LeRoy L. Harris

2011-09-16T13:53:00.000-04:00

In Loving Memory of

LeRoy L. Harris

3/5/1934—9/16/2010

A year has passed yet seems like yesterday -

We wish that heaven wasn’t so far away.

If heaven wasn't so far away,
We’d pack up the kids and go for the day;

sit on a cloud and visit for awhile;

It'd do us good just to see your smile.

Then tell you we'd be back in a couple of days -

In the rear view mirror we'd all watch you wave.
Yeah, losing you wouldn't be so hard each day,
If heaven wasn't so far away.

Always in our thoughts,

forever in our hearts,

We love you and miss you

Doris, Debbie, Larry, Crystal,

Hollie & Families

2010-09-17T14:27:00.002-04:00

HARRIS, LEROY LELAND
LeRoy Leland Harris, 76, passed peacefully from this life into the arms of his precious Lord and Savior, on Thursday, September 16, 2010 after battling cancer with quiet dignity, faith, and humor. LeRoy (Roy) was born March 5, 1934, in Roanoke County, VA, the fifth of nine children born to the late Alexander B. and Edith Willis Harris. In addition to his parents Roy was preceded in death by brothers A. B. Harris, Jr. and James C. Harris, and sisters Mary Pittman and Grace Long. Left to cherish his memory is his devoted and loving wife of 57 years, Doris K. Harris, son Larry M. Harris, daughters Debbie Thompson, Crystal and Mark Alouf, and Hollie and Chris Alouf; 7 grandchildren: Cari T. and Joe Roragen, Corey Thompson, Amanda Baker, Taylor, John, Justin and Lucas Alouf, and 2 great-grandchildren: Jacob and Annaliese Roragen, all of Roanoke; brother Tom and Annee Harris; sisters Edith Goad, Edna and Allen Moran and Harriette Lawrence, and sisters-in-law Ann Harris and Claudia Harris; many nieces, nephews, and extended family, as well as many special friends and Masonic ‘Brothers.’

LeRoy was a lifelong member of Red Hill Baptist Church, loved his church family, and served his Lord as a Sunday School Teacher, Trustee, and member of the Building and Grounds Committee. After attending Andrew Lewis High School, he joined the US Navy serving on the USS Atka during the Korean Conflict. After service he returned to school under the GI Bill, graduating from Vioud School. He retired from Norfolk Southern Railway in 1996 with 42 years service as brakeman and conductor on Roanoke Terminal. Roy was an extremely proud active member of the Masons especially enjoying his role as ‘coach’ to countless candidates. He was a Gold Card Master Mason, current member and Past Master of Melrose Masonic Lodge 139, Murray Royal Arch Chapter 22, Bayard Commandery No. 15, Knights Templar, Roanoke Chapter of the Scottish Rite, member of the Kazim Shrine, and Past Chief of the Kazim Fire Brigade. Roy was owner of Parkway Stables which he began in 1966, and was an active member of the Roanoke Rifle and Revolver Club. He will be greatly remembered for his love of family and friends, strong belief in God and the Second Amendment, and his great enjoyment of cooking for family gatherings, church, and Christmas breakfast, featuring his famous homemade yeast rolls and sausage gravy for friends and family for over 50 years.

The family will receive friends from 6pm-8pm on Saturday, September 18, and 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8 pm on Sunday, September 19, 2010 at Oakey’s South Chapel, 4257 Brambleton Avenue SW, Roanoke, VA. Funeral services will be conducted in the chapel at 12:00 Noon Monday, September 20, 2010 with Rev. James Jordan and Rev. Claude Carter officiating; interment at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Red Hill Baptist Church, 6251 Franklin Rd, Roanoke, VA, 24014.

Thursday September 16, 2010

2010-09-16T18:30:00.002-04:00

Daddy passed away at 3:39 this afternoon with all his family by his side. We are planning for the funeral to be on Monday. Please look at the paper for details.

Thursday September 16, 2010 12:10 pm

2010-09-16T12:09:00.003-04:00

Daddy is declining very fast since our last post. He is in extreme pain even with Morphine every 30 min. to hour now and we've had to start giving him haloperidol for agitation. His breathing is very labored and coming intermittently. His oxygen level is way down even though we've upped the output. From all we've learned, these may be his last hours. We are trying to make him as comfortable as possible, but he is semi-conscious and can't really convey what he needs.

Please pray for us as we prepare to lose one so dear to so many.

Doris
Debbie
Hollie
Crystal
Larry
and family

Tuesday September 14, 2010

2010-09-14T21:24:00.002-04:00

I wish I had better news, but Daddy has been getting weaker by the day. He has no strength in his legs at all now. He can't even bend his knees for us. He hurts all the time not just in the area where the cancer is but all over. Sometimes he can't even stand for us to touch his arm, shoulder etc. because it hurts. Hospice brought us a lift yesterday so that we could pick him up and move him. We used it this morning to move him into the living room. He is still letting us hook him up to the feeding tube for a little while each day. He's only getting about a cup and a half of food per day (it can only go in so fast through the feeding tube). Maybe that's one reason he's getting so weak, or maybe it's just the cancer and his body is just wearing out. I don't know.

Mom is working and worrying herself to death. She won't stop and rest for a second.

Sorry for the grim update. I'm still praying for the miracle though!

Tuesday September 7, 2010

2010-09-07T12:07:00.002-04:00

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend. We had an exhausting one between getting up hay and helping Mom with Daddy.

Daddy actually let us hook him back up to the feeding tube last Thursday. Debbie and I were falling over each other trying to get it set up before he changed his mind. He's let Mom hook him up each day since, so at least he's getting some nourishment and water. He will occasionally use his oxygen too. Some days are better than others. This past Saturday morning/afternoon he seemed to be doing pretty good. He was awake more but that may have been because we were in/out a lot from doing hay. Saturday night was a different story though. Larry said he was in tears at bedtime from the pain and just kept saying "I can't do this anymore". Sunday and Monday he's been in right much pain and sleeping more.

Thank you to everyone for your support.

Wednesday September 1, 2010

2010-09-01T11:09:00.002-04:00

This week Daddy has been a little more alert. The Doctor told us last Friday to cut Daddy's tube feedings in half so we stopped the nighttime feedings. Monday Daddy didn't want to be hooked up at all but we convinced him to be hooked up for a while. He has not had any food/water since Monday evening and has refused to let us give him any. He is also refusing oxygen but seems to be breathing well. We are watching his sugar and giving him coke through the PEG tube to keep it from going too low. He is too weak to stand on his own, but we have been able to still get him to the living room chair when he wants. He spends long periods of time with his eyes closed more so than open but he's not really asleep.

He hasn't lost his sense of humor. Yesterday he insisted that Me, Mom, Debbie & Christy were trying to trick him into having an enema and that we were selling his stuff! Sometimes he thinks he's still in the hospital or somewhere else, like the railroad. Yesterday morning he was asking Debbie if she knew the Engineer that was operating the engine that was behind him. The past two mornings he's wanted Mom to sit in the room with him and read passages from the bible.

Hospice has provided us with books explaining the signs of nearing death and what to watch for and expect. They have been a big help as we now understand why he is doing and saying the things he is.

Saturday August 28, 2010

2010-08-28T21:46:00.006-04:00

Daddy's had a pretty rough couple days. He actually hasn't been able to get out of the bed since Thursday. We thought that it was from this new medication just making him so tired that he couldn't really wake up. We called Hospice yesterday to come out and check on him. The nurse evaluated him and then consulted with Dr. Bivins. She then informed us that what we were seeing was not from the new medication but it was a sign that Daddy's tumor/cancer was spreading. Dr. Bivins said that he believes that the tumor is now pressing on (squeezing) the brain stem. Daddy has some swelling in his face especially under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. They said that this is from the tumor blocking the flow of bodily fluids. Daddy can only keep his eyes open for a few minute or so and he says he's just tired and weak. However; he hasn't lost his sense of humor and even though his eyes are closed he will talk to us a little and make jokes. According to the nurse Daddy's condition is only going to deteriorate from here on out. We told her that it just seemed so quick. Thursday he was sitting up in his chair in the living room and talking to us and then Friday he couldn't even get out of bed and wasn't very responsive. She said this wasn't unusual and talked to Mom and I about some of the things we can expect in the next days..... weeks...... months...... Only God knows how long he's going to be here. All I know is that it's never going to be long enough.

I'll update again soon.

August 23, 2010

2010-08-23T11:34:00.004-04:00

Daddy has had quite a few changes since my last post. Dr. Bivins, who is the pain specialist and head Doctor for Good Samaritan Hospice is working very hard to get Daddy's pain under control. Although it seems that no matter what they try Daddy's pain level stays between a 6 - 8 on a scale of 1 - 10.

He's had 3 Lidicane intravenous infusions which offered no relief. His fentanyl patch has been raised to 100 mg., he gets 100 ml of liquid morphine every 3 hrs & he is on a steroid to help reduce the swelling. They have also tried a drug called Ketamine that was in a lotion form that they rubbed on the side of his face that was supposed to numb the trigeminal nerve to ease the pain. That didn't work either. Now they are going to put him on Depakote and Dilaudid and see if those two will help.

According to Dr. Bivins Daddy's cancer is progressing and is now affecting the cerebellum which controls motor skills. Since August 9th Daddy has fallen 10 times. His legs just give out on him and he goes down. The strange thing is that it only happens occasionally. Some days his legs work fine and he has no problems whatsoever and then there are days like this past Saturday morning when Chris had to go down there 2 times in the course of 2 1/2 hours to get him up off the floor. Other than the falls there hasn't been much change in his overall condition (that we can see).

Of course as you know some days are better than others. On August 11th Chris started putting a new roof on the barn and Daddy sat on the screened-in-porch for a little over 3 hours watching them. He didn't want to come in, but Mom insisted that he had sat in the heat long enough. He walked into the house with no problems whatsoever. The next day he fell coming in from the screened-in-porch and again that evening. So we just never know what each day will bring.

Mama's motto now is "One Day at a Time" on bad days it's "One Hour at a Time"

Now that my kids have started back to school (yeah!) I will try to keep the blog updated more regularly.

Saturday July 24, 2010

2010-07-24T21:13:00.004-04:00

Daddy's good days now have been few and far between. The pain seems to be increasing almost daily. The Hospice Doctor has been trying different pain medications to relieve his pain. They have tried intravenous ladicane infusions (twice), plus several other types of medications to try and relieve his nerve pain. Unfortunately they haven't found anything to really help. He's having to take liquid morphine along with the regular morphine pills and then the pain is almost unbearable for him. They've had to up the dosage of steroids to try and keep the swelling from the tumor under control but from the amount of pain he is in, that doesn't seem to be working either.

Mom is hanging in there as are the rest of us. It's hard to see him in so much pain and not be able to help.

Please continue to keep both of them in your prayers.

Thank you!

Saturday July 10, 2010

2010-07-10T15:08:00.009-04:00

Daddy is all set up with Hospice now. His nurse (Jonathan) has been on the ball with things and with getting Daddy the medications he needs quickly. Daddy's on two new medications, one to help with the swelling and the other to help with the nerve pain. They also increased the dosage of one of his other meds that is also for nerve pain. He is also still on his pain patch and morphine as needed.

Daddy's days seem to go from one extreme to another. When he's up, he's wanting to move around and do things. When he's down, he's requiring a lot of morphine and sleeps most of the day.

He was feeling pretty good one day last week and wanted to go to the barn. Mom drove him down there and took this little video and pictures.

If you would like to stop by and see Daddy, please give them a call to see what kind of day he's having. Daddy enjoys visits from his family, friends and "brother masons".

Mama and Daddy would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support.

July 4, 2010

2010-07-04T21:39:00.002-04:00

We hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July.

Daddy is now set up with Hospice. They are supposed to come once a week for now. They are working on getting his pain under control. They stopped his coumadin and put him back on just an aspirin once a day. One of his medication that he had only been taking 25mg of they upped to 100mg. They also started him on a steroid that is supposed to be 4 - 5 times stronger than prednisone. It's supposed to help reduce the swelling and inflammation from the cancer. The nurse was also talking about putting him on an additional medication to help with the nerve pain. He is also still taking the morphine as needed.

Daddy has been feeling pretty bad the past 4 days. He started with diarrhea on Wednesday and was still having some this morning. As you can imagine he's been very weak because of this and actually fell trying to get out of bed this morning. Mom said his nose bled a lot for about 45 min., he has a cut on his left wrist and scraped the skin off one knee. Mom got him all cleaned and bandaged up. By this afternoon he was looking better so hopefully the diarrhea is over. If not; we are going to call the Doctor tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone that has called or visited and for all your support. The past week has been especially difficult for Mama.

June 24, 2010

2010-06-24T22:32:00.004-04:00

We finally got a call back from UVA yesterday. The Doctors reviewed all of Daddy's scans that we took up with us and they came to the same conclusion as Dr. Heath. The Doctor said that the cancer is abutting the brain, it's not in the brain yet, but is in what is called the cavernous sinus which sits right on the brain stem. It is also around a part of the carotid artery. I looked up the cavernous sinus and this is the definition I found:

The cavernous sinus is a small blood-filled space on either side of the base of the skull located behind the eyes. Each cavernous sinus contains the carotid artery, the nerves that go to the muscles that move the eye, and part of the nerve that provides sensation to the eye and face.

Mom, me, Debbie, Larry & Christy sat down with Daddy this afternoon to tell him what UVA said. We did NOT go into great detail with him as to where the cancer is or the extent.

The Doctor strongly suggested that we call in Hospice and get them on board to help manage Daddy's pain. Dr. Heath was making the referral today.

I'll try to keep the blog updated a little more regular, but if I haven't updated and you want to check on him please do not hesitate to send me an email at halouf@cox.net

June 15, 2010 -- Back From UVA

2010-06-15T16:15:00.002-04:00

Chris and I picked up Daddy, Mama, Larry & Debbie this morning at 6:00 a.m. in our motor home to head up to UVA for a second opinion from UVA's head ENT Surgeon, Dr. Levine (Crystal stayed behind & kept all the kids). The Doctor was joking with us asking "Did you all come up in that motor home in the front lot?" He seemed very surprised when I said "we sure did". We had no idea how long we were going to be up there and we thought that Daddy could lay down in the bed if he got to feeling bad or just too tired on the way up or down. It was a lot more comfortable than piling 6 of us in their van or my Expedition.

Unfortunately; we did not get any good news from this doctor. He said that since there was perineural invasion (which is never a good sign) and with Daddy's other health issues that we have reached the end of what medically can be done. He said he is going to review all the scans with the other specialists up there and depending on what they show he may request a copy of the pathology report and he will get back with us probable by Friday. However; he felt at this point if they tried to do anything else it would be doing "more damage than good". He said Daddy needs to see a pain management specialist that could look at all the medications he's on and try to find him something that will control the pain, but allow him to be alert, aware and able to function somewhat normal instead of sleeping all the time. He said pain management is first and then once things start to deteriorate we will have to call in Hospice. Of course; he had no idea of a time frame and he thought Daddy actually looked very healthy and he said he felt it would be "longer than we might expect". (I almost said "well I expect NEVER, so we're good then", but I didn't)

He said Daddy needs to get up each day and say "man this is going to be a good day and enjoy each one to it's fullest!"

