The Roller Coaster Ride Continues

Yesterday was an excellent day for David on many fronts!  His cognition, energy level, determination, & fighting spirit were all strong.  For the first time since before his previous hospitalization seven weeks ago, his white blood cell count was normal & he was able to receive the second of his five planned radiation therapy treatments to the tumor in the head of his pancreas.  He was much less fatigued than he has been lately, which allowed him to be out of bed more & it was a sunny day, so we got him outside on a patio where he was able to feel the sun on his face.

For the first time during this hospitalization, we were seen by an infectious disease (ID) doctor last evening who is trying to find the true source of David's infection in order to best direct what specific antibiotics he should be getting.  To this end, the ID doctor placed an order for David to have a thoracic CT to rule out any source of infection in his chest.  Don't ask my why & don't get me started on this particular issue, but for some reason, the CT study was done at 2:30 AM!!!  The good news is that David's chest appears clear of any source of infection, but they caught most of his liver on the study, & it appears that David has a new "collection" of something in his right lateral liver lobe.  So, now they want to do a CT scan of David's abdomen & if this "collection" looks like something that could be drained, send him to IR (interventional radiology -- remember all of our frustrations with this department during David's last hospitalization!) to drain it & obtain cultures.  Looks like that is going to be happening tomorrow.  Of course, all of this happened as our internal medicine doctor / hospitalist that we really liked & trusted rotated off of service for a week & has been replaced by a different hospitalist that hasn't yet earned our trust.

David had his third of five radiation therapy treatments today.  Not sure that we will be able to have the fourth treatment tomorrow since he will be having the abdominal CT & potential drainage of assumed infectious material from his liver tomorrow (done under conscious sedation) -- we'll just have to see how that all pans out.

Today we are feeling tired (not much sleep was achieved last night); frustrated by the medical system & the fact that we still haven't fully found & adequately treated the source of David's infection that has been lingering for at least the past seven weeks; & disappointed that David won't be getting out of the hospital quite yet (we have definitely had our fill of this place!!!).  It's hard to not get discouraged & to stay focused on the positives that we have going on at this point in time (David's not having pain, his appetite is pretty good, his cognition is much improved, & he is getting a little stronger).  But, one thing we have learned over the past nearly six years is that when we are in these low times, there is a high time on the horizon if we can just hold on a little longer.  So, please keep those good thoughts, prayers, comments & texts coming -- they are all very comforting & helpful as well as much appreciated!!!

Hugs, Janet