Home At Last

Since my last post, several things have happened. When I returned to the hospital on Sunday night after the last post, things went downhill. While Randy was receiving the first unit of blood, his IV site went bad. While waiting for a technician to start a new site, his blood pressure dropped to 50/33 and he passed out. Unlike the previous hospital visit, he was flat on his back and not standing in the bathroom. So, at least there were no injuries. Dr. Ahmed came to the hospital at 11:30 Sunday night to evaluate him. It was determined that since his blood pressure could not be maintained at an acceptable level, he needed to receive a dopamine drip. That could only be administered in ICU. Soooooo, Randy was transferred to ICU and remained there until this morning when he was discharged.

While in ICU, he received two more units of blood, IV fluids and IV antibiotics. The good news is that his temperature returned to normal fairly quickly and remains there at this time. He is still taking oral antibiotics. The nature of the infection is still undetermined. There were some issues with kidney function because of dehydration and the extremely low blood pressures, but that is resolving itself. We are very thankful for that. The hemoglobin is still a problem and may remain so during chemotherapy.

Dr. Ahmed called for a consult with Dr. Wepsic who is Randy's cardiologist and had prescribed some of the medications that affect blood pressure. Dr. Wepsic suggested that he not take any medications that lower blood pressure or act as a diuretic. We are hoping that coming off of those meds will give us good results following his next chemo treatment which is scheduled for December 9. We are learning as we go concerning dealing with side effects. After the first treatment, we learned how to best control the nausea and diarrhea. Now we move on to dehydration and low blood pressure.

Randy is glad to be home and is trying to catch up on his missed sleep. ICU is definitely not the place to be when you need to sleep. There are alarms going off, nurses dealing with life and death situations every minute. As when we were at MD Anderson Cancer Center, we looked around and saw how fortunate we are at this point in Randy's disease. His time there has given us a new list of people to lift up in prayer, both patients and care givers.

On a positive note, we had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. The girls made it home and back safely and we ate way too much food. Thanks to the Myricks for including us as family once again. You are precious to us. Thanks also to everyone who has been calling to check on Randy and me during this time. I also want to give a big thank you to Burke and Carol, Mark, Steve Gibson and Isaac for their help with the Christmas decorations. Things were beginning to run together for me at this holiday time. But with your help, everything is coming together.

Please continue to pray for us. We have again been blessed by the Master's healing touch. God is good all the time, all the time God is good. Believe it -- it is true.

Peace be to you.

Randy & Sue