A Few Days of Highs and Lows

The past few days have shown us the highs and lows with Jerry and definitely put us all on edge with everything - the good and the bad.

Jerry has been very alert this past week and it's nice to see him follow nurses and visitors around the room, and responding via hand squeezes, eyebrow raising and pointed stares. He definitely wants the respirator tube removed from his throat and we had a few incidents where we thought he might pull the tube out on his own (most definitely NOT a good thing).

They pumped up the fluids they were pulling from him to 200 ml/hr, however, that didn't last very long as his blood pressure dropped extremely low... into the 40's and they almost had to bring in the crash cart for him - you've never seen so many nurses and doctors come running! After that incident, they put him back to 50 ml/hr and it took over 24 hours for his blood pressure to regulate. They began pulling out 100 ml/hr last night; as of this morning, they are now pulling 150 ml/hr and have put him on blood pressure meds in order to maintain a good blood pressure level. He is still really puffy from all the fluids in him, and will remain so until they can begin pullng much more fluids from him - a task they can't or won't do as his bp remains so low.

His color has been that of watered-down pea soup off and on for the past few days. His bellyrubn (which should be around 1-2) was at 20 on Thursday. The rest of the markers they test for on his liver/cancer were all good - just the bellyrubn was off. This is what also causes his color to be off and make him look jaundiced. They thought there might be a blockage in the liver that was causing this number to be high. If so, they wanted to try and do a shunt down his throat into his stomach/liver to see if there was blockage and or drain the area if needed. Last night, we were told they can not do this procedure due to how cramped up his organs are inside.. the area that SHOULD be clear and allow them acccess is shoved up into his diaphram and stomach prohibiting them from doing this.

They ran a CT scan on him Thursday to check out how things were going in him with the Cancer and if the chemo had any effect and to check for any blockage in his liver and see what next steps would be. The scan came back mixed - the cancer/tumor hasn't grown; yet hasn't shrunk. They want to do a bone scan on him on Monday in order to see if the Cancer has spread to his bones or not.... that answer will hold a lot of power over next steps in Jerry's care.

The doctors have pumped up the support for him on the respirator which means that now, the machine is doing a good portion of the breathing for Jerry. This is most assuredely not a good thing and we are constantly trying to wean him off so that we can remove the tube from him ASAP. He has been on full support on the machine for 3 days now... the longer he is at this level, the lower the odds of getting him off soon are.

To say that Jerry is improving is not right; to say that he is deteriorating isn't either. He is having good days and bad days; good moments and bad moments ... on the whole, the bad moments seem to be taking over right now, but we are still in this fight for him and he is holding on strong.

This morning, one of the ICU doctors came in and spoke to us about additional options for today. They are for sure doing the bone scan to see if the Cancer is indeed in his bones or not. If it IS, they will stop doing Chemo on him as once Cancer is in the bones, nothing will cure him (at least that is how we understood what he told us). if it ISN'T in his bones, they want to remove him from the respirator immediately, put a small "trach" hole in his throat. This will allow them to pump more meds into him if needed and will also allow Jerry to begin the recuperation process from having the ventilator on him.

Monday will be a fraught filled day while the bone scan occurs and until the results come back to us. For sure, it will be a day of decisions and may choose the path that Jerry will take.

Once again, we have a house full of family down to visit Jerry and to be together as a unit. The support from family and friends for Jerry still continues to flourish...a true testament to Jerry's love and friendship that he has spread throughout.