Please keep him and Mama in your prayers.

Thank you

Tuesday June 1, 2010

2010-06-01T09:12:00.002-04:00

Daddy has agreed to getting a second opinion. His Oncologist is working on a referral to UVA but they haven't given us an appointment date as of yet. Hopefully we can get him up there soon.

Daddy's pain seems to be getting worse daily. He's had to increase his pain meds., but at times they aren't even strong enough to relieve the pain.

I'll update again when I have more news.

Tuesday May 25, 2010

2010-05-25T19:14:00.003-04:00

We had a conference call with Daddy's Doctor at 5:15 this evening regarding the results of his MRI this past Friday. Unfortunately he confirmed our worst fears.

Daddy's cancer is back. It is around the nerves right below the brain and behind his left eye. That's why he is in so much pain, the cancer is squeezing the nerves.

The Doctor gave two options:

1. He can refer Daddy to UVA, Duke, another Doctor or Medical Facility for a second opinion. But he feels that they will tell us the same thing.

2. Call in Hospice and try to keep him as comfortable and pain free as possible.

At this point unless we can find another Doctor that knows of a new procedure that could be done there is nothing else we can do according to his Doctor. Daddy can't have anymore radiation and the side effects of the chemo outweigh the benefit because their is no chemo that can cure his cancer.

Now we are just waiting to see what Daddy wants to do. We've all expressed that we would at least like him to go to UVA and get a second opinion, but it's up to him and Mom. I'll update again once a decision has been made.

Please put Daddy (& Mama) back on your prayer lists!!!!

Thank you

Tuesday May 18, 2010

2010-05-18T13:39:00.002-04:00

I guess you all know the saying about Ifs' & buts' (If ifs' and buts' were candy and nuts, everyday would be Christmas). We still do not have any results and/or certain answers regarding the reason for Daddy's pain. I took him this past Friday for an MRI. However; Daddy got sick (I think it was nerves) and couldn't complete the test. I talked to the Doctor that evening and he proceeded to tell me that from his experience he feels that Daddy's cancer has already returned and there is nothing else they can do for him other than to keep him comfortable on pain meds and call in Hospice to help manage things. He also felt it necessary to sing his own praises in telling me that he felt he was being extremely proactive in January when he offered the Cyber knife treatments. He spent 15 min. giving me his "gloom & doom" theory to then spend about 5 min. telling me that it was possible that the pain is from an abscess, scar tissue or something other than the return of the cancer. He doesn't feel that is the case, BUT its' possible. IF it’s' something else, then they can take the necessary steps to treat it. IF not; & it’s the cancer, then they can't do anything. I take him back this Friday and they are going to try an open MRI. Hopefully he will be able to make it through this one.

Please keep him in your prayers and pray, pray, pray that it’s not the cancer back.

Wednesday May 12, 2010

2010-05-12T22:31:00.002-04:00

**UPDATE**

Daddy has been having a lot of pain in his left temple. So much that he's back on a stronger pain patch and his morphine dosage has been upped considerable. He goes back this Friday for an MRI to see why he's now having so much pain.

I'll update again once we get the test results.

Please keep him in your prayers.

Thanks

Friday April 16, 2010

2010-04-16T10:24:00.002-04:00

!!!!GOOD NEWS!!!!!

Daddy went to the Doctor on Wednesday morning for a PET Scan. He then had to see Dr. Heath Wednesday afternoon for the results. Dr. Heath said that he didn't see any more cancer, but that Daddy did have one spot that he was a little concerned about and he was meeting with a team of specialists on Thursday morning and they would review Daddy's scan. Dr. Heath called yesterday evening to tell us there is

NO MORE CANCER!

DADDY IS CANCER FREE!!!

He did remind us that the cancer Daddy had was a very aggressive cancer and there is no guarantee that it won't pop up again sometime down the road, but for right now they see no cancer at all. He does still have a little bit of swelling or inflammation from the Cyberknife treatments but Dr. Heath said that will go away. He told Daddy to get out and do things, travel, "take your wife on a vacation" etc. (I think Mom liked that one).

Daddy is still on some pain meds. and will be until the swelling in gone but hopefully he will be able to get off them in the next couple months. He is also still on the feeding tube and oxygen. We are hoping that he will also be off the feeding tube soon, but that is going to be up to him. He still doesn't want to eat. He can't chew and he said nothing tastes right so he'd rather be on the feeding tube. I think it's going to be a slow process getting him off the tube, but we'll see.

We are all just so thankful for this miracle and grateful to God for allowing Daddy to stay here with us.

Words can't express our heart felt gratitude to everyone for your prayers, kindness & support over this past year.

Thank you!

Happy Easter! Sunday April 4, 2010

2010-04-04T20:58:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone.

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Daddy seemed to have a pretty good day. He actually got to attend Easter Service at our church this morning. We weren't sure if he would be able to make it through the entire service, but he did and he was able to participate in communion too. It was a good day!

Daddy goes back to have another Pet Scan done in a week or so. We will know then if the Cyberknife got all the cancer or not. Please keep Daddy and Mama in your prayers.

Monday March 15, 2010

2010-03-15T18:19:00.002-04:00

As I'm sure you noticed above, Mama and Daddy's email accounts have been activated. I'm still working on getting everything set up for them so that it will be EASY for them to use. We are still waiting on some software to arrive but they can connect to the Internet and email. (well... the computer can, I'll leave it at that.)

I know Daddy would love to hear from all the Mason's out there. Mama said today that Daddy was really missing talking "Masons" and even told her that if any of his fellow Masons called while he was napping to wake him up.

Thursday March 11, 2010

2010-03-11T21:52:00.002-05:00

I know, I know, FINALLY .... right?

Daddy is doing pretty good. He's had some ups & downs since my last post. The surgery to replace the feeding tube went well. However two weeks after the surgery we had to take Daddy to the ER because he started bleeding from around the tube (a lot) and it wouldn't stop. The doctors cauterized the area around the tube and sent him home. So far no more bleeding.

He goes in for another PET Scan in April. Were keeping our fingers crossed that the cancer is gone.

Daddy's pain level has gotten much better since the cyberknife treatments. He's still on a fentanyl patch and usually needs one or two morphine pills a day, but that's better than the patch and morphine every 4 hrs. He is still on the feeding tube but he's finally starting to eat small portions by mouth. Once he can take in enough nourishment by mouth to keep him healthy he can have the feeding tube removed.

Daddy's Birthday was last Friday, March 5th. He's 76 yrs. old! We all went together and got him a laptop and we've ordered high speed internet for him. Once we get all the equipment and service up and running I will post his email address and you all can send him a message. I'm sure he will love to hear from everyone.

Wednesday February 3, 2010

2010-02-03T18:44:00.005-05:00

Daddy seems to be improving or at least his level of pain has. His fentanyl patch has been decreased from 75 mg to 50 mg and he's only taking morphine a couple times a day. With the decrease in the pain medication he is able to stay awake more. His days are still up and down and some are better than others. His throat is still raw and covered with blisters from the cyberknife treatments therefore he still can not eat anything. Hopefully the blisters will heal in the next several weeks and he can start eating soups and soft foods.

He has been having problems with his feeding tube so he's having outpatient surgery tomorrow at Roanoke Memorial Hospital to have the tube replaced. Mom is supposed to have him there at 11:15 tomorrow and his surgery is scheduled for 12:45. The Doctor said that it should only take about 30 min. provided there are no complications. If everything goes as planned they will be back home sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm with all this snow.

Friday January 22, 2010

2010-01-22T20:58:00.002-05:00

It's been almost 2 weeks since Daddy's final cyberknife treatment. The pain seems to be a little better. He still needs the pain patch but he's not needing the morphine as often. He is very, very weak and the RN that is in charge of the treatments said that it may last another 2 to 4 weeks. Most days Daddy sleeps 20 hours a day.

Mom asked Dr. Heath if he thought the cyberknife got all the cancer. He said he wouldn't know until we were a couple more weeks out and we see how Daddy is doing. He said that he had never had this type of cancer move upward like it has and that he hasn't done the cyberknife in this area so he's not sure what the outcome is going to be. Basically a "wait and see" approach. If Daddy's pain gets better and better then they will start weaning him off the pain meds and do a PET scan in several months.

Daddy's kidneys continue to be an issue and according to his blood work this past Monday they have declined even more. However no Doctor has addressed this issue other than to tell us they are worse.

I wish I had better news to report. Each day just seems to be more of the same right now. He does have several Doctor appointments next week with several different Doctors so maybe we will have more news.

Updated Video 1-14-2010

2010-01-14T22:16:00.005-05:00

2010-01-10T23:00:00.000-05:00

Turn your speakers up and hit the play button. It may take a few minutes for the buffering to complete for the video to start. It will depend on how fast your Internet connection is as to how quickly the video will upload and be ready to play. If you have any problems viewing the video please let me know.

Thanks... Hollie

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Daddy had a pretty good weekend. He actually watched a 2 hr. movie the other night and actually made it through all of it. That's huge considering he normally isn't awake for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. I asked him today how his pain level was and if he thought the Cyberknife was helping. He said that he didn't think the pain was quite as bad so he guessed it was starting to work. I just hope that the two remaining treatments will be enough.

Thanks again for all the prayers and support.

Friday, January 8, 2010

2010-01-08T20:35:00.002-05:00

Daddy has had three of his five Cyberknife treatments now. Although it hasn't seemed to provide any relief from the pain as of yet but they told us it could be up to two weeks after treatments before he has any relief from the pain. I just hope and pray that this works. He's suffered so much the past year. He is scheduled for another treatment on Monday.

Wednesday January 6, 2009

2010-01-06T21:42:00.001-05:00

Daddy is home now. I'll update more details tomorrow.

Monday January 4, 2009

2010-01-04T10:46:00.004-05:00

Well it's been an interesting week. We brought Daddy in last Monday afternoon because they said his potassium level were dangerously high. Although by Monday night they were down considerable and by Tuesday morning were almost completely normal. The Doctor said he wanted to keep him a few days to work on getting his medications straightened out and to try and get his pain under control. They have stopped quite a few of the medications that he was put on after the first hospital discharge and even stopped or lowered several of his other medications that he's been on for years. They tried the Lyrica, but stopped it after one day and upped his Fentanyl patch. His morphine dosage was lowered but they also added 2mg of IV morphine when he needs it. That's about it for the medication changes.

Early Saturday morning (3:45 a.m.) he started running a temperature of 101.6 and kept a 101 temp for most of the day Saturday. It finally broke Saturday night. They did a chest x-ray thinking that maybe it was pneumonia but the x-ray was clear. However they did a blood culture which showed bacteria therefore he was started on IV antibiotics which he gets every 24 hrs.

Then yesterday morning his red blood count was down to 7.7 so he had to get 2 units of blood. I don't think the Doctors even know why his count dropped so low or if they do they haven't told us.

Of course now with the infection and needing the transfusion he's not getting to go home today which means that he can't start the Cyber Knife treatments until he's out of the hospital. We're not sure how much longer he's going to be here.

Mentally he's in and out. Most of the time he's sleeping or seems to be sleeping but he's almost constantly moving his hands and talking. We've gone through working on the trains on the railroad to working on things at the barn to this morning he was putting rubber horseshoes on a vest for me. The strange thing is that he can be in this other world one minute and then the next minute he can be just as lucid and know exactly what is going on. Hopefully the Cyber Knife treatments will help with his pain and then he can get off this pain medication that is causing the delirium.

Thank you to everyone that has continued to pray for Daddy and the rest of the family.

Thursday December 31, 2009

2009-12-31T19:18:00.002-05:00

Daddy's doctors are still working on the right combinations and strengths to try and control his pain. Yesterday they started him on Lyrica, reduced his morphine and kept they kept his fentanyl path dosage the same at 50 mg. He did ok through the night, but this combinations and dosage was not controlling his pain. So today they increased his fentanyl patch to 75 mg. and the lyrica from 25 mg. to 50 mg. plus he is still getting 15 mg. of morphine every 3 hours.

I didn't get to come up here until late afternoon and Mom said Daddy was doing pretty good this morning other than being in a lot of pain. This evening he's very fidgety and is doing the crazy talking and hand movements. Sometimes he's in his right mind but for the most part he's not. I think it's where they increased the fentanyl patch because he had these hallucinations the last time he was in here but I'm not sure what the dosage was then. That was when he was having the really bad hallucinations. At this point the hallucinations are not as bad as before but I think the more medication he gets the worse he's getting.

As for now they are planning on sending him home on Sunday provided he doesn't have a setback. However they are going to have to change his medicines so that he's in his right mind before we could even manage taking care of him at home.

We hope that everyone has a very Happy and Safe New Year.

Wednesday December 30, 2009

2009-12-30T12:17:00.003-05:00

Daddy had a pretty good night. Mom said they both actually slept pretty good. The nurse was giving Daddy all his morning meds when I got here this morning along with his morphine. He was in right much pain until the morphine kicked in and then he's been a sleep most of the morning.

The Pain Management Specialist came in this morning and talked to us about changing Daddy's pain medications or actually adjusting them. They are switching his morphine from the pills to a liquid that can be put down his feeding tube and they are reducing the strength from 30 mg. to 15 mg. They would like to get him off the morphine because she said with prolonged use it can cause kidney problems (as if he didn't already have enough of that). They are talking about increasing the Fentynal patch but won't do that today. They have also started him on a new pain medication (Lycra) that they said won't keep him so sedated.

Dr. Shertz who is with the Blue Ridge Cancer Center and the admitting doctor came by to talk about all the medications Daddy is on. He is stopping several of the medications and lowering some of the others. He said again that Daddy was just on way to much medication (15 + different prescriptions). He did say that it was going to take a little while to get all his medication straightened out so he's going to be here for several more days. We just hope that he's out of here by Monday because the Doctor said that Medicare won't pay for the Cyber Knife treatment if he's in the hospital. It will only cover it on an outpatient basis. Isn't that stupid?. You'd think it would be the other way around. This Dr. Shertz seems to be on the ball with things and is taking a proactive approach to Daddy's treatment. Although he kept pushing Mom and Dad about a living will. He talked about it Monday night, then he kept asking about it yesterday and then today he was pretty insistent that Daddy's chart needed to have this information. He said that in his opinion with Daddy's age and health condition that he felt Daddy's status should be DNR. He said that if for some chance his heart stopped or his lungs failed he didn't believe they would be able to bring him back anyway so why put Daddy and us through that. So Daddy finally said okay to the DNR, but I don't think he fully understands what the Doctor was talking about. I know this is a formality and needs to be done, but it really aggravated us that he pressed this issue so much.

