Chris came home from the hospital on Friday night. The cultures they did on his urine came back on Friday morning showing a urinary tract infection so they sent him home with IV antibiotic - Vancomycin every 12 hours - for 2 weeks. I know that a uti in males can make them pretty sick and can affect their mental status. Chris has been weak and has trouble verbalizing what he wants to say. I'm praying that this is related specifically to the UTI and will resolve rather than being a setback related to the cancer.
Patty and Ted are coming down on Tuesday to stay for a couple of days in order to give me a little break. I'll be going out to the desert to recharge a little. I'm so grateful that they can come down to give me some time away. I just have to make sure that everyone is ok with starting the infusion and that they know what to watch for with possible kidney failure which is a side effect of Vancomycin and what he had last week in the hospital...don't want a repeat of that!
Pray with me that he starts responding to the medication and his mental status clears up quickly.
Love to all. CJSRJ
Monday, March 19, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
thursday march 15
thursday evening at the hospital. chris has just been taken down for a renal ultrasound. lab results earlier today show that kidney function is better but not great. still with fever tho not as high. wll plan to get a chest/abd/pelvic ct scan tomorrow to see if thereis apocket of infection somewhere that is causing the fever. so thats the story for today. As always thank you for the prayers, we do so appreciate them. will update tomorrow or when we find out something. love cjsrj
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 9pm
Want to let you know the status this evening. The attending doctor today ordered an abdominal ultrasound to see if there were any clues to the ongoing fever issue. The ultrasound came back normal. Chris remains on IV fluids to rehydrate and they will check his kidney and liver function again in the morning. If the fluids resolve the hydration, kidney and liver issues but the fever remains, he will plan to do an upper body CT scan with contrast to rule out anything there that might be causing the fever including kidney stones and gall bladder problems. So basically we are just waiting and exploring right now. Chris slept most of the day today. He still is "off" mentally in that he isn't always sure where he is, or what the date is (but sometimes he knows), and he is mixing reality with fantasy of some kind made up in his head. I'm hoping that by getting his fluids back in line and the fever under control he will clear up mentally as well.
We left him at the hospital tonight and will go back in the morning. He is able to get to the restroom with assistance in walking him there so we do not have the issues we had during the last hospitalization where we had to have someone there all night to keep him from pulling out the i.v. and trying to get up to go to the restroom. Check back tomorrow for an update. thank you for the extra thoughts and prayers being said for us during this time. We love you. CJSRJ
We left him at the hospital tonight and will go back in the morning. He is able to get to the restroom with assistance in walking him there so we do not have the issues we had during the last hospitalization where we had to have someone there all night to keep him from pulling out the i.v. and trying to get up to go to the restroom. Check back tomorrow for an update. thank you for the extra thoughts and prayers being said for us during this time. We love you. CJSRJ
Admission notice march 14
Brought Chris to the ER at 4 this morning. Temp was 103.9 and he was extremely weak and confused. They gave him 3 bags of fluid did a chest X-ray and ct scan. Kidney function still off but chest X-ray clear and ct showed no bleed or other problem. Started him on Iv antibiotics because they don't know what is causing the fever. He is being admitted to room 1402b at Kaiser Fontana. Will post updates as things happen
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Hello~
Quick update with the recent activities in the Marsey house. Wednesday night Chris started this month's chemotherapy treatment. Friday he saw his primary care doctor because his blood pressure has been low and we wanted to see if his meds needed adjusting. Doctor took him off one of the bp meds. On Saturday, Chris developed a fever just as he had last month during his chemo treatment. Tylenol helped to keep the temp in the high 99's to low 100's. Sunday night was the last of the 5 nights of chemo. Yesterday I talked to Dr. Green about the fever. Dr. Green said he doesn't recall having any other patients who complained of fever while taking the Temodar, but wasn't extremely concerned about it. By this morning I had expected the temp to be back to normal, and if not normal than close to normal. So, you can imagine my surprise and concern when his temp this morning was 102.9, he was more confused than he has been in quite awhile and he started to slur his speech again. Back to Colton to see Dr. Smith who had openings in his schedule this morning. Labs, Chest xray and EKG were done. The EKG was normal and the chest xray was clear. The labs came back with mixed results, most significantly it showed a problem with the kidney function. However, due to the symptoms described along with the intermittent fever, Dr. Smith was concerned that there may be a pulmonary embolism. He wanted to do a CT angiogram to rule the embolism but couldn't do it because of the affect of the contrast on the kidney function, so he ordered a VQ scan instead. We drove out to Fontana, Chris had the VQ scan and the doctor who read the scan said there was a very low probability of a pulmonary embolism. The kidney function remains a problem though, so tomorrow morning we will go bak to see Dr. Smith and the creatinine level drawn again. If the result is still bad, we'll decide from there what to do.
