Overdue Medical News

I am really sorry that it has taken me so long to post.  I have been slacking on posting, but not in caring, and I realize that it is time that I share part of what has been going on with Terry's health, and we are definitely going to post something more than the blood counts and transfusions that have become quite ordinary in our lives of late.  Those things still took place but I guess we needed to jump outside that box for a different ride, and oh what a ride we are on.

I tried to keep a daily log, but didn't really want to blog it from the beginning, but now that we are several days into it, it seems easier for me to share.  So, hang on for this ride with us if you choose to continue reading.  However, at the moment this is not the daily info that I previously logged, but a short version.  I might come back later to add the daily logged info, but I don't have time for that tonight.  Even the short version is long enough.

Friday night (Oct 24th) Terry had one of those terrible trembling shakes and chills which led to a fever of 102.8 (anything over 99.9 is not good so this was alarming).  We got this down with Tylenol, a cold damp washcloth rubbed around on his head, and cool drinks of water.

He had daily fevers (up to 103.8) all that weekend and we tried to reduce them as quickly as possible. There were other symptoms that kept us concerned, which included a sore on his outer calf of his right leg that kept getting worse (larger, redder, and more painful) and a pain in his upper left chest (similar to the pain one feels with pneumonia but higher).

We kept our Tuesday (Oct 28th) doctor appointment and went prepared to be admitted to the hospital.  Terry needed the 2 units of reds and 1 platelets, but also needed some IV antibiotics so we went to Central Wa Hospital for those needed transfusions and to stay a few days to determine and treat the
other problems.

This was the view from his window the last few days.  This is pretty on a sunny autumn day, but it's been raining or overcast most of the time.

There were several doctors questioning Terry and tests that took place the first day, but then things seemed to slow down, and we kept hearing what it could be or might be and probably was or wasn't. 

The fevers and pain in the chest continued in the hospital and soon it was both sides of his chest.  IV antibiotics continued and more were added and oral meds were added, as was PCA (pain medication at the push of a button as he needed).  Platelets and red blood cells were given almost daily.  They had him start wearing the oxygen hose Thursday because he was in enough pain that his breathing was very shallow.  His stamina was lacking, if he had any at all.

After a couple days, his leg sore (cellulitis) began to look better and better each day but the other problems remained.  It became apparent that he indeed had pneumonia and that he also had two spots in his lungs that looked like bacterial or fungal infection.  They treated for that and Terry is beginning to feel better now.

FYI - Our last two Halloween days have been spent in a medical facility.  This post includes photos from this years holiday/2014.  If you wish you can click HERE for the post from last year/2013.

Elsie is trick-or-treating but nervous that her grandpa is in a patient costume this year.

Michael, Elsie, Tawnee

Anthony, Auger, Akleigh, Thomas & Boston, Dana,  and Terry.

And here is another photo from the trunk-or-treat Chase participated in with the Car Club at Walmart parking lot in Wenatchee this year.  Fun stuff!  I guess I should have posted this earlier so I could wish everyone a Happy Halloween!  Hope you had a fun one!

Dana & Boston, Thomas & Akleigh, Anthony, Auger, Chase

Okay, back to the medical news...
Terry looked really good today (Nov 3rd).  The leg has improved a lot, but still has some redness that they think is just petechia (pe tee kee i).  The pain in the leg is gone.

Terry had no fever last night :) and we hope it remains that way.  He has not used the PCA med for two days so it was disconnected, his chest pain is lessoning, and they removed the oxygen today.  

The nurse walked in and saw Terry clipping his nails this morning and got so concerned, almost begging him to stop, but told him to be super careful because his platelets were only 10.  ;)  We assured her that he would be careful, but the very fact that his platelets were 10 was a good reason to clip his nails today.  (He hasn't seen 10 for a long time, but we know that is because he has been given platelets daily for awhile.)  It became a fun moment that we smile about now. 

He had a pretty good day today but we don't know when he comes home.  We know they need to continue treating things so that they clear up completely and don't get worse, and we are taking it one day at a time. 

Our laptop crashed awhile ago so I only have the ipad at the hospital and it's too hard to post from that, so I cannot promise when I'll post again since my time at home is so limited.  We hope he will be home in a few days, but it's best that we make no promises, even though we wish we could.


I'll close with a quote Connor shared in his letter today.

"The words of the Lord are found in the scriptures and the teachings of the apostles and prophets. They provide us counsel and direction that, when followed, will act like a spiritual life jacket and will help us know how to hold on with both hands."

This quote is from M. Russell Ballard, "Stay in the Boat and Hold On!",  General Conference October 2014


Oh!

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

Celebrating Halloween With Family

We didn't get to see any of the grandkids in their costumes on Halloween this year, so while we were home for the weekend we were treated with a fun evening.  Saturday evening they came over, in costume and trick or treated for us.  We loved it.  

 

 

 

 

After trick or treating we had dinner (homemade pizza) and then watched Monsters University,

image from google search

 and had some yummy caramel corn that Tawnee made.  It was a fun evening together.

Happy Halloween!

Today was an Ofa day - infusion from 9:00am to 3:00pm.  Things went well, except that Terry didn't feel very steady and strong when it was done, so we gladly took the shuttle back to the house where he is resting for the evening.
We had a fun little bag of treats at our door when we got back.  This is what we found -

The little note tells us that this holiday goodie bag was put together with love from the Hutch School Kids.  The Hutch School is for children of the patients and caregivers at the SCCA Clinic.  Their classroom is here at the Pete Gross House.  We'll try to get a photo of that soon.   It was a fun little gift, but we wish we would have been here when they came so that we could offer them a treat too.

