulfing his duodenum, that possibly the chemo shrinking the tumor caused it to pull away and ulcerate, thus bleed. After 3 units of blood, his hematocrit rose to 26, after being 15 upon arrival at the hospital. This morning it dropped to 24, which justified a fourth unit of blood. He is still at St. Joe's and looks great now that he is tanked up with fluids and blood. Not sure when he'll come home, hopefully tomorrow.
I want to say thank you to all those who donate blood! It saved my husband's life! To those of you who haven't, it's not that difficult. It's an opportunity to give of yourself to help save someone's life.
We are thankful no current bleeding was found. His esophagus and stomach were normal.
We are prayerful for the mass engulfing his duodenum, that possibly the chemo shrinking the tumor caused it to pull away and ulcerate, thus bleed. After 3 units of blood, his hematocrit rose to 26, after being 15 upon arrival at the hospital. This morning it dropped to 24, which justified a fourth unit of blood. He is still at St. Joe's and looks great now that he is tanked up with fluids and blood. Not sure when he'll come home, hopefully tomorrow.
I want to say thank you to all those who donate blood! It saved my husband's life! To those of you who haven't, it's not that difficult. It's an opportunity to give of yourself to help save someone's life.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Today's Update
My dad has been hospitalized due to extremely low blood pressure and an elevated pulse rate. Earlier this afternoon, he was experiencing light headedness and shortness of breath and nearly fainted. His blood pressure was taken and his numbers were not good. Paramedics were called and they put him on oxygen and gave him an IV feed. Once stabilized, he was transported to the hospital.
Tests revealed that there was internal bleeding somewhere, and a transfusion was required. He will be held overnight for monitoring and will undergo an endoscopy and colonoscopy presumably tomorrow, to find the source of the bleeding. Please pray that the doctors will find the blood source quickly and will solve the problem. We know that God's will is being done and are resting in His Sovereign Grace.
Jonathan, for the Pollock family
Tests revealed that there was internal bleeding somewhere, and a transfusion was required. He will be held overnight for monitoring and will undergo an endoscopy and colonoscopy presumably tomorrow, to find the source of the bleeding. Please pray that the doctors will find the blood source quickly and will solve the problem. We know that God's will is being done and are resting in His Sovereign Grace.
Jonathan, for the Pollock family
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Hannah
Hi! I'm Hannah and I am six years old. It is strange that my daddy has cancer again. I am hoping that he gets better very soon. Please pray for him. I love him very much.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Encyclopedias and Drug Manuals
When Bryan and I were dating (courtship wasn't in our vocabulary at that time), I'll never forget sitting across from him in a little coffee shop and he asked me what I did on Friday nights. By this time, I had graduated from college and was a full-time working woman so Friday nights were not that exciting and I spent most of them reading the encyclopedia (those of you who do this will totally understand, the rest of you will really think I'm wierd); how do you explain that to the man you want to marry? Honesty is always the best policy and much to my surprise he admitted to the same!
Our first year of marriage was spent in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada where Bryan interned in a church. We had a friend, Linda Walter, who thought it hilarious that we always had our noses in some sort of reference book. Even today, as the encyclopedias are brought to the dinner table to bring fuller understanding to some discussion, Bryan or I will say, "If only Linda could see us now!" Well, yesterday's chemo was a Linda moment.
We were asking the nurse to explain a lab result so she brought us her nurses handbook, showed us the answer and then walked away. I told Bryan I would love to read that book. Later, as we were discussing nausea medication, she brought in her drug manual. The more questions I asked, the more she searched until she said, "Would you like me to leave this with you?" I was delighted to read all about side effects, contraindications, various drug trials, ... fascinating! Too bad it was Tuesday afternoon and not Friday night!
Our first year of marriage was spent in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada where Bryan interned in a church. We had a friend, Linda Walter, who thought it hilarious that we always had our noses in some sort of reference book. Even today, as the encyclopedias are brought to the dinner table to bring fuller understanding to some discussion, Bryan or I will say, "If only Linda could see us now!" Well, yesterday's chemo was a Linda moment.
We were asking the nurse to explain a lab result so she brought us her nurses handbook, showed us the answer and then walked away. I told Bryan I would love to read that book. Later, as we were discussing nausea medication, she brought in her drug manual. The more questions I asked, the more she searched until she said, "Would you like me to leave this with you?" I was delighted to read all about side effects, contraindications, various drug trials, ... fascinating! Too bad it was Tuesday afternoon and not Friday night!
Chemo Day Two 02/03/09
Yesterday, was a better experience than last week for Bryan. We were better prepared--trying to get back into the groove of chemo. A week of nausea was too much to not be prepared. The shocking event was a seven pound weight loss. He tips the scale at 125, that is not good! The nausea just overtook him and he was afraid to eat to prevent vomitting. After discussing this with the nurse practitioner, she suggested he may have been in a viscious cycle of low blood sugar causing nausea, not feeding it, then the blood sugar dropping more, causing more nausea. We chose to fill him with food before chemo and then munching all during his infusion. He said he felt stronger as a result but he still suffers from the nausea today. Please pray we can conquer this nausea and Bryan can gain weight. Though he has had nausea today, he has been able to keep his food down.
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