Check back here for updates after we see the doctor tomorrow.
Love, CJSRJ
Quick update with the recent activities in the Marsey house. Wednesday night Chris started this month's chemotherapy treatment. Friday he saw his primary care doctor because his blood pressure has been low and we wanted to see if his meds needed adjusting. Doctor took him off one of the bp meds. On Saturday, Chris developed a fever just as he had last month during his chemo treatment. Tylenol helped to keep the temp in the high 99's to low 100's. Sunday night was the last of the 5 nights of chemo. Yesterday I talked to Dr. Green about the fever. Dr. Green said he doesn't recall having any other patients who complained of fever while taking the Temodar, but wasn't extremely concerned about it. By this morning I had expected the temp to be back to normal, and if not normal than close to normal. So, you can imagine my surprise and concern when his temp this morning was 102.9, he was more confused than he has been in quite awhile and he started to slur his speech again. Back to Colton to see Dr. Smith who had openings in his schedule this morning. Labs, Chest xray and EKG were done. The EKG was normal and the chest xray was clear. The labs came back with mixed results, most significantly it showed a problem with the kidney function. However, due to the symptoms described along with the intermittent fever, Dr. Smith was concerned that there may be a pulmonary embolism. He wanted to do a CT angiogram to rule the embolism but couldn't do it because of the affect of the contrast on the kidney function, so he ordered a VQ scan instead. We drove out to Fontana, Chris had the VQ scan and the doctor who read the scan said there was a very low probability of a pulmonary embolism. The kidney function remains a problem though, so tomorrow morning we will go bak to see Dr. Smith and the creatinine level drawn again. If the result is still bad, we'll decide from there what to do.
Check back here for updates after we see the doctor tomorrow.
Love, CJSRJ
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Hello to our wonderful friends and family. Thank you for continuing to send good wishes and prayers. Thought it was probably time to give an update on how things are going.
Over the last month Chris has been doing pretty well. He is still suffering from fatigue but has been placed on a medication - Nuvigil - to help with that. Some days the Nuvigil works better than other days. Finding food that he is able to eat continues to be a challenge. Rice Krispies, Malt-o-Meal, eggs and strawberry ice cream are "staples". He works on the laundry during the day and has favorite shows he watches during the day. I suggested last night that he and I start walking the cul-de-sac for exercise and to help start building up his stamina (and to make me so much more efficient walking with crutches, LOL). The current plan is for him to return to work on April 9 and probably he will start back 4 hours a day rather than trying to go full steam ahead.
Lab work done over the last 2 weeks has all come back good and he has started his 3rd round of chemo last night. The dosage has been increased to the maximum it will be for the remainder of the treatment which is Temodar 420 milligrams per night for 5 nights. He takes Zofran for nausea an hour before and the morning after taking the drug and so far it seems to be working well. He hasn't felt nauseated or had any more episodes of vomiting which is really great. The next MRI is scheduled for April 3 and follow up with the neuro-oncologist on April 4. We totally expect nothing but positive results with that visit, because we know that our God is watching over us and providing his healing power. Besides, how can he possibly ignore all the prayers that he is bombarded with...right???
After about 16-1/2 weeks, my parents are finally back in their own home, sleeping in their own bed, driving their own car, freezing in the snow in Idaho. What a blessing it has been to have them here with us helping out in every way they could find. There is just no way to adequately express our gratitude for the sacrifices they have made to be here. Unconditional love and support is all we get from them. Who could possibly ask for more? Thank you mom and dad. You are two totally awesome people, an incredible blessing in our lives and we love you more than you can ever know.
Greg continues to call and come over often to make sure his brother is doing ok. What an incredible display of brotherly love. They are so close and love each other so much! It's wonderful to see and to be a part of that experience. Patty has started emailing us to practice her technical skills that she is picking up, lol and we are on the "special people" list because she doesn't email very many people. :-) Colleen and Randy, Mike and Wendy check in with us as well and everyone is just a phone call and an airplane ride away if we need them. Knowing that they are all ready and willing to come and help is very reassuring. Of course, all of our local friends and family are here at the drop of a hat as well and are consistently reminding us of their availability to help with anything we need. Blessings upon blessings!