I will say that Daddy's sense of humor has been pretty good and he's been joking with the nurses. One nurse asked him if he was still in pain and he paused a minute and said "Well, yeah.. you're still here aren't you." and then he just laughed. This was a little while after he had the new pain medication. He does seem to be a little silly, but as long as he's not in pain I guess silly is A.O.K.

Tuesday December 29, 2009

2009-12-29T17:26:00.006-05:00

Daddy is still at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and according to the Doctors he will be here for several more days until they can get his medications straightened out and pain under control. Several Doctors are looking at all his medications to see what they can take away or decrease. As for the pain they have him on two different types of morphine (one a pill and one an injection), plus his pain patch and then another pain medication. I'm not sure why they are giving him IV morphine. They are supposed to be adjusting his pain meds to what he'll have at home and I know they aren't going to allow us to give him IV meds at home, so I don't understand the pain med approach this Doctor is taking. However I will be asking him tomorrow morning.

Carilion Transport did come and take Daddy over to the Cancer Center this afternoon and he had another CT Scan and mask made for his Cyber Knife treatment. Dr. Heath said he hoped to get started with Daddy's first treatment on Monday. Hopefully the Cyber Knife will help with the pain and if we're lucky it will get rid of as much cancer as possible in that area.

I'll update again tomorrow.

Monday December 28, 2009

2009-12-28T23:42:00.000-05:00

Daddy is back in Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Daddy had blood work done today to get him ready for his cyber knife treatment. After they got back home the nurse at the Cancer Center called and said that we needed to get Daddy over to Roanoke Memorial because his potassium level was so dangerously high that his heart could stop at any time and his kidney function was also elevated. We got him to the hospital and settled into room 1033 in the Oncology ward. They started giving him fluids through his porta cath and got his feeding tube hooked up and oxygen started.

The Doctor said that Daddy was on way to much medication and said they would be looking into that. They also did labs to check all his levels again. The nurse came in at 10:00 p.m. and said that his potassium level had already come down. His level was 5.7 (should be 0.? - 5.4, it was over 7 earlier that day) and his kidney level was at 1.6 which 1.5 is normal for Daddy. So it does appear that his levels are getting back to the normal range. We'll see what the Doctor says in the morning.

Mom of course wouldn't leave the hospital but at least she can stay in the room with Daddy. Christy is taking first shift with them in the morning and I'll go over around noon. I'll update the blog when I get more information.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T23:02:00.003-05:00

We hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year.

Monday December 21, 2009

2009-12-21T19:10:00.004-05:00

Daddy's pain level has gotten a lot worse over the past few days. Mom called me down there a little after 8:00 this morning because Daddy was in such sever pain and she felt he needed to go to the hospital but Daddy was refusing to go. Larry was already there and he said he's never seen Daddy (or anyone) in that much pain. Mom had already put a call into Dr. Heath's nurse and was waiting for a call back. She called again a little while later and had to leave another message. Finally I got tired of waiting and seeing Daddy hurting that I called and told them I had to speak with someone immediately, I didn't want a call back, I wanted to speak with someone NOW. I talked to the RN that will be in charge of Daddy's Cyber Knife treatments, who talked to the doctor that is on call for Dr. Heath and he wrote Daddy a prescription for a pain patch. So Daddy is on the pain patch (we change it every 3 days) along with lortab which he takes every 3 1/2 to 4 hours. They said to hold off on the morphine to see if the patch and lortab would control his pain. If it didn't then we could add it back.

One of the side effects of this pain patch is the hallucination (this is what caused the bad hallucinations the last time he was in the hospital) and it can also cause problems with breathing. As if Daddy didn't already have enough problems with that. At least we do have the oxygen at home for him and a pulse ox so we can keep a check on his O2 levels.

Mom is really nervous and overwhelmed with all the new developments (she's broken down several times today). We finally got her to take a nerve pill this afternoon and she took a nap while Daddy was sleeping. She is afraid to be alone with him tonight so Debbie is spending the night in case something were to happen. With all the snow Larry doesn't have any work so he will probable relieve Debbie in the morning and I'll go down sometime in the afternoon. Christy has been running all over town doing Mom's Christmas shopping for her because Mom is worried she won't have a present for everyone. Of course all we want is for her to take care of herself and Daddy to be cancer free.

DADDY TO BE CANCER FREE ....... That would certainly be our Christmas Miracle.

Thursday December 17, 2009

2009-12-17T17:42:00.000-05:00

********** UPDATE ***********

Dr. Heath called yesterday a little after 5:00 to give Daddy the results of the CAT Scan. Unfortunately Daddy's cancer is already back. It's at the top edge of the radiation field and at the bottom edge of his skull. From what is showing on the CAT Scan right now the cancer is about 1/2" from his brain. Dr. Heath said they consider this a progression of his cancer. Dr. Heath called and talked to Dr. Chen asking if there was any sign of the cancer this high up when he had his surgery and he said no, that the cancer was low down at the angle of the jaw bone. Dr. Heath said that the options are fairly limited with this progression. The cancer is so close to the brain that it is inoperable. Dr. Heath gave Daddy three options which are:

Option 1: Have another 7 - 8 weeks of conventional radiation and chemo 35 - 39 treatments.

Option 2: Is to have a procedure called Cyber Knife Therapy. Which is a highly focused radiation therapy to help relieve the pain. Dr. Heath said that he considered this a comfort option and not a curative option. This will probable not cure his cancer but it should greatly help with the pain.

Option 3: Is to call in Hospice to manage his pain and to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Mom had to call Dr. Heath's office this morning to let them know Daddy's decision. He has decided to do the Cyber Knife treatments which is only a 5 day treatment. They couldn't get him in for the initial set up until December 29th and we are not sure when they will actually do the treatment.

Daddy's pain has gotten so bad that he is taking morphine every 8 hrs. and lortab in between the morphine, even with all this medication it is not completely taking away the pain. Of course he is taking so much medication that he does sleep most of the day, which I guess is good. At least then he doesn't feel the pain.

I'm sorry if I've repeated things or not made much sense with this post. As you can imagine we are all having trouble coming to terms with this new news. I will try to keep the blog updated the best I can.

Monday December 14, 2009

2009-12-14T21:42:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that we haven't gotten any results back from Daddy's CT Scan today. They said that it may be a couple days before we get the results back. I will update as soon as we know something.

Daddy's pain level has been steadily increasing. He is now requiring morphine in addition to his other pain medications and even with that the pain is almost unbearable at times.

Please continue to remember Daddy (& Mom) in your prayers and pray that there is no additional cancer.

Thank you

December 12, 2009

2009-12-12T09:21:00.003-05:00

***New Update***

I know..... finally right!.

Daddy had his follow-up appointment with Dr. Chen this past Wednesday. Dr. Chen was very pleased with how the surgical sites have healed and with how well Daddy was talking. We didn't know that they also had to remove part of Daddy's tongue. He was also pretty impressed with the amount of weight Daddy has lost (even though it wasn't intentional) and how well he was getting around with using only a cane. Daddy told him how his throat was still so sore that he could hardly stand to swallow water much less food. Dr. Chen said it would probable be another month or so before he would feel like eating. Daddy also talked to Dr. Chen about the horrible pain he has been having behind his left eye. Dr. Chen said that he thinks that it's where the radiation is tightening the muscles on the left side of his face which is squeezing the nerves and that is causing the pain. He put Daddy on another pain medication in addition to the lortab and is sending him to a pain management specialist.

Daddy also saw Dr. Heath and Dr. Inhorn on Friday. Dr. Heath is concerned with the extreme pain Daddy is having behind his eye and has ordered a CAT Scan for Monday morning to check and make sure that he doesn't have cancer behind his eye. He is also putting him on a much, much stronger pain medication. Lets hope that God will answer our prayers yet again and let the pain be from muscle tightening and not more cancer.

Another new development is Daddy's coumadin level is dangerously high. It's 6.9 and should only be between 2 - 3. So his blood is very, very thin. Dr. Bauer (PCP) has taken him off the coumadin and is rechecking his levels on Monday. Daddy's red count is also low at 9.8 which of course makes him weak.

We should know more Monday evening or Tuesday morning depending on when we get all the test results. Mom is doing as well as could be expected, I guess. She did say this morning that she is feeling overwhelmed with everything right now.

I will update when we get the results.

Friday November 27, 2009

2009-11-27T11:25:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone,

I know I haven't had a chance to post in a while. It's just getting to the point that I don't know what to say. I feel like a broken record sometimes because theres just not a lot of changes.

Daddy did finish his radiation treatments on Friday November 20th and his last Chemo treatment was Monday the 16th. It will be March before he can be retested to see if the treatments were successful.

His throat is still very sore and raw. He can barley stand to swallow little sips of water and forget about even trying to eat anything. He is getting all nurishment and meds through his feeding tube. He's still down 60 pounds which isn't a bad thing that he's lost weight, we just all wish that it wasn't this way ya know... Hopefully now that radiation is over his body will be able to start healing and he will start getting stronger each day. His immune system should start picking back up too. He is still having severe headaches and he's still on pain meds. However; he won't take the pain meds until the headache gets to the point that he just can't stand it.

Emotionally he seems to be so-so. Some days are better than others. He still sleeps a lot and is in bed by 7:00 each night. I think he did stay up to about 7:15 last night because the whole family was there. Now that he is finished treatments he can have visitors. Of couse if you're sick or been in direct contact with someone that is sick we still ask that you wait until you are completely well. Also if you would like to visit please call Mama to see when would be a good time. As I said he does sleep a lot and usually takes moring and afternoon naps. It may help to lift his sprits though.

Mama & Daddy did want me to tell everyone THANK YOU for all the thoughts & prayers the past 4 months and they hope that everyone had a very happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday.

Wednesday November 11, 2009

2009-11-11T12:18:00.006-05:00

Daddy had another chemo treatment on Monday and has started another 5 days of radiation. He should only have one more chemo session this coming Monday and will have his last radiation treatment on Friday November 20th. Dr. Heath said it would be about 4 months before they would do a PET Scan to see if they had gotten all the cancer. Although he is very confident that they did.

Physically Daddy is doing much better. He is not needing the walker to move around the house now and is not needing the oxygen on a continuous basis. Although he is still on the continuous feeding tube which he will need to use until he can eat enough food daily to keep his nourishment up.

As I said physically, Daddy is doing great but emotionally is another story. When he saw Dr. Heath Monday he asked him when he thought they would do the surgery to put in a new jaw bone? Now let me back up several months to July when Dr. Chen & Dr. Heath were evaluating Daddy's overall health and what treatment would be best. At first they did discuss reconstructive surgery (removing the bone and replacing with bone from somewhere else in the body). However; Dr. Chen said considering Daddy's other health problems and the fact that reconstructive surgery would take 14 + hours, he did not feel Daddy would be able to survive the procedure. That is why the less evasive procedure was elected (only an 8 hr. surgery). We are not sure where Daddy got the idea that he would be having another surgery. Maybe he just didn't understand the two options or maybe he just forgot. Nevertheless he thought he would be getting another bone put in. Dr. Heath explained to Daddy that putting bone back in was not really an option at this point because the radiation effects in that area would not allow that area to heal. Also with all the complications he had from the less evasive procedure he was certain that Dr. Chen would not even consider another surgery. Daddy said "so you mean I'll never be able to eat normal food again and I won't ever be able to talk clearly again?" Dr. Heath tried explaining that Daddy would adapt. That he will get used to what he can and can not eat and he'll make lifestyle adjustments accordingly. He thought that Daddy was doing remarkable well considering all he's been through and even commented on the fact that Daddy is doing much better than a lot of his other patients that had this same procedure. Daddy was still upset that he won't be able to chew and eat the same as he did before the surgery. What has just devastated him is the possibility that he may not ever be able to speak clearly enough again to give the Masonic Lectures. Just so you know how much giving these lectures means to Daddy, he told Mom Monday night as she was helping him get in bed that "if I can't do my lectures then there is no point living". Then yesterday morning when I was down there we were discussing whether or not to repair his broken hearing air or get him a new one. He said "just have the old one fixed, I'm not going to live long enough to use a new one anyway". We've tried to explain to him that he needs to give his body time to heal and that anything is possible. He doesn't sound as bad as he thinks he does and I think he speaks pretty clearly, considering. Unfortunately Daddy doesn't see it that way.

What worries me now is Daddy's emotional state taking a toll on his physical condition. We try to reassure him and tell him lets just take it one day at a time. You never know what the future may bring. We are just thankful that he's still here.

In closing, I have a simple request for you all. When you include Daddy in your daily "get well" prayers. Please ask God to heal his speech so that he may continue his Masonic work that he loves so much.

Sunday November 8, 2009

2009-11-08T14:59:00.002-05:00

I'm happy to report that Daddy did much better this past week. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to even have his chemo or radiation on Monday, but his Doctors felt that he was doing better so all treatments were restarted on Monday 11/2.

The week off of treatment combined with the continuous feed through the feeding tube has seemed to really help. Daddy doesn't look near as weak. When we ask him if he feels better, he just shrugs his shoulders and says "I don't know, bout the same". However he looks much better. Mom even had to call Larry up to the house this morning because Daddy was insistent on going down to the basement. Daddy wouldn't wait for Larry to get there though (Larry only lives 2 doors away & left as soon as Mom called.) and he was already in the basement by the time Larry got there. He messed around down there for an hour or so and Larry said he made it back upstairs by himself. Of course Larry was right behind him just in case.

He is still on oxygen at home and may need it from now on. We'll just have to wait and see how things go after he finishes all his treatments. He will probable have the feeding tube until March, but he may not have to use it the whole time. When the Doctor put it he told us that Daddy would have to have it for a minimum of 6 months before it could be removed. Hopefully he'll feel like eating on his own once he finishes with all his treatments and the soreness is gone from his throat.

Daddy did want me to tell everyone "Hello" and he wanted everyone to know how very much he appreciates all the prayers, cards and get well wishes. A big thanks also to those that have brought dinner to the house. Hopefully it won't be long before Daddy will be able to visit with you all.

Friday October 30, 2009

2009-10-30T12:11:00.003-04:00

I think I jinxed Daddy with my last post saying that all treatments would be finished by November 16th provided there were no delays.

He did have his chemo treatment on Monday, but when he got downstairs for his radiation treatment the nurse was very concerned with how weak he was. She actually couldn't believe that the Chemo Doctor okayed him for treatment. Dr. Heath who is the Oncologist in charge of Daddy's radiation treatments put a hold on Daddy's radiation treatments until this coming Monday. He was very concerned with how much weight Daddy has lost (66 pounds) and how weak he is. Dr. Heath ordered for Daddy to be put on a feeding pump. At first he was going to order for him to only use the pump at night, but then decided that Daddy needed around the clock nourishment. He's only getting 60 mls an hour which isn't a lot but it's about all he can stand right now. We've been trying to get him to drink as much water or low calorie gator aide as we can because we're afraid he's going to get dehydrated again. We can't make him understand that even though the food that is going through his tube is liquid it still doesn't have enough fluid in it to keep him hydrated. (In case you didn't know, Daddy's just a little bit on the stubborn side.) I know he gets really tired of hearing us say "Daddy you gotta drink". Anyway.... so he hasn't had any radiation treatments since last Friday and depending on how his strength is on Monday will determine if he gets chemo or radiation next week.

Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and support.

Monday October 26, 2009

2009-10-26T14:43:00.008-04:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post.

Daddy is starting to feel & show the effects of the radiation and chemo treatment. He is getting weaker and weaker each day. This morning he tried to eat some pureed eggs, but his throat is so sore that he can't swallow. His lips are covered with sores and he says he just doesn't feel good and his whole body hurts. He's lost 65 pounds since the end of July.

They are over at the Cancer Center right now for his Chemo treatment and radiation. Last Monday the Doctor's weren't sure if they were going to be able to give Daddy the Chemo because his red blood count was down to 8.2. They said if it had been down to 8 they would have put him in the hospital and given him a transfusion. However; since it was 8.2 they opted to give him the $1,000 + Procrit shot. Of course then they weren't sure if the Procrit could be given with the Erbitux (chemo drug), which you would have thought they would have researched BEFORE they gave him the shot. They did not, so Mom & Dad spent over 5 1/2 hrs there. Luckily today his red blood count was up to 10 so he didn't need anything. However the Doctor's at the Cancer Center were hesitant to start the chemo today because Daddy is so weak.

Last week was very busy for Mom and Dad. They had the Cancer Center on Monday, appt. with Daddy's heart Dr. on Tuesday, appt. with the Endocrinologist on Wednesday, appt. with Daddy's PCP on Thursday and of course he had radiation Monday - Friday. I think all he's got this week is the radiation each day so at least it won't be quite as much for him and Mom.

Mom is really getting worn out now and physically it is taking a toll on her. Her blood pressure yesterday morning was 77/58 and she's been feeling light headed and out of breath. We've tried to get her to go see her Dr. but she doesn't want to leave Daddy. Too bad Dr.'s don't make house calls anymore. Crystal and I have offered to take Daddy for his radiation treatments &/or Dr.'s appointments so she could rest but she won't let us. (See, we didn't get all of our stubbornness from Daddy.)

If everything goes according to schedule and there is no more bumps in the road, Daddy's treatments should be finished on November 16th. We assume they will run tests after all treatments are completed to see if the cancer is gone (and yes, I know what assume means).

Please continue to send prayers up for Daddy and Mom. They both need a pick-up right now.

Friday October 16 2009

2009-10-16T19:17:00.002-04:00

Daddy is back at home!

Daddy came home yesterday after his evening radiation treatment. He had to come home with an oxygen machine and he has to keep the oxygen on all the time. The Doctors changed several of his medications and added quite a few. It took us over 4 hours last night to figure them all out.

He is still able to eat some, but we have the feeding tube as backup so that we can make sure that his nutrition stays up. We also use the feeding tube to give him medication when he doesn't feel like trying to take them by mouth.

For the most part he is doing okay. He's pretty weak and gets winded just from walking from the kitchen to the bathroom. Which I guess is to be expected until he finishes all of his treatments. Provided everything goes as planned and there are no more delays, he should finishes his treatments on November 16th.

Mom is also doing okay. She's a little nervous at night about him being at home so she is sleeping in a recliner beside his hospital bed.

I know there's a lot I'm forgetting to tell everyone, I just can't think of it all right now.

Thanks again for the prayers and support.

Sunday October 11, 2009

2009-10-11T20:24:00.002-04:00

Daddy did very well on Friday having the feeding tube put in. They were able to do it by the Laproscopic procedure and there were no complications. They have put him on a continuous feed and it seems to be helping.

He is scheduled to have another dose of the chemo treatment tomorrow and he should go to radiation at some point in the day. He is still getting two antibiotics to fight the c-diff and according to the nurse Daddy had yesterday it was in her computer that he had a staff infection (not MRSA) and pneumonia too. Which was the first time we heard that. I have to say the care Daddy has received under these new Doctors at this end of the 10th floor doesn't even compare to the care he received from Dr. Chen and the staff at the other end. I realize he was in PCU, but it was the same patient to nurse ratio of 1 to 4 and when Daddy needed something they were there within 10 min. On this end, it took him over 2 1/2 hours to get pain meds, over 8 hrs to get another medication the doctor ordered, his sugar was over 200 one day last week at 8:00 a.m. and he didn't get his insulin shot until after 1:00 p.m. Those are just a few of the incidents that's happened on this end. Looks like it's time for another meeting with the Director.

Not sure when Daddy will be coming home. The new Doctors are talking about sending him home the first of the week. Even though they haven't let him get up and walk since he's been back in here. They even have the alarm set on his bed that sounds if he tries to get up. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it?

For the most part Daddy seems to be holding his own. Thank you for the continued prayers and support. It's been a long 2 1/2 months.

Friday October 9, 2009

2009-10-09T09:38:00.002-04:00

There hasn't been a lot of change since my last post. We were waiting for Daddy's coumadin level to come down below 1.5 so that he could have the feeding tube put in. It was still too high yesterday, but was down enough this morning that the Doctor said he is going to schedule him for sometime this afternoon. Of course all fluid & food intake has been stopped in anticipation for the surgery. Lets hope they don't wait over 24 hrs this time like they did when they were putting the screen in for the blood clots. The Doctor told Mom this morning that they will try putting the feeding tube in by endoscopic procedures which will only require a mild sedation. However; if the lining of Daddy's stomach is too thick he will have to undergo a more evasive surgery where he will have to be put under general anesthesia, this of course will be a more dangerous procedure for him with a greater risk of complications. That was all the information I got from Mom this morning. Another set of Doctors were coming in the room so she had to go. My youngest is home from school today sick so I won't be able to go to the hospital until my husband gets home this evening. I will update again after the feeding tube is done.

Tuesday October 6, 2009

2009-10-06T22:52:00.001-04:00

As of noon today the Doctors have determined that the c-diff is the one and only infection that has been making Daddy so sick. None of his other cultures have come back positive for anything else. Hopefully Daddy doesn't have a strain that is resistant to the only two antibiotics that can cure it.

Daddy's fever is down, not completely gone but down. His kidney function is back to normal, well normal for Daddy. The best change right now is that the delirium is gone and mentally he seems to be back to normal.

He did great with his first chemo treatment yesterday and he will have one a week for the next month or so. The treatment didn't make him sick and we haven't seen any side effects from the drug yet. Hopefully he will be lucky and won't experience any problems. He is also continuing his radiation treatments, which he said today is making the side of his face very sore and it's really hurting. He has been started on a pain patch as well as other pain medication.

Daddy's coumadin level is now under 2 and the Gastroenterologists said that he will put the feeding tube in on Thursday or Friday depending on how Daddy is doing. One major concern with stopping the coumadin is Daddy getting more blood clots. Dr. Chen said today that Daddy really has to get moving to help prevent anymore clots from developing. We told him the only problem with that is the internal medicine Docs. won't let Daddy even get up. To which Dr. Chen replied "you guys aren't shy, I'm sure you can get your point across". Dr. Chen has been watching Daddy's progress and he comes in and talks to us, but he can't write any orders etc. because he's not an admitting Doctor at this point. We are just grateful for everything he's done and for everything he continues to do. I have never heard of a Doctor so devoted to his patients.

For the most part Daddy is doing okay. All we can do is pray that the antibiotics will be strong enough to get rid of the c-diff and the feeding tube surgery is problem free. Well ... and the chemo and radiation destroys any remaining cancer cells with little to no further complication.

Sunday October 4, 2009 UPDATE

2009-10-05T16:02:00.003-04:00

They ran another test for the c-diff and that one did come back positive. I wish they would get their results straight before they tell us.

Monday October 5, 2009

2009-10-05T13:17:00.002-04:00

Well ..... It's been pretty interesting since we've been back here. Daddy has moments of sanity but for the most part he is still delirious (for a lack of a better word) and not making much sense. It's hard to see him like this but at the same time you can't help to laugh at the off the wall things he is saying. Examples: He kept calling his nurse yesterday "Sargent Hooligan" & said he didn't like her. (She was very nice). He said "I thought I was in the United States, not down here in Red China". But I have to say the funniest thing so far was when he started pulling at his catheter and told Mom "Look at this, what did they do sew bull balls on me?" Mom, trying her best to keep a straight face said "No, do you think your balls are as big as a bulls?" to which Daddy replied "well ... yeah". Of course Larry and I are sitting across the room about to fall out of our chairs trying to contain our laughter so as to not upset Daddy. He was very serious. That's just a little example of the things he's been saying.

Daddy's Doctors just left. They are not sure what is causing the delirium, his fever or where the infection is. At first they said they thought it was a bladder infection that had transferred to the blood stream. Now they aren't sure what it is. He had blood clots coming from his catheter last night and they did another urine analysis which didn't show any bacteria, but did show blood. His culture did come back that he does not have c-diff. So they are not sure what is wrong at this point other than the fact he's still got some type of infection. Daddy is also still scheduled to have a feeding tube put in once they get the infection under control and his coumadian level comes down. At one point they had told us his coumadin level was 4.9 and it should be between 2-3. After they took blood from the porta cath for testing (which is more accurate) they found that his coumadin level was actually over 6, which was not good at all.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that he was moved from ICU yesterday to room 1063 in the oncology ward. They have also started his first Chemo treatment this morning. They hooked the IV up to his porta-cath about 11:30, so far so good. They have decided to use a milder drug that the doctor said is technically not chemotherapy. He said it is a monoclonal antibody which is a new fangled drug that is a very targeted drug. The monoclonal antibody does something called the epidermal growth factor receptor or EGFR inhibitor. The EGFR is a little receptor/protein that is on the surface of the cancer cell. It's on the surface of a couple other tissues in the body normally, but not on a lot of other tissues so that's why its sort of a targeted drug and it mostly effects the cancer and leaves the rest of the body alone. The cancer Daddy has expresses this EGFR receptor at a very high level. This drug binds to that receptor and attempts to kill the cancer. Essentially it leaves the white blood cells alone and people don't develop low white blood cells. Classic chemotherapy drugs would attack the white blood cells and the immune system, so the Doctors feel that in Daddy's situation and with his already underlying infection this is the best treatment for him.

Daddy will still be getting radiation treatments while he is here at the hospital. Carilion transport will pick him up and take him to the Cancer Center and bring him back to the hospital.

So it looks like he is going to be here for a while or at least until they get this infection cleared up and providing there is not complications from the chemo.

Daddy's visitation is not restricted now that his c-diff culture has come back negative.

Sunday October 4, 2009

2009-10-04T15:10:00.003-04:00

Daddy's condition has improved significantly since yesterday. He has been getting a large volume of fluids in the attempts to get his body rehydrated. According to the Internal Medicine Doctors Daddy has a bladder infection that transferred to the blood stream (which isn't that what Septic means?). He thinks this is what caused the high temperature too. He doesn't think it's the c-diff because his white count is actually very low, but according to Dr. Chen a low white count can also show infection and he believes that it's the c-diff too. We are still waiting for the culture to come back. Daddy's coumadin level was 4.9 and it should be between 2 - 3. They are stopping the coumadin for a while so his levels will come back down. Once his level is 1.5 or lower then the Gastroenterolog Doctor will do surgery to place a feeding tube in Daddy's stomach. Which of course comes with a whole list of possible complications and problems. Daddy is still confused at times and has started hallucinating a bit. One minute he knows where he is and will ask the nurse questions etc. the next he's talking about seeing one of his sisters off because he says she's going on a trip. The Doctors say that it could just be because his body was so dehydrated and that it will take a couple days for him to get back to normal. I sure hope they're right!

Saturday October 3rd 10:35 a.m.

2009-10-03T10:34:00.002-04:00

Daddy is back on the 10th floor in the ICU. Dr. Chen came in to check on him (I had called his office while we were waiting on the Rescue Squad). He said that Daddy did not have pneumonia but that he did have a kidney infection. We told him about the diarrhea and that Daddy's regular Doctor was retesting him for the c-diff again. Dr. Chen was going to check that also. He said that the c-diff could be causing the high fever along with the kidney infection. They have started him on two antibiotics and IV fluids. His blood pressure is starting to come back up and his fever is starting to come down. He is very confused about where he is and for some reason he thinks he's in Crew and that it's 1999. We thought he was kidding at first but a little while later when asked where he was we got the same answer. When we told him "no you're not in crew, you're in Roanoke Memorial Hospital" he wanted to know why he was here. That's all we know for now. They are trying to get all his vitals stabilized and we'll go from there.

Mom has asked for no visitors right now and if he tests positive for the c-diff again he'll be put back in quarantine.

I'll update again when we know more.

Saturday October 3, 2009 4:19 a.m.

2009-10-03T04:19:00.002-04:00

We had to call the Rescue Squad to come and get Daddy around 1:30 a.m. this morning. He has been getting weaker and weaker the past couple days and we thought it was a combination of the radiation and the possibility that he could still have the c-diff infection since he started having diarrhea again on Thursday. His temperature was up to 103.9 and Mom couldn't wake him up. When the Paramedics checked his O2 level it was only 66%, his pupils were fixed and dilated and he was in/out of consciousness. The ER Doctor said that Daddy obviously has a pretty bad infection somewhere (duh). He is requiring 100% oxygen to keep his O2 level above 90. His blood pressure is only 97/52 but his heart rate is running between 94 - 100. His temperature right now is 102.6 and that's after they gave him a Tylenol suppository around 3:00 a.m. They took him down at 4:00 to do a CT Scan of his head, face and chest. The ER Doctor thinks that he may possible pneumonia. They are also talking about intabating him, but we would like Dr. Keeley called in before they do something like that. He will be admitted to ICU here at Roanoke Memorial but we don't know yet what floor he will be on. I will update more when we know something. Please continue to keep him and Mom in your prayers.

Tuesday September 29, 2009

2009-09-29T14:05:00.005-04:00

Daddy is officially home!

Mom got him home at 11:30 Friday morning (9/25/09). He is doing pretty good. He's getting around the house very well with little to no assistance right now. He still has his good and bad days where some days he seems to feel pretty good and other days (like today) not so good. His head and behind his left eye is still hurting him quite a lot and the pain medication that he was sent home with is not relieving it. Dr. Heath prescribed two stronger meds yesterday that he is hoping will keep Daddy's pain under control or at least bearable. However; insurance will only cover one of them so Mom is going to see if he can prescribe something else as the medication is expensive. Daddy still doesn't have much of an appetite and has lost 50 pounds so far. He will probable need the feeding tube put back in before all his treatments are finished.

