5/1 update on Fred :) - video link in OP!

We came back to the hospital yesterday for round 5 of chemo. Just one more after this and we can move on to the next steps! We are so encouraged. Every time we come there is some kind of improvement. Within the past few weeks his blood oxygen level has been 98 and 99%, exactly where it belongs.

He has been on a heart med for elevated heart rate (averaging in 120s). The meds made his blood pressure too low and made him lightheaded. so per doctor's orders we cut his daily dosage by half for the past week. And for the first time in 5 months, his heart rate is between 85-100! We are Thanking God for each YES.

Read on if you want to hear about our adventure. Because it's always an adventure with us!

We arrived at 8am Thursday so he could get a PICC line put in early. It is a 15 minute procedure but it took 90 minutes. During the procedure the machine that gives the doctor a visual went down so he had to complete it flying blind. Then he needed an X-ray to make sure it was properly placed.

Getting chemo, the lines were sluggish. The nurse was trying to flush it and pushed so hard that it exploded at the machine end and squirted saline on her and dh. I don't know what the problem was but it's been fine ever since.

We go to outpatient for first chemo and then go to dinner before being admitted to the hospital. The last few times it wasn't ready for us but they had called us with a room number. Our room was occupied by someone having a meeting so they took us to the VIP lounge to wait. Did you know some hospitals have a VIP wing? If you want to pay extra you get special amenities. Anyway the VIP lounge was all plush with a silver tea service. We were offered drinks and fruit and cheese. I'm glad we were only there a short while because it reeked of cheese. Dh likes cheese so he thought it smelled good. But to me it smelled like cheese that's been sitting in the sun for too long.

raindancer you'll love this. The overnight resident tried getting dh an EKG, heart monitor, chest X-ray and extra bloodwork. Because his heart rate is "high" at 100 and his WBC is too high. So "he might have pneumonia." No everything is fine. His heart rate is improved and his WBC is supposed to be high because of one of his meds. Fred put his foot down. we had a new-to-us nurse, who was great. She asked one of our previous nurses her opinion because she knew his history. Both nurses went to bat for us as we refused the unnecessary testing. I made sure to tell the nurse manager what a great job they did advocating for us.

We try to lighten things for them if we can. Tonight they were looking to test his urine. I went to the nurses' station and said "I heard you need a dipstick for my dipstick." The nurse processes a second and says, "I love you guys!" Anything we can do to help alleviate the boredom of overnight shift!




ETA: i told you about the benefit our church held for us. If this works correctly this is a link to the video we had done. Dh is saying thank you and I'm sharing a little bit of what we've seen of God throughout this.

docs.google.com/file/d/0B8otgoJYpBMlbkpCb1VzcWhsbGs/edit