Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Moments of Beauty
It's 2am on Wednesday morning Haley, Kevin, Trent and I are sitting with Jerry in his room as the dialysis machine sighs while cleaning Jerry's blood. Sherri has done a masterful job in updating everyone on Jerry's condition, but for those of you who aren't here to witness it there have been some really beautiful moments that I want to share. The Cahill clan took over one of the waiting rooms in the ICU for the last several days. It is full of loved ones 24 hours a day with people sleeping on the floor and under the furniture to avoid the glare of the lights that don't turn off. You don't realize how wide a path Jerry has made until you see the many different people who have come to him, family, friends, young, old all brought together by their love for this special guy. Then there are the moments, a father lovingly shaving his stricken son, a sister arranging stuffed animals and pictures, a friend swabbing Jerry's dry mouth with Diet Coke, friends arriving with homemade dinner for the entire group, a lawyer friend setting his own emotions aside to help guide Jerry through the legal maze of his situation, an expectant sister spending her third night sleeping on the hospital floor and then feeling guilty when she had to leave to go to the ER to care for her own health issues, a child sharing his fifth birthday with his favorite uncle in the ICU, a mother assuring her son with a kiss, the way he responds to someone holding his hand, or grandma margy taking on babysitting duties so the exhausted dads can take their shift to comfort their brother-in-law . The room overflows with symbols of love sent from every corner of the country. Everyday we take time to read the blog posts and cards aloud and are constantly reminded of the love and good carma coming are way. I just thought you should all know that no little gesture goes overlooked, even in the midst of these very difficult times the Cahill family has stuck together like glue. Its been and honor and a privileged to witness people rising to the occasion and creating these moments of beauty.
What a Roller Coaster Ride!
Thank you for riding, pull the lap belt tight across your lap and please be sure to keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.
Whew! What a ride the past few days have been.
We received the test results back from today on the CT scan.. and let me tell you, it's pretty darn good after everything else we have heard.
For the most part, the scans looked about the same, HOWEVER, the lymph nodes do not look as swollen and the tumor appears to be about the same size. They are currently putting him on dialysis and he will begin receiving continuing dialysis for an indefinite period of time. They will get rid of the toxins in his system and then begin getting rid of the fluids in his system. Once the dialysis begins on a regular basis, his kidneys should be able to pump the toxins out of his body.
He is still connected to a ventilator and will remain on it for at least 24-36 more hours. While he is on the ventilator the doctor will get additional drugs into his system that they might not have been able to while he wasn't on the machine. Once they start to take him off the ventilator, it will take a few days as they want to be sure that he will be able to breath on his own without complications. All told, it looks like Jerry may be on the ventilaor for about 5 days (if things go well).
He is now re-connected to nutrients as well.
Jerry is aware of the ventilaor and does not like having it (would you?) he has abeen trying to remove it from his mouth a few times. As long as there are 2 people back there, the nurses will not have to strap him down to prevent him from pulling the tube out of his mouth. I think we have the covered with as many of us as their are!
After we received this news, we were all extremely relieved while at the same time a bit skeptical. Can it be real? Is this really a shift in his prognosis? it sure seems that way... what a ride!
On a side note, we were all so excited to have this good news and start planning "time away in a real bed and showers" that we came up with a plan of shifts to keep at least 2 people here at all times in with Jerry. Well, that took a little time and became a bit of a show (who knew planning 3 hours shifts for the next 24 hours would be so difficult?), but was nothing compared to the sideshow that was going on around this: the great pillow debacle of 2009. Determing what stuff to leave in the Camp Jerry waiting room and what to take home, became a bit of a struggle and a comedy of errors. (You really had to be there to enjoy the humor, so just take our word on it).
So we shall see how the next few days and weeks pan out, but we are definitely in the zone for improvement now. Next stop: CHEMO in 2 weeks.... that is our goal today.
Whew! What a ride the past few days have been.
We received the test results back from today on the CT scan.. and let me tell you, it's pretty darn good after everything else we have heard.
For the most part, the scans looked about the same, HOWEVER, the lymph nodes do not look as swollen and the tumor appears to be about the same size. They are currently putting him on dialysis and he will begin receiving continuing dialysis for an indefinite period of time. They will get rid of the toxins in his system and then begin getting rid of the fluids in his system. Once the dialysis begins on a regular basis, his kidneys should be able to pump the toxins out of his body.
He is still connected to a ventilator and will remain on it for at least 24-36 more hours. While he is on the ventilator the doctor will get additional drugs into his system that they might not have been able to while he wasn't on the machine. Once they start to take him off the ventilator, it will take a few days as they want to be sure that he will be able to breath on his own without complications. All told, it looks like Jerry may be on the ventilaor for about 5 days (if things go well).
He is now re-connected to nutrients as well.
Jerry is aware of the ventilaor and does not like having it (would you?) he has abeen trying to remove it from his mouth a few times. As long as there are 2 people back there, the nurses will not have to strap him down to prevent him from pulling the tube out of his mouth. I think we have the covered with as many of us as their are!
After we received this news, we were all extremely relieved while at the same time a bit skeptical. Can it be real? Is this really a shift in his prognosis? it sure seems that way... what a ride!
On a side note, we were all so excited to have this good news and start planning "time away in a real bed and showers" that we came up with a plan of shifts to keep at least 2 people here at all times in with Jerry. Well, that took a little time and became a bit of a show (who knew planning 3 hours shifts for the next 24 hours would be so difficult?), but was nothing compared to the sideshow that was going on around this: the great pillow debacle of 2009. Determing what stuff to leave in the Camp Jerry waiting room and what to take home, became a bit of a struggle and a comedy of errors. (You really had to be there to enjoy the humor, so just take our word on it).
So we shall see how the next few days and weeks pan out, but we are definitely in the zone for improvement now. Next stop: CHEMO in 2 weeks.... that is our goal today.
The Day Thus Far....
This morning the doctors have come in and things are about the same as they were yesterday. They ran an X-ray this morning to check out his lungs, they are also going to run a few additional tests: a CT scan.
They have connected Jerry back to a feeding tube as well.
Because of the fluid in his lungs, they will be connecting him to a breathing tube in order to run a few additional tests on him today. If Jerry is responding to the treatments/tests today, and how the results come back, they may keep him on the breathing machine.
He is resting most of the time now, and we are trying to limit visits with him to 10 min or so in order to not tire him out. there has been an outpouring of love and support for Jerry and our family and we truly appreciate it, more than everyone knows.
We still remain in our Camp Jerry waiting room in the hospital, so please check in with us when you get here, so we don't have too many visitors in his room at once.
They have connected Jerry back to a feeding tube as well.
Because of the fluid in his lungs, they will be connecting him to a breathing tube in order to run a few additional tests on him today. If Jerry is responding to the treatments/tests today, and how the results come back, they may keep him on the breathing machine.
He is resting most of the time now, and we are trying to limit visits with him to 10 min or so in order to not tire him out. there has been an outpouring of love and support for Jerry and our family and we truly appreciate it, more than everyone knows.
We still remain in our Camp Jerry waiting room in the hospital, so please check in with us when you get here, so we don't have too many visitors in his room at once.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