Daddy has had 1 week of radiation treatments so far and you can tell it is already making him weaker. He has to have a total of 6.5 - 7 weeks of treatment @ 5 days per week. As for the chemo, the Doctors have gone back and forth like a yo-yo on this subject. They all agree that the best chance Daddy has of getting rid of all the cancer is if he has chemo along with the radiation. However; they are concerned that Daddy's body will not be able to handle chemo. Dr. Heath, Dr. Chin and one of the Chemotherapy Doctor's (Dr. Mertin) had a conference yesterday to discuss what the safest and most effective chemo treatment would be for Daddy. Dr. Mertin thinks that there are some drugs that they can safely give him that will help the radiation be more effective (Carboplatin and Taxol). These drugs do not effect the kidneys or hearing like some of the other chemo drugs do. Dr. Heath is going to get with Dr. Inhorn to discuss this since Dr. Inhorn will be administering the chemo (he was not available for the conference). The treatment will be once a week and will take anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. That's going to make for a long day at the Cancer Center for Daddy and Mom since on those days he will have radiation too. For the first treatment he will be admitted to Roanoke Memorial Hospital's Oncology Ward so that they can monitor how he does. This is tentatively schedules for next Tuesday October 6th unless something else changes (or another Doctor changes his mind).

Mama and Daddy would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support.

I will update again when there are changes but if I haven't and you would like to check on him you may email me at halouf@cox.net anytime.

Thank you all again!

Thursday September 24, 2009 (Day 57)

2009-09-24T14:21:00.002-04:00

BIG NEWS!

Daddy is coming home tomorrow, Friday 9/25!

Daddy has been doing very well with his physical, occupational and speech therapy. He's getting stronger each day and learning new and different ways to swallow his food so that he protects his airway. Once he's home Therapists with a Home Health Agency will be coming to work with him and I think a Home Health Nurse will come to check on him for a while. He will have a hospital bed, which will be delivered tomorrow morning and Mom will be bringing home a walker and wheelchair to help Daddy get around.

We were first told that Daddy was supposed to start Chemo last Friday or Saturday and that he would start Radiation on Monday. However; that of course did not happen. There has been some disagreements between the Doctors on what is the best course of treatment for Daddy. They all agree that Radiation Therapy is a must, so he did start radiation on Tuesday. He will have 34 treatments which will take him through the end of October. We are still not 100% sure if he's going to get Chemo or not. The Chemo that Daddy would have to take is very hard on the kidneys and the Doctors are not sure that Daddy could survive the treatments. They have talked about possible giving him a lower dosage over a longer period of time but that's still up in the air too. The Oncologist did say that statistically the surgery, followed by radiation and chemo has shown to be the most effective treatment for getting rid of all the cancer. If he can't have the chemo then his chances of being cancer free are greatly reduced. They may try chemo in a couple weeks, but only if Daddy is doing okay from the radiation treatments. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Daddy has lost a total of 44 pounds in the past 57 days and doesn't really want to eat. The bad thing is that he hasn't even had enough radiation treatments yet for that to be effecting him. We've been told that after a few weeks of treatments that Daddy will be severely weak, that his throat will be so sore that he won't want to eat and/or may not be able to. It's going to be very hard for him to keep his strength up if he can't eat. The Oncologist has talked about possible having to put the feeding tube back in and he wants it going through the side of his stomach instead of through his nose like before. Of course that will open the door for additional problems and possible complications and infections.

Daddy still has a long hard road ahead of him and it's going to take all of us to help Mom take care of him. Please keep Daddy and Mama in your daily prayers.

I know that Daddy would love to have visitors, but please keep in mind that even though he is being sent home, he's still weak and tires quickly. Please call and check with Mom before visiting to see what kind of day Daddy is having and if he's up for visitors.

Friday September 18, 2009 (Day 51)

2009-09-18T17:21:00.002-04:00

Daddy Has Been Moved!

Daddy was moved this morning to Carilion's Rehabilitation Center at Community Hospital. He is on the 7th floor in room 716.

Daddy is still under quarantine until they get 3 neg. results back on his C-diff tests. However, they can't even start testing him until he finishes his course of antibiotics which won't be until this coming Wednesday. So even over there we are having to wear the yellow gowns and use gloves even though he's not shown any symptoms of the C-diff since Tuesday. One difference at Community is that they will let him go out of the room for therapy even though he is under quarantine.

The visitation is a little stricter here and they request no visitors before 4:00 p.m. because he will be busy with therapy and when he's not in therapy he needs to rest. However; I've already told them that, that doesn't apply to Mom or any of his kids and that one of us would be with him just about all the time except for night.

We found out today that Daddy is supposed to start Chemotherapy either today or tomorrow and he will start Radiation on Monday. They said that doing them both together will hopefully be more effective but the draw back is that it's going to make him sicker a lot quicker. He is now on an all liquid diet, which is concerning us all because he doesn't seem to be getting the nutrition that he needs. He has lost 17 pounds since last Friday (9/11) and a total of 33 pounds since he went into the hospital. Now I know everyone reading this is thinking "it wouldn't hurt Roy to loose a few pounds" and you are right, it wouldn't. However; right now is not the time for that. He needs all his strength and if he's not eating or not getting enough nutrition then we're afraid that the physical, occupational, speech, chemo & radiation therapy is going to be too much for him. He may have to have the feeding tube put back in, but we'll cross that bridge when it's time.

For now Daddy seems to be doing very well. He's off all oxygen and his O2 level has been staying up pretty good. Every now and then it will fall in the 80's but then goes right back up after a minute or so. Dr. Chen said that he expected Daddy did this at home. I will post more updates later.

Wednesday September 16, 2009 (Day 49)

2009-09-16T20:31:00.002-04:00

It's been a BIG day for Daddy!

Even though Daddy is still in quarantine the C-diff infection seems to be under control and getting better. Daddy has to have 3 negative cultures before they will lift the quarantine.

Dr. Chen stopped all of Daddy's tube feedings yesterday. He wants Daddy to start eating on his own so this morning he removed the feeding tube. We weren't expecting that considering Daddy's Oncologist had told us he wanted Daddy to have a feeding tube throughout his radiation and chemotherapy. It may have to be put back, but for now it's out.

Dr. Chen also replaced Daddy's trachea tube yesterday with one that allowed him to put a cap over the end of the tube. This allows Daddy to breathe as normal (in/out through nose/mouth). He is receiving oxygen through a nasal cannula and has been doing very well with his blood O2 levels. However he has a lot of congestion and is coughing more than usual. He has been very tired today because he couldn't sleep last night because he was coughing so much. When Dr. Chen came in this evening Daddy was coughing so much that the mucus was actually coming out from around the base of the trachea, so Dr. Chen took the trachea completely out.

A Therapist from Carilion's Rehabilitation Center came to see Daddy today and said that Dr. Chen has put in the orders for Daddy to be moved to Carilion's in house Rehab. They are hoping to get him moved as soon as there is an opening which could be any day. They are also moving him even though he is still in quarantine. They said they can take all the same precautions as whats being done at Roanoke Memorial (the Rehab is in Community Hospital).

Daddy will now start Radiation next week. Carilion Transport will take him to/from the Cancer Center whether he's at RMH or Community.

So as you can see it's been a pretty big day for him today. Thanks again for all the prayers and support!

Monday September 14, 2009 (Day 47)

2009-09-14T21:02:00.004-04:00

*** DADDY IS UNDER QUARANTINE ****

Daddy has a bacterial infection called Clostridium difficile (C difficile) or C-dif. His white count was 15 yesterday and 12 today. His blood pressure has been okay, but his heart rate has been high running anywhere from 80 to 105 (yes I wrote that correctly). He's also been running a low grade fever. C-diff is a bacterial infection in the intestine and one of the symptoms is frequent diarrhea. They are having to leave the porta-potty sitting beside Daddy's bed all the time. We have to wear the yellow gowns & gloves to be in the room with him. The nurses and nursing assistants are not even allowed to roll their computer carts or the vital machines into his room. Dr. Chen has started Daddy on another antibiotic to hopefully get rid of the disease. However; they did say that it is very difficult to get rid of and may take several weeks.

Click on the following link for additional information about C-diff. http://www.keely.net/leisure/cDiff/about.html

Sunday September 13, 2009 (Day 46)

2009-09-13T12:34:00.006-04:00

A Simple thank you just doesn't seem to express how grateful we are for everyone's prayers and support during these difficult times. We truly appreciate all that everyone has done for us. Daddy still has a long road ahead of him (Mom too), so please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Daddy's been doing pretty good the past couple days. As always it seems he takes a couple steps forward and then one back. He's been completely off the CPAP machine since Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. (48 hrs. now). His blood oxygen levels have stayed up in the middle to upper 90's on 40% oxygen so Dr. Chen was very pleased with that this morning. Dr. Chen also changed Daddy's trachea tube to a smaller one this morning. This tube will make his breathing more "normal" which will help in strengthening his throat muscles. He can also keep the Passy-muir valve (speaking valve) on with this tube and it isn't causing him to cough like it did with the larger tube. Of course this could also be because he is getting stronger so it's not irritating his throat like it was before. Dr. Chen did say that the passy-muir valve did need to be taken off at night when we weren't here with him. He said if Daddy does well with this today then he may try completely plugging the trachea tomorrow and see how Daddy does with breathing regularly with O2 through the nose. (When Daddy breathes right now with the trachea tube the air goes in through the tube and out through his mouth/nose. If he plugs the tube then Daddy will breath in/out through mouth/nose.) Dr. Chen did say that switching to this smaller tube is a really big step for Daddy. So far he's doing great. He's actually napping right now and every now and then snores a little. Dr. Chen is also considering moving Daddy to the in house Rehab possible sometime this week. He will also be starting his radiation treatments this week too. So it looks like he is going to be very busy.

That was pretty much it for the steps forward, now for the step back. Daddy hasn't seemed to feel very good the past 2 days. Yesterday he didn't even get out of bed he said he just felt too weak. He is running a low grade fever and his blood pressure and heart rate has been elevated. Dr. Chen has ordered more blood work to try and find out whats going on. We hope it won't be anything major especially since Dr. Chen has jury duty starting tomorrow.

I'll update more when there's changes.

Thursday September 10, 2009 (Day 43)

2009-09-10T20:19:00.001-04:00

Daddy seems to be making progress each day. He is staying off the CPAP machine all day and is only using it at night. Thank God he's on it at night because early Wednesday morning (4:00 a.m.) Dr. Chen told us Daddy stopped breathing and the machine had to kick in to breathe for him. Dr. Chen didn't know what may have caused him to stop breathing, it could have been the oxycodone or the fact that he was off the CPAP for 16 hours on Tuesday and he just got too tired. Nevertheless Dr. Chen was stopping the oxycodone and starting him back on Lortab. His kidney function is the same, not good but not too bad either. I assume his white and red blood counts are okay since they haven't mentioned them in several days. Usually they tell us if something is wrong. Daddy does have a little temperature this morning and seems like he just doesn't feel good today. He also has a large swollen red splotchy patch on his upper left arm where he had an IV over the weekend. They took the IV out on Monday and it was just a little tiny red spot where the catheter was. It is now much, much bigger and doesn't look good. The nurse put a warm compress on it this morning. Dr. Chen came in around 12:15 today and I showed him the area. He marked the edges so we could watch to see if it gets any larger.

Daddy is now only getting nourishment through the feeding tube 3 to 4 times a day and they are actually bringing him a tray for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Everything is pureed so he can swallow it. Sometimes we have a hard time figuring out exactly what it is he's eating. He also doesn't like the "Thick-It" that we are supposed to put in his liquids, he fusses at us anytime we try to use them. Even though he's getting the trays of food, he eats very little (if you can imagine that). Dr. Chen did make the comment yesterday morning that "At least he's NOT malnourished anymore.

Carilion Transport came and picked Daddy up this afternoon and took him over to the Cancer Center. They had to redo the mask that he will have to wear for his radiation and they did another CT Scan. He will start radiation sometime next week and once started he will go 5 days a week for 8 weeks. He will still need chemo too, but we're not sure at this point when that will start. Daddy did very well with the whole transport process and they allowed Mom and I to ride in the ambulance with him. The whole trip took less than an hour but was of course exhausting for him especially when he was already feeling bad. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Tuesday September 8, 2009 (Day 41)

2009-09-08T10:40:00.012-04:00

Daddy seems to be getting stronger each day. He was off the CPAP machine for 10 hours on Saturday, 9 hours on Sunday and about 14 hours Monday. He is still getting oxygen while he is off the machine, but that's it. The goal is for him to be off all day and only use the machine at night. Daddy's kidneys are pretty much the same. They aren't functioning at 100%, but they weren't doing that when he came in. He is on Cipro (antibiotic) for the infection in his lungs which seems to be helping. The only down side is that the Cipro interferes with coumadin (blood thinner) so they are having a hard time getting that leveled out. He is also still having the headaches and they are now giving him Oxycodone for them. His insulin level (blood sugar) has been staying pretty level. They are talking about switching his feeding schedule to 3 times a day instead of the continuous feeding that he is getting right now. I hope that doesn't cause his sugar to go crazy like it did before.

On Sunday Dr. Chen put in orders for Daddy to start getting his pills by mouth, but about 15 min after he took them he started coughing up a lot of green mucus. Apparently his blood pressure pill went to his lungs instead of his stomach. He had a modified barium swallow test done this morning to see how food & liquids go down his throat (or where they go). The results showed that the muscles in Daddy's throat are very weak and it took swallowing 8 times for him to get the applesauce down. It also showed that the flap in his throat that covers your airway when you swallow is not closing all the way, which is allowing the aspiration into his lungs. To help with this we have to put this powder into his drinks called "Thicken-UP" that will thicken them. The Speech Pathologist will also be working with him more to strengthen the muscles in his throat & neck.

Dr. Chen was going to talk with Dr. Heath (Oncologist) about Daddy starting Radiation soon. He said that as long as he is doing well off the CPAP then they can take him over to the Cancer Center by Ambulance for his treatments.

Overall Daddy seems to be in better spirits. At this point I will not be updating the blog on a daily basis. I will still update a couple times a week or when there is significant improvements/changes in his condition.

Thank you to everyone that has sent me a video! I know it is going to cheer Daddy up seeing all of you and hearing your encouraging words. If you haven't sent your video yet, there is still plenty of time. I can add video's to the DVD as I get them, so please keep them coming.

Saturday September 5, 2009 (Day 38)

2009-09-05T17:33:00.003-04:00

Sorry for not getting anything posted yesterday. I was at the hospital for several hours in the morning, but then Crystal and I were busy getting ready for a camping trip with our families that we booked over a year ago. We're in Luray, VA and have limited cell and wireless connection so I'll update the blog the best I can.

I talked to Mom this morning and she said that Daddy was doing pretty well. He was off the CPAP machine for about 8 hours yesterday and they were shooting for 8 to 10 hours today. His kidney function is still elevated a little and the kidney Docs. are monitoring them closely. They did remove the catheter on Thursday which hopefully will eliminate the possibilities of any additional infections. He walked about 180 feet yesterday but hadn't walked yet today as of when I talked with Mom.

