May 28, 2010

On Monday the 17th, we checked into the hospital and started antibiotics to prepare him for surgery. The surgery took place on Tuesday; however, it went longer than planned. They worked on his back first and it was not very successful in that they were only able to extract about 15% of fluid as the rest of the cyst had hardened. We were told they would address this issue at a later date.
The other surgery went well and the dr. is hopeful it has solved the problem without causing others in the future. We have to run another test in two weeks to get our answer but we are praying for success! He had some internal and external bleeding so bruising is expected but will eventually go away. His numbers dropped tremendously right after surgery but we were told that was normal and they should start to rise as he recovers. We were able to go home on Thursday afternoon and now had to finish getting ready for Arielle’s graduation party.
It was a success and she is very excited about the summer out of school before she heads to CSU and the grueling schedule to begin her nursing degree.
Monday we returned to the clinic to begin his five days of chemo again and he contracted a sore throat and head cold over the weekend. It worsened through the week and although they started him on another antibiotic, he ran a temperature yesterday so after being at the clinic for half the day we returned to the ER at 9pm but he was released at 1am. His numbers again had dropped in half from Thursday morning to Thursday evening and it was touch and go as to whether they were going to admit him.
We returned to the hospital this morning for the ultrasound on his gallbladder and it appears there are no stones so we are thankful for that! He received his last dose of chemo this morning and we do not have to return til next Wednesday for blood work and testing to see if the surgery was successful.
He is pretty excited that school is out so he can talk with his friends throughout the days and evenings and he should be able to start on his end of course exams by the end of next week.
We thank all of you for thinking of him and keeping him in your prayers and will keep you updated as we go along. Take care and enjoy the Memorial Day weekend!

May 16, 2010

We did return for another test, an ultrasound, but it was inconclusive so week before last we returned for an MRA. This test shows all the arterial flow and we were contacted by MUSC this week and met with the head of interventional radiology. This dr. will be performing the surgery on Jon. They plan to place a plug in his artery leading to his spleen by going through his femoral artery, then turn him over and go into his back to try to draw out the fluid at his pancreas. This surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, the 18th at 1:30pm. It will take about three hours altogether and we are hopeful they can do it all. This is the least invasive as they will go into his femoral artery with a sheath and into his back with a needle and a tube.
We are so thankful they are not planning to cut his belly open so this not only reduces the risk of infection but the hospital stay should be a couple days shorter and his recovery time a little shorter as well. There are risks, of course, but we have weathered them so far and with God’s help and all the prayers being sent for Jon, we are optimistic that all will go well.
As we were wrapping up our visit Thursday morning, Jon began to have severe chest pains again and was doubled over. We went directly to the ER and they ran tests but could find nothing out of the ordinary. We were able to come home around 3pm.
Since this surgery is taking place next week, we are having to forgo the maintenance schedule until he is back on his feet. I am not sure if this will delay the end date but we won’t know that for awhile
Jon is almost finished with all of his courses except for Algebra and Spanish. The Spanish course online will run through mid August and we plan to have homebound instruction for Algebra resume in June and hopefully be completed by the end of June.
Arielle was able to get her schedule from CSU yesterday and she is taking 18 hours the first semester. She will really have to cut back on some hours from all four of her part time jobs in order to keep up with her studies. She is very excited about going in the fall and is still planning to get her degree in nursing. She graduates on the 30th and we are hopeful that Jon will be able to attend.
Thank you for caring about all of us and I will keep you posted on his surgery by the end of next week.