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!