Things have pretty much leveled off with him right now. He's not had any significant set backs (thank God) and he is having baby step improvements each day. I'll post again as soon as I can or if there is a significant change.

Thursday September 3, 2009 (Day 36)

2009-09-03T09:55:00.003-04:00

We had our meeting with Dr. Chen yesterday. He was considering sending Daddy home provided the family was okay with taking care of the trachea & feeding tube and learning how to put him on/off the CPAP machine. He felt that Daddy would be more willing to get up and move around at home and it would greatly help his emotional state. He also said that Daddy has been extremely lucky that he has not gotten MRSA or another hospital borne infection, but the longer he's here the bigger chance of him getting something and Dr. Chen just doesn't want that set back. He said he needed to consult with Dr. Keeley and would let us know. When he came in this morning he said that he had talked with Dr. Keeley and that going home was off the table for right now. Said that Dr. Keeley felt that Daddy would be completely off the CPAP machine by the time he was ready to go home. Dr. Chen also ordered for Daddy to have another unit of blood last night. His red blood count yesterday after getting the 2 units of blood on Tuesday was up to 9 and after the additional unit last night it is up to 11. Hopefully this will make him feel better and give him some more energy. Another reason Dr. Chen was considering sending Daddy home was so that he could get some rest. He feels that the lack of sleep could be contributing to Daddy's headaches and said that he kept putting in Daddy's chart/orders to be left alone at night so he could rest, but somebody kept taking it out. So he put this up on Daddy's door:

We'll see if this helps. Dr. Chen also had a Physical Medicine Doctor from Carilions Rehab come and evaluate Daddy this morning to see if he would be a candidate for the in house rehab. She said that he is too strong and does not qualify, but he does qualify for outpatient rehab. Of course this is a good thing. He even walked down the hall and back yesterday.

So for the most part Daddy is doing good. He does still seems to be a little sad or depressed some days, but that's to be expected after 36 days in the hospital.

I'm extending the time to get the video's to me. If you could have it to me by next Friday September 11th, that would be great.

Wednesday September 2, 2009 (Day 35)

2009-09-02T12:22:00.002-04:00

Daddy's doing well today. He's very tired because he said he only slept about 2 hrs. last night. He did get 2 units of blood yesterday so hopefully he will start perking up soon. Dr. Keeley wants him off the CPAP machine 3 times today about 2 hrs. per time.

Daddy has a bacterial infection in his lungs so they are changing his antibiotic to one that will hopefully take care of this.

We haven't seen Dr. Chen yet today. He called Mom this morning and said he wanted to have a meeting with the family early this afternoon to discuss the next steps for Daddy's treatment and what needs to be done to get him well.

I'll try to update again this evening.

Tuesday September 1, 2009 (Day 34)

2009-09-01T12:44:00.002-04:00

Daddy is very tired today. Mom and I had missed Dr. Chen this morning so he called around 8:45. He said that Daddy's kidney function was creeping up, but he thought it may be because of the Albumin and Bumex that he's on. Daddy's red blood count is down to 7.9 and Dr. Chen wants to give him blood. He said he wants to see the count at 10 or above and that this will greatly reduce how tired and weak Daddy is. This of course creates additional concerns/problems with fluid retention and heart and lung function so Dr. Chen has requested a consult with the kidney doctors. As soon as he hears from them, we will know if he's getting the blood or not. Dr. Chen also had an Endocrinologist evaluate Daddy. He said that Daddy does not qualify for an insulin pump because medicare does not cover type 2 diabetes. Therefore we will just have to continue managing the best we can.

The Respiratory Therapist took Daddy off the CPAP machine from 10:30 - 1:00 today. He's been coughing a lot and has a bunch of mucus, but at least it's been a productive cough and he's able to get a lot of the mucus up. His O2 levels stayed pretty good off the CPAP. Several times it dropped down into the 80's, but went back up pretty quickly.

The Speech Pathologist came in this morning and worked with Daddy and had him do quite a few different exercises with his mouth and tongue. Daddy did very well, but he's so weak right now that it really tired him out.

The nurse came in around 1:00 and said that Dr. Chen had put in the orders for Daddy to get blood, so she will start that in a little while. We just pray that it will not create any problems with is heart and lungs.

Daddy's sleeping very soundly right now and hopefully Mom can get in a short nap this afternoon too. I'll update tomorrow unless something changes this evening.

August 31, 2009 (Day 33)

2009-08-31T12:14:00.003-04:00

Evening Update:

I have some exciting news for this evening. Dr. Chen came in around 1:00 this afternoon and gave us his daily update. Basically he reinforced the fact that the only thing keeping Daddy in the hospital is the breathing machine. He said before the surgery they were worried more about his heart, but it turns out that his heart is actually better than his lungs. The Respiratory Therapist came in right after Dr. Chen left and took Daddy off CPAP and put him on just 40% oxygen. Daddy didn't complain at all about being taken off the machine and when Physical Therapy came in to work with him, Daddy actually got out of bed and walked out of his room and down the hall and back (short hall in PCU)! With the aid of a walker of course and the therapists on each side and Mom pushing a chair behind him just in case. We're hoping he's hit a mental turning point in this stage of his recovery and that he will continue trying as hard as he did today.

Morning Update:
Daddy is in a much better mood this morning. Of course he's been on the CPAP machine since 6:30 a.m. Dr. Keeley has changed the amount of time Daddy is off CPAP. Now he will be on the machine for 8 hrs. and off only 2 hrs. at a time. However they have lowered the pressure settings so Daddy is actually doing more of the breathing on his own, he just doesn't realize it. We haven't seen any of his Doctors yet today and not sure when they will be in.

Nothing else to report today. Everything is pretty quiet.

Sunday August 30, 2009 (Day 32)

2009-08-30T22:48:00.002-04:00

Daddy was very agitated today. He was even arguing with Dr. Chen & Dr. Keeley about taking him off the breathing machine. For some reason Daddy doesn't want to be off the machine and we can't make him understand that he can't come home until he is off the machine. He insists he's going home next week. I guess he thinks he's taking the machine with him. Dr. Chen said that we needed to try and get his mind on normal things such as masons or the horses etc.

Daddy's still having the headaches so they ordered a scan of his head to see if it will show why he's having the headaches.

Dr. Mathews (kidney) is putting Daddy back on the albumin and the bumex to try and get Daddy's swelling back down again. His kidneys had been doing pretty good on their own getting the fluid off, but for some reason they are just not getting enough off. They had to start another IV for this so he once again has an IV in each hand.

As for the incisions from the surgery, they are looking very good. He no longer needs the wound vacs and seems to be healing well the rest of the way on his own.

Really at this point the only thing keeping Daddy in PCU is the breathing machine. He's got to get off of it if he wants to come home. Now if we can just make him understand that!

Soooo... I have an idea of how to get his mind thinking and maybe working in a more positive direction and I will need everyones help. I would like to make Daddy a video of all his family, friends, brothers (masons) etc. letting him know how much we all need him to get better so he can come home. If you would record a short video and send it to me I will put all the videos together into a DVD and take it for Daddy to watch in the hospital. All you masons' out there if you have a question or something that will get Daddy's mind thinking of something else, ask it on the video. Same goes for all the guys from the gun club. You can also just tell him you're thinking of him and get well soon. Anything you would like. You may email the video's to me at halouf@cox.net or if you don't know how to download and email the video you may mail the video to me. My address is as follows:

Hollie Alouf
5160 Singing Hills Road
Roanoke, VA 24014

Now I do have to put a deadline on these video's so that I can get them organized into my computer, put together and create the DVD video for Daddy. Please have all video's to me by Friday September 4th. I'm sorry for the short notice, I just thought of the idea when Dr. Chen said to get Daddy's mind thinking of other things. Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for your help.

Saturday August 29, 2009 (Day 31)

2009-08-29T16:31:00.002-04:00

Daddy's head hasn't been hurting near as much today. It has only bothered him when they suction his trachea out and he starts coughing a lot. Dr. Chen wants him off the CPAP machine 4 hours at a time. He's hoping if Daddy can do this for a couple days then he can be moved to a 12 on 12 off schedule. Daddy's getting very little support on the CPAP machine right now, but on it gives him a chance to rest and not get so tired. Dr. Chen ordered a culture of the mucus in Daddy's lungs to see if that is where the infection is coming from. He has been running a low grade temp. but they are not sure what it is from at this point. They just say he's got an infection. They also drew blood for the lab to run more tests.

Daddy's blood sugar has been dropping pretty low. At one point today it was down to 35 and they had to give him glucose through his IV to bring it up and then it only brought it to 100. His feeding tube was blocked and it took them a while to get this fixed. That could be the reason for the low sugar. (I'm just guessing though)

Daddy is more alert today than he's been in the past few days. His nurse put his bed in the "chair" position and he's sitting up watching TV. Although every now and then you look at him and he's just staring at the ceiling with an expression of confusion, as if he is trying to figure out why he's here and what is going on. I know he's got to be sick of being in that bed. He did ask for some yogurt today, but we explained to him that his throat muscles weren't strong enough yet for him to swallow something with that consistence so he was satisfied with orange juice.

That's pretty much it for today. I'll update again tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the prayers and support.

August 28, 2009 (Day 30)

2009-08-28T12:53:00.002-04:00

Daddy seems very sad and weak this morning. He said he just didn't feel good and his head is hurting him really bad. Dr. Chen is going to try a different medication for the headaches.

Dr. Chen is calling in a heart specialist for Daddy because his heart started beating fast and irregular last night. He still feels that Daddy's lungs are the biggest problem right now. He order another chest x-ray, but we haven't gotten any results yet. Daddy's white count has been going up a little each day this week. He started at 8.9 on Monday and is at 10.6 today so there is something going on there that hasn't been found yet. Not sure what his red count is today.

The Respiratory Therapist was going to try taking him off the CPAP for a little while this morning, but Daddy is just too weak right now so they left him on it. Right now (1:16 p.m.) he's sleeping very soundly.

I'll update again this evening if there is any changes. Otherwise it will be tomorrow afternoon before I get to post again.

August 27, 2009 (Day 29)

2009-08-28T12:32:00.004-04:00

Sorry for not getting anything posted today. We were getting up hay and by the time we finished my hands hurt to much to type.

Daddy's kidney function was much better yesterday and his red and white blood counts looked a little better. Speech Therapy came by to work with him. She said that his throat muscles have gotten very weak from not being used the past month. Said that it will be easy for him to aspirate whatever he is drinking/eating into his lungs so we have to be very careful. The Respiratory Therapist took him off the CPAP for a while yesterday morning, but after working with Speech Therapy Daddy started coughing really bad and said he couldn't breath so he had to be put back on CPAP.

Dr. Chen came in, said he was puzzled about the headaches. They are going to run some blood tests to see if it could possible be his thyroid. It could also be from TMJ, caffeine withdrawal etc. he's just not sure at this point.

Wednesday August 26, 2009 (Day 28)

2009-08-26T10:20:00.004-04:00

Things have come to a standstill as far as Daddy's progress. last night Dr. Chen was concerned with how much the porta-cath was hurting Daddy. The nurse removed the porta-cath and explained that it had become lopsided and when the catheter was inserted, instead of going into the vein it was going into the surrounding skin/tissue. A general surgeon came in this morning and said that the porta-cath was clogged up and they were going to try putting medicine into it to unclog. If that doesn't work, Daddy will have to have surgery to replace it. They did take a blood sample and are sending to the lab for testing to see if he has any infection.

Daddy is not doing very well this morning. Dr. Chen has even been in twice checking on him and is very concerned with how weak Daddy is. He has a lot of bloody mucus coming out of his trachea tube, which he hasn't been having. His headaches are still really bad too. Dr. Chen told Daddy's nurse that he wanted Daddy monitored very closely today.

I will try to update again this afternoon/evening.

Tuesday August 25, 2009 (Day 27)

2009-08-25T11:25:00.002-04:00

Daddy is still on the CPAP machine. When Dr. Chen had mentioned to us the end of last week that they would try taking him off some, he said he would talk with Dr. Keeley about it. We thought that had been done when the Respiratory Therapist took Daddy off the machine on Saturday. We did however question how long he was off it (12 hrs.), because Dr. Chen had told us they would have to do it slowly, only couple hours at a time. He was also taken off for just a little while Sunday morning until he was moved to PCU and was put back on for the move. He's been on it ever since. We found out yesterday afternoon that the Respiratory Therapist had taken him off the machine Saturday without any orders from the Doctor. Needless to say Dr. Keeley is monitoring this a lot more closely now and has only approved him to be off the machine a few hours a day, depending on how he's doing of course.

Daddy's red count is really low again. There has been talk about giving him more blood, but not sure if that's going to happen or not. His white count is elevated again and his kidney function is declining so they have restarted his IV fluids. The medications Daddy is getting for his headaches was working at first, but they have gotten really bad again so the dosage had to be increased. This does not completely take them away, but makes the pain more bearable for him. It's hard to see him in such excruciating pain and not be able to do anything for him.

Dr. Chen and the wound specialist should be in sometime this afternoon to redo all the wound vacs. and let us know how all that is healing. I will try to do another post this evening.

Monday August 24, 2009 (Day 26)

2009-08-24T12:09:00.002-04:00

He's Baaaack! Well .... his attitude is anyway. Which I guess is a sign that he's getting better.

Daddy's kidneys are back to what they were when he first came into the hospital for surgery. For some reason he's still on the CPAP machine. Dr. Keeley had told us yesterday that he would be kept on the CPAP for the day yesterday because of the move to PCU, but that he would be taken off again today. As of 12:30 he's still on the CPAP.

Daddy's white count is down to 8.9 today, so hopefully the antibiotics have taken care of the infections. Now if we can just keep him from getting something else. Physical Therapy should start working with him on a regular basis now. Still having some problems getting his sugar regulated. Dr. Chen said he was going to call in an Endocrinologist to start monitoring Daddy's Diabetes.

The medication Dr. Keeley put Daddy on for his headaches has seemed to help. He hasn't complained of a headache yet today, so that's a good sign.

Will update more tomorrow. Again, the family really appreciates all the prayers and support during this time.

Sunday August 23, 2009 (Day 25)

2009-08-23T12:09:00.002-04:00

Daddy was sitting in the reclining chair by the window when we all got here this morning. They got him up around 4:00 a.m. The Respiratory Therapist had put him back on the CPAP machine when they put him to bed last night to give his lungs a rest, but they took him back off of it at 4:00 this morning.

Dr. Chen was in around 9:30 this morning and said that things were looking good. Hopefully the wound vacs will come off for good maybe this coming Friday. White count is still elevated so he's still on antibiotics. Dr. Chen may try to switch Daddy trachea tube out maybe the end of the week to one that Daddy can talk with, but all that depends on how his breathing does. We also talked to Dr. Chen a little more about the headaches Daddy has been having. He said it could be some TMJ in the right jaw joint because it's having to work harder. Hopefully once the jaw muscles are stronger the headaches will go away.