We took a few little candy bars for the nurses that helped us in the infusion room today and we had some stickers, m&ms, and a bouncy ball for our doctors daughter.  He told us yesterday that this would be their first year for trick or treating and they were excited for it.  He is from Russia and they don't do Halloween there.  Our giving seemed to please him and make him happy, and we were certainly pleased. It just felt good to give.

The Hutch School children walked around parts of the clinic today at 1:00 to trick-or-treat, but we were inside the infusion room and unable to see them.  We did see two children dressed in costume on our way out, and we had a couple sets of stickers that we gave to them.

Behind those children is the desk for the infusion room, where "Things" were working away today. There were a few others in costume too - what a fun day for everyone. 

We had a nice Halloween ... How about you?

(There's a funny thing we are noticing - we get kinda bored here even though we could be doing the same things at home and feel just fine, it's just not the same. Still, we are grateful for this opportunity to help Terry get better and we pray that it will help.)

We'll head home tomorrow afternoon, after a pharmacy visit and blood draw. No promise of posting over the weekend, but I do promise to post if I can.  Either way we'll be back with appointments on Tuesday.  Did you notice that ... no appointments on Monday!  Happy day!

Happy Halloween!
 

Halloween 2012

It's been a long time since I've posted anything -  Finally a Halloween post ...

 

Halloween did happen here, but we only had a couple little trick-or-treaters.  Once we started participating in the trunk-or-treat we stopped getting trick-or-treaters. 

Now we don't really have any children to take, which leaves us home alone, unless we decide to party it up.  Ya, that hasn't happened in several years either.

Here are our sweet visitors -

The glasses are not part of the Owl costume, she just loves glasses and didn't want to give them up. And Bob the Builder was so anxious to go trick-or-treating this year.  So much fun!

 



 

We know of some other sweet trick-or-treaters too, though they didn't get to stop at our house - check out their great costumes here. 

 

 



A Surprise Wish:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

and

Happy Birthday Jewell!!!!
We hope you have a beautiful day!

Weekend Wakeup!

I would have posted earlier this weekend, but just didn't feel up to it. Sorry! I'm up a bit more now, enough to sit at the computer for a few minutes.

Trick or Treaters were few, but our favorite trick or treater came. He saw and he took what his little hands could hold. He went back a time or two and eventually even brought the whole bucket back with him. He was so cute!





We found an old helmet we had and tried it on him. Of course he was so very entertaining for us. He is just so very cute, isn't he!


He is just so fun to watch...and watch...and watch...


The Latimer's brought us an apple pie - a great treat! Once the kids learned they could eat it, it was gone!

The trick came in the form of the flu. Terry has had something all week, Chase got something too, and then I, Elaine got it. Connor may have had a mild form of it too. I hope it goes away soon.

Terry had Chase take him to the doctor today because I was unable to go. The check up went well and we are quite pleased with the lab results. I'm not complaining, but I'm wondering how it got so good so soon.
WBC - 4.2
RBC - 2.92
Neutrophils - 3.0
and the liver enzymes are looking much better too.
Thanks for the prayers! I guess I do know how they got so good so soon!
His platelets are a bit low, at 78, but we don't foresee any operations in his near future, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I was feeling so rotten Sunday that I couldn't do much, so wrote a very small email to Michael. I felt so bad because I couldn't spend much time. But his reply was wonderful. He didn't hold it against me and make his a short one too. He did however, tell us about his "death call". I knew exactly what he was talking about. I'm not sure I've ever heard it called that, but it's possible, since he is our fifth missionary. He is close enough to the end of his mission that they have his release date already figured out. Should I share it with you? Why not - May 27th. We should get his flight itinerary in the mail to know the particulars, but there is still time for that. But, that is this coming year!!!!! We'll be ready! He'll have mixed emotions! We don't mind - that is actually a good thing. He still has a lot to do, so we won't get "trunky" for him. We'll move on...

hopefully to better health!

Have a great day!

A great weekend!

We've had a great weekend!

Gregory and Adena came Thursday night, Jenny and her girls came Friday night, we've had a few visits from Wayne and Robyn (Dana's parents) and many wonderful guests on Sunday.

We finished our first coat of paint all around the house.

We spent most of Saturday juicing apples. The work load was constant, but not too stressful since we had a lot of people (parts of 7 families helping). There was a lot to be done, and it was work, but some of the work was even kinda fun. We ended up with about 250 gallons of juice and some awesome memories. We send a special thanks to the Jenks family for their friendship and kindness.

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After our busy day we wondered if we would rather stay home, but we ventured out and participated in the trunk-or-treat at the church. It's fun to give, and it was fun to see the costumes, and we enjoyed being together. Then we went trick-or-treating to one special home for Grandma's popcorn balls. It was a full, but a great day!

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Auger was blessed Sunday. We had family and friends come for dinner after church and enjoyed everyone's company. We are so grateful for our family and our friends and for the love and support they give to us. We almost forgot to take pictures, but we did get a few.

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And some of the fun will continue! Many have gone home, but Gregory's family will be here a few more days. It's been fun to watch Brayden and Tawny and see how they have grown.