Cycle Two of Chemo Completed

We came home from the hospital on Sunday without too much drama.  Bill is recuperating from the second round of chemo but he doesn't seem to be bouncing back quite as quickly as we had hoped.  He is still experiencing nausea most of the time, which also means he is not able to eat much.  Unfortunately, he does not need to lose anymore weight.  So, we are continually in search of something to eat that sounds good to him and that he can tolerate.  This task is not as simple as it may sound.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them with us.  

The good news is that he is "tube free".  All holes are closed and all foreign matter is out of his body.  Considering the multitude of bad luck he has had with central lines, that is indeed positive news.  Now our immediate goal is to get rid of this nausea and get some food into him. I have to admit, it is much nicer being at home than in the hospital.  That's certainly no reflection on the folks at University Hospital, they have been so caring and efficient but we prefer our own bed.  

  

As always, thanks for your continued acts of kindness, prayers and support.  

Chemo, Round II

We're back at University Hospital in day two / round two of biochemo therapy.  So far, Bill is holding his own.  He is sleeping quite a bit, which is how he prefers to spend his time in the hospital.  His attitude is, just give me something to put me to sleep and wake me when it's time to go home.  Currently we are in a semi private room, so I am unable to stay overnight, but I am here all day with him.  

The therapy is pretty standardized.  He is given a series of 5 drugs over the course of 5 days.  They monitor his vital signs and blood work pretty closely and then if all goes as planned, he goes home on day six.  

Here's an interesting note, the oncology "team" has established a new protocol for removing the central line thanks to Bill's incident .  New plan, the central line will be removed at the hospital before discharge and a peripheral line will be used to administer the IV fluids at home.  So, the home health care nurse will be responsible only for the removal of that peripheral line (in his arm as opposed to a main artery) hopefully lowering the possibility for additional drama.   

According to the original plan,  after this round of chemo he is to have another PET scan to determine if the therapy is working.  Hopefully that will be the case, not that we want two more rounds of the biochemo, but it beats the alternative.  In the meantime, we're hanging in there, taking things a day at a time.  It's pretty peaceful here, and I'm taking advantage of the time to catch up on my reading, nothing too heavy or thought provoking though.  

As always, thanks for your continued support.  We love hearing from you and appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers.  Holly

Return to Chemo

The ups and downs that come with battling cancer can be so overwhelming at times.  We heard from the oncologist yesterday, we're scheduled to resume chemo therapy next Tuesday.  We're trying to look at this as a positive, the fact that Bill is strong enough to continue with the chemo treatments is promising.  But, it seems that as soon as he begins to feel better and resume some since of normalcy, it's time to go back into the hospital and take another hit.  

We're trying to stay strong and keep a positive attitude.  This means another 5 day stay in the hospital (University) and then another few days at home recuperating.  We've already decided that we will not have the line pulled at home again, hopefully we can avoid a repeat of our last drama.  We plan to return to the hospital or the Brown Cancer Center for that procedure from now on.  

Bill will continue with rehab until Tuesday and then get back to it after chemo when he is feeling stronger.  He enjoys the rehab sessions, in the way that one enjoys a workout, when it's over he's glad he did it.  

As always, keep in touch and thanks for your continued prayers and positive thoughts.  Holly

Update from Fleming Rd.

We've made it through another week without any drama, from where I sit, that's progress, hooray!!  Bill is embracing rehab, it takes a lot out of him but he is enjoying the challenge.  He goes about twice a week for three hours each time to Frazier Rehab at the Jewish Hospital in Dupont.  Already we can see progress.  We are still not sure about when he will be able to get back to the chemo, he has to be stronger so they can knock him down again.  I guess we want that to be sooner rather than later, but I wonder.  

We have had a good weekend, did a run through St. James, and saw a few friends, that was fun.  Both of my sisters were in to visit as well as my parents and the girls, so it has been busy.  We're hopeful that if all goes well, we will make a visit to the Garvin Gate Blues Festival next weekend. That's one we have always enjoyed and if Bill is feeling up to it we would love to make it.  Maybe we'll see some of you there.  

We're taking things one day at a time, which I guess is really all you can do given the circumstances.  It has been so nice to visit with so many friends through all of this, many of whom we had not connected with in years.  I think you really do begin to look at things differently.  I always thought that was cliche but again, just something else I have learned  through experience.  