Daddy did get moved to the PCU unit around 11:00 this morning. Dr. Keeley put him back on the CPAP machine for the move and said he was going to leave Daddy on it for today and then they will try taking him off some tomorrow. Dr. Keeley is also putting Daddy on some muscle relaxers to help with the TMJ and the headaches.

Since Daddy's white count is still elevated and to reduce the chance of him getting any infections his visitation is still limited to family only. If you would like to visit with Mom and the family you may do so in the 10 mountain waiting room. If Mom is not in the waiting room you may call her cell @ 588-5710 to let her know you are here and she will come out.

Saturday August 22, 2009 (Day 24)

2009-08-22T14:56:00.003-04:00

Daddy is slowly improving (baby steps). It always seems that he'll take two steps forward and then one back or vice versa. His white count is elevated again this morning, up to 12.0 from 10.4 yesterday. Said this could be due to the concentration of his urine output, but they are not sure. Daddy's blood sugar level has been up/down again. During the night it was around 60, but this morning it was 235 so they are still working on getting this regulated. Daddy is still having severe headaches. He's in so much pain from them that his whole body quivers and shakes. The doctors are not sure whats causing them at this point.

On the positive side of things. They took Daddy off the CPAP machine around 9:00 this morning to see how he does breathing on his own, so far so good. He's been off the ventilator machine for 7 hours now and he seem to be doing very well. He's still on 50% oxygen which is hooked to his trachea tube but that's it. His blood oxygen level has been running between 96 & 100% with him breathing on his own. The Respiratory Therapist did say that they may put Daddy back on the CPAP at night just to give his lungs a rest.

Now that he is off the CPAP machine he is able to move around more. He is actually sitting up in a chair right now beside the window. Sleeping of course because they had to give him so much pain medicine to get his head to stop hurting.

That's it for now. If there's any changes after Dr. Chen's evening assessment I will let everyone know.

Friday August 21, 2009 (Day 23)

2009-08-21T09:33:00.002-04:00

Daddy had another good night, his night nurse said he slept very quietly all night. He did tell us this morning that his head is still hurting him. For some reason he's had a horrible headache since Wednesday morning. It gets so bad that he starts shaking all over. We've asked the Internal Medicine Doctors about this, but they are not sure why he's having the headaches. We will ask Dr. Chen about it when he sees Daddy today. Dr. Chen and the wound specialist are supposed to be by sometime this morning to change all the wound vacs.

Daddy's kidneys are functioning much better. They are almost back to what they were when he came into the hospital, which was not great at 1.2 - 1.3. His level was down to 1.5 this morning. His white blood count has also improved. It was 13 on Monday and down to 10.4 today (should be around 8 according to Dr. Chen).

They have put in the orders for Daddy to go to PCU as soon as a bed is open that is equip ed for the ventilator. They don't know when this will happen though, it could be 2 days and it could be a week.

I'll update blog again this afternoon after Dr. Chen sees him.

Thursday August 20, 2009 (Day 22)

2009-08-20T13:33:00.003-04:00

Daddy had a good night last night and was wide awake when Mom and Crystal got here this morning. They said he was writing up a storm on his board. Dr. Chen came in for his morning rounds. He said everything was looking really good, but Daddy's kidney count was elevated this morning (up from 1.62 to 1.7). He said that all his mouth wounds (incisions) were looking good except for the place in the front side of his mouth that is still not wanting to close up. He said the wound specialist would be in sometime tomorrow and they would work on that. Dr. Chen also told Daddy he had lost 1 more liter of fluid and that he only had 16 more to go. At one point he had 27 liters of additional fluids on him.

Dr. Matthews (kidney Doc.) came in, said he didn't feel the elevated kidney levels were anything to worry about. He said that Daddy's kidneys were still being able to shed the fluids even though they stopped the lasix yesterday, so his kidneys are working and doing their job.

As for his breathing. Dr. Keeley lowered Daddy's pressure support a little yesterday evening and dropped his O2 level down to 40%. Daddy is doing great and his blood oxygen level is staying right around 97.

Hopefully if things continue to improve Daddy will be moved to the step down unit within the next week. They said they only have two beds/rooms in that unit equipped to handle the ventilator so it's going to depend on when a bed/room opens and if Daddy is ready at that time.

I'll update again in the morning unless something changes this evening.

Wednesday August 19, 2009 (Day 21)

2009-08-19T14:25:00.002-04:00

Things are looking good. Daddy seems to be getting better & stronger daily now. Dr. Chen said everything is looking "awful good", Mom told him she wasn't too sure of that combination of words.

Dr. Keeley lowered the pressure support on the CPAP and Daddy's O2 levels are staying in the mid 90's so it looks like his lungs are on the mend.

Dr. Mathews said his kidneys are doing well enough that they are taking him off the fluid meds and they are taking him off the insulin drip and he will just be getting the shots just like he does at home.

Physical Therapy came to work with Daddy around 2:00 today and had him sitting up on the side of the bed. He washed his face, combed his hair and put his socks on. What a difference compared to last Wednesday when he wouldn't even open his eyes!

Hopefully he will be in the step down unit within the next week or so.

Tuesday August 18, 2009 (Day 20)

2009-08-18T08:42:00.003-04:00

Evening Update:

Dr. Chen was in a little after noon today with the wound specialist and they changed all of Daddy's wound vacs. Dr. Chen said that the chest area was looking really good. The neck/jaw wound have some puss around the edges. He said they would recheck on Friday.

Daddy was a lot more alert today and seemed more like himself. His white count was a little better today as was his kidneys. Swelling still down and Dr. Mathews (Kidney Doc.) said they may be able to cut back or even stop the lasix tomorrow provided his kidneys keep improving. We haven't gotten to talk with Dr. Keeley yet about the lung situation.

A big "Thank You" to everyone for your continued support and prayers (and a huge THANK YOU to God for listening to all of us). I know Daddy still has a long ways to go but at least we are on the right trail now and going in the right direction.

Morning Update:

Daddy was awake and watching TV at 7:30 this morning. The swelling looks much better. His CPAP oxygen had to be raised from 40% to 45% sometime during the night. I talked with one of the Critical Care Residents and she said that Daddy's kidney function is better. It went from 1.82 yesterday to 1.62 today so that is a notable improvement. The lung x-ray wasn't back as of 8:00 a.m. so not sure if any improvement there yet or not. She did say that his lungs sounded better this morning so I hope that means they are improving. Daddy seemed to be in better spirits this morning and was joking with the Resident. She asked him what year it was and he wrote 1492. Then she asked him if he knew where he was and he wrote "I wish I was at home". He did finally tell her it was 2009 & he was in the hospital. Sometimes these doctors don't understand Daddy's sense of humor. I'm just grateful that he's back in his right mind.

Dr. Chen won't be in today until around noon with the wound specialist to redo all the wound vacs. So I'll update again once we've talked to him.

Monday August 17, 2009 (Day 19)

2009-08-17T09:08:00.004-04:00

Evening Update:

Dr. Chen didn't get a chance to come back and see Daddy until after 6:00 this evening. However; earlier in the day Internal Medicine was in (Dr. Mathews & Dr. Gohar). They told us that his kidney & lung function was worse. This confused us since he's on CPAP and not Bi-vent and Dr. Chen had said the kidneys were holding their own. Dr. Chen clarified things for us. Daddy's kidney function had only changed from 1.8 to 1.82 so Dr. Chen said that was not a significant change. He also said that the Internal Medicine Docs were only referring to the lung x-ray and not the overall lung function (his breathing can be better but the amount of fluid on his lungs could be worse). Overall Dr. Chen is very pleased with Daddy's progress. Will update in morning.

Morning Update:

Daddy had a good night last night. He was awake and alert when Mom and I got here this morning. We didn't get to stay with him but about 10 min. and we had to leave for them to give him a bath and get him cleaned up. Dr. Chen was on his way into Daddy's room when we were coming out so he talked with us in the hall and said he would be back to see Daddy after the nurses finishes cleaning him up. Dr. Chen did say that Daddy's white count was elevated. Normal for Daddy was running around 8 and his was up to 13 today. Which we new he had an infection but with all the antibiotics he's been getting you would think the white count would be coming down not going up. Dr. Chen was very excited to hear that Daddy was still on the CPAP mode for his breathing. He even pointed out that it gave him cold chills when I said that. He had been watching Daddy's chart, but I guess Dr. Keeley hadn't put in there yet that he had changed Daddy to CPAP yesterday and left it at that setting. Dr. Chen said that Daddy's kidneys are holding their own. He was also happy to see that Daddy required less pain meds yesterday.

So "knock on wood" things are looking better. I will update again after Dr. Chen's visit if there is any changes.

Sunday August 15, 2009 (Day 18)

2009-08-16T11:55:00.003-04:00

Evening Update:

Daddy was a lot more alert this afternoon. He was writing on his white board and communicating very well. I was doing his physical therapy with his arms and he started opening and closing his hands and even started lifting his legs and moving his feet and working them on his own. His fluid retention is a lot better and he was not near as swollen this afternoon/evening.

Sometime this afternoon Dr. Keeley switched Dad from the Bi-Vent to CPAP. He has done very well on the CPAP setting this afternoon/evening so hopefully we are one more step closer to getting him off the machine. Once he is breathing on his own they will let him get up and move around. Which will help with everything.

His blood pressure is doing OK, but his heart rate has still been low today (49-50). His sugar has been pretty stable too.

I will update in the morning after Dr. Chen's evaluation.

Morning Update:

Daddy was a little more alert this morning, but was in right much pain so they gave him one of the stronger pain meds which knocks him out. He did have a temperature last night but they gave him medication and it was down this morning. He still has a lot of swelling and Dr. Chen has told us that we can do a little physical therapy with him on his arms and legs. He said that movement will help with getting the swelling down and he showed us what he wants us to do.

As of the writing of this post Dr. Keeley hasn't been in to see Dad yet so we don't know if there is any changes with his lungs.

Not much else to report right now, but..... that's a good thing, right?

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers for Daddy.

Saturday August 15, 2009 (Day 17)

2009-08-15T13:19:00.003-04:00

Evening Update:

Daddy's kidneys are still having some problems filtering the fluids from his blood and he is swelling a lot more tonight. Dr. Chen said that Dr. Keeley is keeping a close eye on this. He has been put on a new antibiotic for the rash on his stomach and it's already looking better. His lungs are pretty much the same as this morning, a little better. His heart rate has been a little low this evening, which they are also keeping a close eye on.

Daddy has slept just about all day. They had to give him right much pain meds today because it hurt him so much when they changed the wound vacs. this morning.

Nothing much else to report this evening. I hope things will be better tomorrow.

Morning Update:

Dr. Chen and the wound specialist were in to see Daddy this morning. Said the chest wounds look much better. However; the chin area is not progressing as he would like to see so he opened up a place on the front side of his chin and put a vac. there. Daddy does have a rash on his stomach now and they are just telling us it's a skin infection. He's been started on another antibiotic for that.

With all the medications they have been putting into him his kidneys are having a hard time keeping up. Dr. Keeley (Internal Medicine, Pulmonology & has taken over for the Critical Care Doc.) said that they were expecting this and he is keeping a very close eye on things.

Daddy is still on the Bi-Vent but Dr. Keeley has changed around some of the setting etc. and said that even though he is still on the same oxygen levels and pressure settings, that the numbers behind the scenes actually look better and that he has made some improvement. It's just going to be baby steps.

Daddy is still retaining a lot of fluid and they are having a hard time getting it off him. Daddy's skin on his arms is now starting to come off, so we can't touch his forearms. They haven't said why this is happening.

I'll try to do another post this evening after Dr. Chen's evening visit.

Friday August 14, 2009 (Day 16)

2009-08-14T15:06:00.002-04:00

After the day Daddy had yesterday things have been pretty quite today. All of his Doctors have been by to see him (Dr. Chen, Pulmonologist, Critical Care & Nephrologist). Daddy is having some problems with the trachea and Dr. Chen said it may have to be replaced. The Pulmonologist is taking some different approaches to weaning him off the machines, but it will still be a very slow process. The Nephrologist said his kidneys are doing well. He's still on the albumin and lasix in an effort to get all the excess fluid off, he's still very swollen.

Really not much else to report right now, which is a good thing I guess. Dr. Chen said he was cautiously optimistic about Daddy's progress.

Thursday August 13, 2009 10:00 P.M.

2009-08-13T21:34:00.002-04:00

Today was a very busy day for Daddy. Dr. Chen had everyone jumping.

His wounds were redressed by the wound specialist and will be looked at again on Saturday morning.

The Pulmonologist is now working on getting Daddy's lungs working properly again. They scoped Daddy's lungs this morning and suctioned them out. He also sent Daddy down to have a scan of his chest. They are starting to wean him off the Bi-vent down to the CPAP, but this has to be done very slowly. They will switch him to the CPAP for a little while and then back to the Bi-vent until his lungs are strong enough to be on the CPAP and then they will do the same with the CPAP to being completely off the machine. Daddy was put on a medication today called Albumin. This will pull the fluid from the tissues into the blood, which will then be filtered by the kidneys. He has also been put on a very strong IV lasix that will then flush the fluids from his body. Hopefully if they can get all the excess fluids off his body then it will be easier for him to breath.

A Speech Therapist came by today and worked with Daddy a little. He did OK, but was very tired from all the other procedures of the day and the Therapist said she would come back tomorrow.

Dr. Chen said he felt more comfortable with Daddy's progress now and that he had double checked everything to make sure all his t's were crossed and i's dotted. I know we are all grateful to Dr. Chen for cutting his vacation short to come back and take care of Daddy. We have all been praying for a miracle, hopefully this is God's way of answering.

Thursday August 13, 2009 (Day 15)

2009-08-13T09:47:00.003-04:00

DADDY'S DOCTOR IS BACK!! He had left this past Saturday for vacation and was supposed to be gone this entire week. He told us he would be monitoring Daddy's progress while he was gone. Larry and I were sitting in Daddy's room last night and Larry made the comment that "Daddy wouldn't be in this condition if Dr. Chen was here". Well, about 10 min. later Dr. Chen walked through the door. We were surprised and very relieved. He said that he was just not happy with what he was reading in the reports and that he couldn't relax knowing Daddy wasn't doing good so he cut his family vacation short to come take care of Daddy. There's not many Doctors out there that would do that.

