Just When You Think You're Out of the Woods...

Our schedule got a little off today because Mike had his radiation treatment later than normal. Since he didn’t finish his breakfast until after noon, I didn’t wake him up to feed him until 3:20. Mike had that “look” in his eyes again that he gets when his brain swells. I asked him some questions and got the wrong answers. (Did you know that I work at Lexington Medical Center? Maybe I shouldn’t discount his answer on that one—I probably should be receiving a paycheck from this place!) Of course, I immediately called for the doctor…I didn’t want to wait it out and have to deal with the on-call doctor again over the weekend. The doctor ordered an immediate dose of Mannitol—Mike was given that to aid with the swelling on Sunday, and it seemed to help. The doctor said that all of the radiation can cause swelling, so since it’s the end of the week and Mike has had five consecutive treatments, that may be the cause of the problem. If I don’t see a noticeable change by tomorrow morning, another CT scan is going to be done. I’ll write a brief post tomorrow to let you know how he’s doing.

Mike’s platelet count is still fine, and all other blood work has come back okay. As usual, there will be no radiation over the weekend, but he will continue with the chemotherapy. He is starting to lose a good bit of hair…there’s more and more of it on his pillow. It’s almost getting as bad as woman’s after having a baby. (Those of you who have given birth know what I’m talking about. Sometimes I wonder how I have any hair on my head with all the strands I shed!) He’s not close to being Kojak yet, but he is getting closer to a Dr. Phil look.

My girlfriend is reprimanding me for not putting up another post about the Mike bracelets (or POP—Power of Prayer—bracelets as my father has renamed them!). I’m not going to mention any names, but hers rhymes with malison. So…if you would like a bracelet, just send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address at the bottom of this thread. For those of you new to this blog, the bracelets are meant to serve as a little reminder to think of and pray for Mike throughout the day. It is prayer that has gotten us this far. I crocheted all of the bracelets myself during my extended stay at the hospital. (See the February thread entitled “Mike Bracelets” for more details on how the bracelet idea came about.) For you Richland Northeast folks (both faculty and students), you can just swing by Mrs. Bush’s room if you want one. She’s in room C-204, but heed this warning: class time is sacred for her, so I suggest you stop by during lunch if you want one. Interrupting class would not be a good idea. Anyone at Airport can get one from Mrs. Klein. For everyone else, here’s the address:

Mike Bracelet
600 Woodrow Street
Unit G
Columbia, SC 29205

Brief Update

Mike seems to finally be bouncing back from the swelling he had over the weekend. Late yesterday he started talking more, and he continued with that today. He’s been having a pretty strong voice when he talks as well; the whispers are fewer and fewer. There have been plenty of smarty-pants remarks spewing from his mouth, so you know he’s definitely doing better. Of course, if he’s gets too smart with me, I threaten to not feed him his next meal, so he straightens up rather quickly. The prospect of starvation is a pretty good motivator.

We had a slight scare this morning. The blood report indicated that Mike’s platelet count dropped dramatically from two days ago. The doctor suspected it was a mistake by the path department and ordered another test today. Luckily, everything is normal. If it had been too high, the doctor was not going to give him the chemotherapy today. He has this test done every other day, so it is monitored regularly. The radiation continues to go well; he had his twelfth treatment today. Thirty more to go.

Some of you have asked about visiting Mike, and that is perfectly fine. There really is no predictor of a good time to stop by—it’s kind of a take-your-chances sort of thing. Sometimes he’s up and talking and other times he’s a sleepy head. He doesn’t have a pattern he follows, so I can’t tell you that one particular part of the day is better than another. If you do visit, be aware that he is still not back to regular Mike, but he does know who comes by and appreciates the visits.

Our oncologist sent a copy of the CT scan to Duke, but he has not talked to the doctors up there about the Avastin yet. He hopes to talk with them by early next week.

That’s about it. Sorry I don’t have anything more exciting to write, but at least there haven’t been any setbacks in the last couple of days!

Prayers Are Working (As If We Didn't Already Know That!)

In case you’re wondering, the on-call doctor never came by Saturday night. Good thing I have that street-smart medical degree, eh? After Mike still appeared not to be improving Saturday evening, I insisted the nurse call the on-call doctor to see if his steroids needed to be increased some more. After the nurse talked with the doctor, Mike was given five more milligrams on the spot then his regular dose was increased to 20mg. When the on-call doctor did come by on Sunday for rounds, I shared my concerns that Mike has not been following textbook protocol as far as how quickly he can decline. The doctor ordered a drug called Mannitol, another agent to help with the swelling. He also ordered a CT scan and MRI to check for hemorrhaging. They don’t do MRI’s on Sundays, so that’s why he was having the CT Scan—they do do those on the weekends in the emergency room. Mike continued to give some crazy answers to questions throughout the day, but he got better as the day progressed.

This morning I talked with our regular oncologist. He is going to keep Mike on the high steroids dose until the radiation treatment is finished next month. Based on the CT scan results, Mike is NOT going to have an MRI today. The scan is compared to the last one he had here on January 9. The bleeding Mike was having in the biopsy area in January has “nearly completely resolved” and there is “no new intratumoral hemorrhage.” That is great news because Mike did have additional bleeding while we were at Duke, so there evidently is no sign of the hemorrhaging Mike was having earlier this month. (If you remember, on February 5, I was told the tumor had grown, Mike was hemorrhaging and there was nothing else the doctors could do…it would just be a matter of days.) Our doctor is going to send the report to Duke to see what they think about starting the Avastin. Also on the great news front…Mike’s February 11 MRI showed Mike’s tumor had a diameter of 5.6 centimeters. Yesterday’s scan showed the diameter at 5 centimeters. I’m no rocket scientist, but that tells me the tumor has shrunk six millimeters since Mike began radiation and chemotherapy nearly two weeks ago! Keep the prayers a goin’...5 centimeters is still bigger than the tumor was when Mike first went to the hospital in January, so we’ve still got a long way to go. I am, though, extremely encouraged by how well this current treatment is working.