Thanks to all of you who have sent Bill emails recently, it's so nice to hear from you, and it is a great way for him to practice his cognitive skills.  As always, it's great to hear from you and we appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers.  I'll keep you posted, hopefully from home.  Holly

We're Home Again

Bill was discharged from the hospital late Thursday afternoon.  We had a restful night at home, and he is scheduled to begin  outpatient rehab at Frazier on Monday.  He is pretty weak but happy to be at home.  His memory is not quite back to 100% yet but it's coming back quickly.  

Their is still no conclusive diagnosis for what happened to him.   The most popular theory is that he had an air embolism caused when the central line was removed.  That would have caused an air bubble to move up into his brain causing damage to the brain similar to a stroke.  The good news is that the neurologists feel confident he will make a full recovery (from the brain damage) in time with rehab.  The bad news is we do not know what this all means for future chemotherapy.  

I feel like we have been in a very long version of a "House" episode.  Nothing that happens has a simple answer, everything seems to be complex and confusing, and unusual.  I guess this kind of thing should be expected, nothing is simple where cancer is concerned.  

Hopefully we will be able to stay home for a while and Bill will have some time to build his strength.  As always, we appreciate your well wishes and prayers.  Feel free to send Bill an email, he is using email to practice his cognitive skills and I know he would love to hear from his friends.  His email address is billnolan@insightbb.com.  Keep in touch.  Holly

Good News

Good news!  Yesterday Bill began to talk, he was responding to us and actually putting words together and making some fairly coherent sentences.  He seems to be making positive progress.  The Docs are still not sure exactly what happened to him, it could be an infection in the brain, it could have been a small stroke or an air embolism, it could have been a seizure, or it could have been a reaction to the combination of meds he was taking as a result of the chemo therapy.  They have done many tests and some of the results are in but we are waiting on others.  Currently, they are treating him for everything they think it may be.  

It seems that he has had an injury to the right side of his brain, which controls emotions and short term memory.  He seems to be really happy one minute and then really sad the next.  Yesterday we saw marked progress from the morning to the evening.  He seems to be regaining movement in his left arm which was paralyzed at the onset on Wednesday afternoon.  We are hopeful that this progress will continue and he will be back to normal very soon.  

He is still in the intensive care unit, and they are very strict with the visitation rules, but if that's what's best for the patient then we'll gladly live with it.  

I want to thank everyone who has helped us out recently with the storm cleanup and the power outage while we have been here in the hospital.  We finally got power at our house last night which is one less hassle.  I'm sending good "power thoughts" to all of you still without power.  What an ordeal! 

Hopefully, my next update will be to inform you that we are going home again.  As always, thanks for your positive thoughts and prayers.  Holly

Another Unfortunate Twist

Apologies for not posting an update sooner, but like most of us here in the metro area, we have been and still are without power.  I am sorry to report that things have taken another bad turn for Bill.  

We came home from the hospital after completing Cycle I of chemo on Sunday morning.  Bill was pretty weak, but holding his own.  He was getting stronger each day and by Wednesday he was able to take a walk down the street.  He even wanted to go out for a fish sandwich for dinner, we were pretty excited about his progress.  On Wednesday afternoon the home health care nurse came to remove the central line from his chest.  She removed the line, Bill seemed to be doing okay but within about 5 minutes of removing the line something happened.  We don't know if he had a stroke or a seizure or what but he became non responsive.  We immediately called 911 and he was taken to the emergency room at University.  It was a nightmare, we were in the emergency room from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. before being admitted and put in a room.  

As of this morning, he is in the intensive care unit for neurology patients on the 5th floor of University Hospital.  He has had a myriad of tests including MRI, spinal tap to check for meningitis and a wide range of blood tests all in an effort to try and determine what happened.  He is still relatively unresponsive, not comatose, but unable to talk or communicate in any real way.  He does respond to pain, ripping off the tape on his abdominal dressing seems to bring on a response which is a positive sign.  So far, they seemed to have ruled out more cancer, which is a plus, and there has been no seizure activity since he came into the hospital.  He had evidence of having a small stroke, but nothing severe enough to have caused his present state.  We are really at a loss.  At least he seems to be resting peacefully right now.  The girls have come in and are staying with us, always a blessing and comfort to both of us.   I don't know what all of this means for future chemo treatments, clearly he will be unable to face that until he recovers from this.  One day at a time I guess.  

As always,  we so very much appreciate your cards, calls, emails and kind words of encouragement.  Please continue to keep Bill in your thoughts and prayers.  I will do my best to keep this site updated.  My guess is that we will be here in the hospital for a while.