Thank you again for continuing to send your good wishes and prayers our way. We feel so much love and support from so many people. It is simply awesome.
I am scheduled to return to work on April 2, still on crutches now, waiting for the holes in the tibia to fill in so they are not as much as risk for additional fracture. Not sure what the next step is since the hardware removal and the arthroscopy clean up didn't really help. I just can't believe that a little fall from a ladder could cause such major disruption and constant pain!
The boys are doing well. Jonathan is on spring break right now and my goal for him during this time is to deep clean his room...ughhh! Ryan is going to school and working and Sam is working and playing as many "gigs" as possible. They are all incredibly supportive and loving. They do need reminding that things need to be done around the house and that dad and mom can't do it all, but once reminded they are good at getting it done.
So overall we have progress and progress no matter how big or small is a step forward and heading in the right direction. Look for another update next month after our visit with Dr. Green where we will get the results of the next MRI. In the meantime, keep the prayers and good thoughts coming our way.
Thank you for your support and love over the last 5 months. We love all of you and appreciate each and every one of you for what you do for us.
Blessings,
Chris, Janet, Sam, Ryan and Jonathan
Over the last month Chris has been doing pretty well. He is still suffering from fatigue but has been placed on a medication - Nuvigil - to help with that. Some days the Nuvigil works better than other days. Finding food that he is able to eat continues to be a challenge. Rice Krispies, Malt-o-Meal, eggs and strawberry ice cream are "staples". He works on the laundry during the day and has favorite shows he watches during the day. I suggested last night that he and I start walking the cul-de-sac for exercise and to help start building up his stamina (and to make me so much more efficient walking with crutches, LOL). The current plan is for him to return to work on April 9 and probably he will start back 4 hours a day rather than trying to go full steam ahead.
Lab work done over the last 2 weeks has all come back good and he has started his 3rd round of chemo last night. The dosage has been increased to the maximum it will be for the remainder of the treatment which is Temodar 420 milligrams per night for 5 nights. He takes Zofran for nausea an hour before and the morning after taking the drug and so far it seems to be working well. He hasn't felt nauseated or had any more episodes of vomiting which is really great. The next MRI is scheduled for April 3 and follow up with the neuro-oncologist on April 4. We totally expect nothing but positive results with that visit, because we know that our God is watching over us and providing his healing power. Besides, how can he possibly ignore all the prayers that he is bombarded with...right???
After about 16-1/2 weeks, my parents are finally back in their own home, sleeping in their own bed, driving their own car, freezing in the snow in Idaho. What a blessing it has been to have them here with us helping out in every way they could find. There is just no way to adequately express our gratitude for the sacrifices they have made to be here. Unconditional love and support is all we get from them. Who could possibly ask for more? Thank you mom and dad. You are two totally awesome people, an incredible blessing in our lives and we love you more than you can ever know.
Greg continues to call and come over often to make sure his brother is doing ok. What an incredible display of brotherly love. They are so close and love each other so much! It's wonderful to see and to be a part of that experience. Patty has started emailing us to practice her technical skills that she is picking up, lol and we are on the "special people" list because she doesn't email very many people. :-) Colleen and Randy, Mike and Wendy check in with us as well and everyone is just a phone call and an airplane ride away if we need them. Knowing that they are all ready and willing to come and help is very reassuring. Of course, all of our local friends and family are here at the drop of a hat as well and are consistently reminding us of their availability to help with anything we need. Blessings upon blessings!
Thank you again for continuing to send your good wishes and prayers our way. We feel so much love and support from so many people. It is simply awesome.
I am scheduled to return to work on April 2, still on crutches now, waiting for the holes in the tibia to fill in so they are not as much as risk for additional fracture. Not sure what the next step is since the hardware removal and the arthroscopy clean up didn't really help. I just can't believe that a little fall from a ladder could cause such major disruption and constant pain!
The boys are doing well. Jonathan is on spring break right now and my goal for him during this time is to deep clean his room...ughhh! Ryan is going to school and working and Sam is working and playing as many "gigs" as possible. They are all incredibly supportive and loving. They do need reminding that things need to be done around the house and that dad and mom can't do it all, but once reminded they are good at getting it done.
So overall we have progress and progress no matter how big or small is a step forward and heading in the right direction. Look for another update next month after our visit with Dr. Green where we will get the results of the next MRI. In the meantime, keep the prayers and good thoughts coming our way.
Thank you for your support and love over the last 5 months. We love all of you and appreciate each and every one of you for what you do for us.
Blessings,
Chris, Janet, Sam, Ryan and Jonathan
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