Dr. Chen accessed Daddy last night and went over his chart extensively and the medications Daddy was given while he was gone. He questioned why Daddy had been put back on certain medications that he had taken him off of days before he left. One reason Daddy has been so out of it is because he was getting several different pain meds and an anti-psychotic medication, all of which are sedative. Dr. Chen has put him back on one pain med (as needed) and although Daddy may need the anti-psychotic medication for the ICU Psychosis the dosage will be lowered and it will only be given as a last resort. Dr. Chen was also not happy with the way the chest wound (incisions) looked and had the wound specialist meet him first thing this morning and they redid the chest vacuums and Dr. Chen put several more vac lines in to pull the puss and infection out. He also put in orders for the wound specialist to flush the chest wounds 3 times a day with bleach.

Dr. Chen said that Daddy's chest x-ray from this morning was worse so he's called in a Pulmonologist. He also had the Critical Care Doctors' and several other people in Daddy's room this morning with a special machine that allowed them to look down into Daddy's lungs and it also suctioned out any fluid/mucus that was in his lungs. Right now Dr. Chen said that Daddy's lung condition is the biggest concern.

Daddy does have a staff infection. Dr. Chen said that it is MRSA negative, which surprises him but is a good thing. They are pretty confident that the antibiotics he is on will take care of the infections. Dr. Chen is also switching Daddy from heparin to Coumadin which will get another IV out of him.

Daddy's kidneys are a little better, his heart is doing OK his lungs are the biggest concern right now, but Dr. Chen has called in the lung specialist to help with that. Daddy was also awake for a little while this morning (first time in 3 days) and was asking (mouthing) for water. Now with all the procedures he had done this morning they did have to sedate him quite a bit, but Dr. Chen said he did all them at once so Daddy only had to have the heavy sedatives one time. He said now all we can do is wait and let Daddy's body heal. He said that Daddy had a very strong mind and he wished Daddy's body was as strong as his mind.

We'll just have to keep praying that Daddy can put mind over matter and beat this thing. He's still got a long ways to go, but now that Dr. Chen is back and kicking butt things are looking up.

Wednesday August 12, 2009 (Day 14)

2009-08-12T16:19:00.003-04:00

We finally got to have a meeting with Daddy's Doctors' last night. I was hoping for an improvement in Daddy's condition before I wrote this post. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet.

The Critical Care Doctor's explanation to us as to why Daddy won't wake up is: "In an ICU setting if you're not progressing in the ICU then you're moving backwards. There's no standing still and when you have someone at your Dad's age, with his illnesses that's now this far into it, still on the ventilator and with a malignancy there is a chance he won't make it through. It's unfortunate and you hate to think about it, but with someone that's already had kidney failure, pulmonary embolism and respiratory failure the statistics are not good for him leaving the hospital."

Daddy's white blood count is elevated (not high, but elevated). His red blood count is very low and they actually ordered 2 units of blood to be given today. He has some rattling in his lungs (which probable means pneumonia, but they haven't confirmed that yet.) and he's not making much headway on the ventilator. The wound specialist redressed his wounds yesterday and said the neck looks pretty good, but the wound in the side of his chest looks "soupy" and they took cultures. They had to redress the wounds today because the incision on the chin was not healed as much as they thought it was and when he would rinse his mouth with the special rinse it was coming out the chin incision. They will reevaluate again on Friday. His kidneys are functioning better but are still not back to what they were when he came in the hospital. They are still giving him lasix, but he's retaining a lot of fluid and is very swollen. Which with his heart problems the fluid retention is a problem. His temperature keeps fluctuating one minute it will be 101 and 2 hours later its 98 and they are not giving him anything to bring it down and don't really have an explanation for us as to why it's doing that. Right now his sugar is holding pretty stead, but that's because he's on a continuous drip IV insulin.

So in a nutshell Daddy is very, very sick and it's going to take a miracle for him to overcome this.

I know everyone has been praying for him and the family greatly appreciates it. Please continue to keep Daddy in your prayers and ask friends and family to include him in theirs.

Tuesday August 11, 2009 (Day 13)

2009-08-11T16:01:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posting today. I was waiting for an update from the Critical Care Doctors and Wound Specialist, but that hasn't happened yet.

Since Daddy's regular Doc is still on vacation, his partner did come by this morning. I questioned several new symptoms Daddy is exhibiting and was told that it's just "ICU Psychosis".

Daddy is pretty much in his own little world now. He hasn't opened his eyes today for more than 5 seconds. However; he is almost constantly moving his hands, pulling at things, acting like he's writing something or pointing and shaking his fingers. I told his nurse this morning that I didn't know where he went when his eyes were closed, but he sure is working hard. We are getting very concerned with Daddy's diminished mental state. He's less responsive now than he was when he first came out of the surgery. We just don't understand what is causing this. He's not even getting as much pain meds now like he was then. He went 13 hours between doses of pain medication yesterday and about 10 hours today. That's not saying that he wasn't/isn't in pain, but his orders for pain meds are on an as needed basis and he has to ask for them. However with Daddy's current mental state he doesn't seem to be able to ask for them.

We are trying to get the Critical Care Doctor to have a family meeting with us tonight but we haven't heard back from him.

Monday August 10, 2009 (Day 12)

2009-08-10T14:51:00.006-04:00

Not a lot to report today. Sometime last night his O2 level on the Bi-Vent had to be moved back up to 60%. His kidneys are functioning more normally now and he's still getting the lasix to get the unneeded fluid off. We won't know the progress of the wound therapy until tomorrow. So not much improvement and only a tiny step back.

Daddy is a lot more agitated and fidgety today and the nurse told us they had to give him a xanex last night to calm him down. The nurse goes to touch him and he says "no, no, no". He's more disoriented today and seems to just be going stir crazy. Not writing on his board as well today either. He looks like he's conducting an orchestra with the way he's waving his arms around.

I hope to be able to give a better report tomorrow.

Mr. Kingery, we received Mom thought that you may want to read a note that Daddy wrote to somebody on Saturday. We have no idea who he wrote it to and we couldn't get it out of Daddy.

Just in case you can't read Daddy's handwriting this is what it says:

"YOU SAY YOU HIS BROTHER. I WAS GOING TO ASK HOW MANY TIMES REMOVED
BECAUSE I HAVE ABOUT 2,000 BRO. IN VALLEY, MASONS"

Sunday August 9, 2009 2:03 P.M.

2009-08-09T14:01:00.002-04:00

Daddy's regular Doctor is on vacation this week so his partner is following Daddy's case for him. He said that Daddy was looking good. The vacuums are doing their job with keeping the two incisions closed and they will not take them off until Tuesday. His Bi-Vent level has been lowered back down to 50% and he's staying around 96% on his blood oxygen level. At least that is a step back in the right direction. His kidneys are functioning well enough now that he is back on a maintenance level of fluids. The Critical Care Doctors came in this morning right after we were sent out for them to bathe him. They did their assessment and left so we didn't even get to talk to them. There's not really any more medical to report at this time.

Sunday August 9, 2009 8:11 A.M. (Day 11)

2009-08-09T08:11:00.002-04:00

Per Daddy's night nurse he had a good night. They gave him some Benadryl around 11:00 p.m. to help him sleep and that seemed to work. You'd think with all the pain meds he was on that he wouldn't need anything else. We are still waiting for his Doctors' to see him this morning.

We got to the hospital this morning around 7:15 a.m. We actually got Mom to go home last night! She wasn't happy about it at all, but she had the number to the nurses station to call and check on him. We also told her that if she woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to come back over here to call and one of us would bring her. She was up at 4:30 this morning getting ready to come back over.

Daddy was in rare form yesterday evening. First let me start with telling you that he's NOT supposed to be able to talk with his trachea and he's not supposed to be moving his mouth at all. Well...... the balloon around the trachea has a small leak allowing air to move around it resulting in Daddy being able to talk in a very grumble, bearish growl (only way I can explain the sound). Chris and I were in his room and he pointed to me and said "come here". He said "Bring me a pint of milk". I said, "Daddy, I can't brink you any milk. I'll get in trouble". He motioned for me to come closer and in a lower, quieter voice said "Don't tell them". I said "Daddy, I can't bring you milk". He again with a very mad look on his face, eyebrows scrunched & in a louder voice said "Bring me a pint of milk!" I told him Chris and I were going to the waiting room. A little while later Amanda came to visit him and she hadn't been back there a minute when she sent me a text message saying "Pop-Pop is asking for you". I didn't go back. He then sent Amanda to come get me, because he wanted his milk. I gave it a little while and then Larry and I went back. I guess he forgot about it because he didn't ask for it anymore. He did however want Larry and I to move his bed. We told him that we couldn't move his bed because he had too many tubes and cords running everywhere. In a disgusted grumble voice he said "Just forget it, I'll do it myself later". Of course Larry and I just looked at each other.

So as you can see things are getting interesting when he is awake.

I'll report more medical stuff later on today once we've had a chance to talk with his Doctors'.

Saturday August 8, 2009 3:49 P.M.

2009-08-08T15:49:00.003-04:00

One step forward and one big jump back.

For some reason Daddy's breathing became more labored last night and he had to be put back on a higher level of oxygen. He's now requiring 80% oxygen to keep his blood oxygen stats up in the normal range. His Doctor is not sure if this is the result of having too much fluid around his lungs or if he has thrown another blood clot since they stopped the heparin last night. They are now restarting the heparin sometime today.

A wound specialist came to see Daddy today about the neck incision and the chest incision. They put a vacuum seal system on the two areas that will keep it pulled together and allow to heal. They are hoping that this system will keep the areas from bleeding so badly when they start back the heparin.

They pulled a culture from the chest area to test for infection, but we haven't gotten the results back yet. They do have Daddy on three different antibiotics right now. Two of which are very strong IV antibiotics.

Daddy's kidneys are making very good progress mostly because of all the increased fluids they are giving him.

I think the funniest thing the Doctor said today was that Daddy's was malnourished when he came into the hospital. Can you imagine my Daddy malnourished??? You gotta laugh at that! (Daddy would even laugh at that) The Doctor did say that, that has slowed the healing process also.

Now the biggest concerns are his lungs, heart and kidneys (which kidneys have improved a great deal). They are not sure why he is now requiring more oxygen.

Daddy is pretty agitated today and just seems to be in a really bad mood, but with what he's been through he's entitled.

Friday August 7, 2009 9:25 P.M.

2009-08-07T21:25:00.000-04:00

Daddy is still in critical condition. The bleeding from his chest incision is still not slowing down, so the Doctors are stopping his heparin for a couple of days to allow this area to heal. Then they will start the heparin again. It is a possibility that this will cause him to throw more clots, but the chest incision is not going to heal if they don't do this.

A wound specialist is supposed to be hear in the morning to evaluate the open incision area on his neck that is not healing.

Daddy has become more agitated and is frustrated by his limitations and the limitations the Doctors' have put on him.

There is no change in his breathing from the earlier post.

Thank you to everyone for your encouraging comments and prayers. Daddy (& Mom) needs them now more than ever.

Friday August 7, 2009 12:25 P.M.

2009-08-07T11:13:00.002-04:00

Another day on Daddy's roller coaster ride!

First I'll start with the good news. Daddy's Kidneys are stabilizing and are working a lot better this morning. His Kidney Doctors' actually said he now has too much fluid on him and they are going to start giving him lasix to reduce his swelling. His legs are so swollen their is no definition between his ankles and his knees. Dad's belly is also very swollen (as if he needed that to be any bigger).

Another good think is that his breathing is slowly getting better. He is still on the Bi-vent, but he is on a very low setting and his Critical Care Doctors' said that they may try taking him off the machine a few times a day, but only for a short period of time. However; it will be a couple days before he's ready for this.

Now for the bad news: Daddy's white cell count is up and they are watching him for more infection. His incision on his chest is still draining a lot. His Doctor removed a couple staples from the chest area to release the pressure and allow to drain. For some reason the blood is pooling in that area and they are now worried that he is getting an infection there. The neck incision is still draining quite a bit too. The Doctor thinks that if we can stop the heparin (blood thinner) the drainage will be greatly reduced in the chest area. However; if they stop the heparin we have to worry about more clotting. So it's a catch 22 situation.

Another issue is that the flap on the inside of his chin where they basically "put him back together" is starting to separate. The Doctor said that he has to stop moving his mouth and trying to talk to us. We have a dry erase board for him to write on, but he still keeps mouthing the words. The Doctor put a brace around his head to try and hold things together.

His regular Doctor and his Critical Care Doctors' have told the family that we need to be prepared for Daddy to be in the ICU at least another 3 + weeks provided there are no other complications. They have also said that he's loosing muscle everyday he is laying in the bed and that he will need to go into some sort of physical therapy facility. There is one at the old Community Hospital or he'll have to go into a nursing home with a good physical therapy department. This information has hit Mom very, very hard as you can imagine. She's trying her best to be strong, but we can tell that it's starting to take a toll on her.

I will update again after his Doctors see him this evening.

Thursday August 6, 2009 3:37 P.M.

2009-08-06T15:37:00.002-04:00

Dad's status really hasn't changed much since yesterday. The Doctors' ordered an ultra sound of his kidneys, but we are sill waiting for the results. The Doctor removed some more of Dad's stitches. Dad does have some infection in the incision on the side of his neck. The Doctor is making him rinse his mouth out with white vinegar to sterilize the wound. When Dad swishes the vinegar around in his mouth, it comes out the incision on the side of his neck. I know it's pretty gross, but leave it to Dad to make a joke about it. He wrote on his board:

On a level headed man,

tobacco juice runs out

both sides of his mouth

I guess he thinks he's not level headed since it's only coming out of one side of his neck.

The bleeding has slowed some from the chest incision today, but Dad has been in more pain. He's been more restless and even though the bleeding has slowed his chest is really hurting him and he has been concerned about the weakness he has in his left arm. We try to reassure him that it's just going to take time to get strength back in that arm.

His oxygen level has been lowered to 45% on the Bi-vent and his blood O2 stats have been staying in the 94 - 96 range. Hopefully this is a sign that the blood clots are dissipating. Dad is on a continuous drip insulin and a continuous drip feeding tube. This has leveled out his blood sugar so far.

Again the family would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone for their kindness during this very difficult time and for all the prayers. It really means a lot to all of us.

Thursday August 6, 2009

2009-08-06T13:23:00.001-04:00

Not much change from yesterday. He's not gotten any worse, but he's not any better either. I will give a better update later this afternoon/evening.

Wednesday August 5, 2009 9:38 a.m.

2009-08-05T09:38:00.002-04:00

It's been a week now since Daddy had his original surgery. The incisions are looking pretty good. He does have an infection in part of the incision coming down his neck so the Doctor removed a couple of the staples from it this morning to allow it to drain better. His chest incision is bleeding quite a bit and keeps soaking through the dressings and gown. Most likely this is due to the blood thinning medications.

As if the multiple lung and leg blood clots were not enough for him to deal with, the dye that was used to detect the pulmonary embolism has now caused Daddy to go into temporary renal failure. To fix this they have to give him fluids, but they have to be very careful because if they give him too much fluids it will affect his heart but he needs enough to get his kidneys working again. Also the kidneys help to make blood with regards to stimulating the body since his kidneys aren't working properly he's not making blood. Therefore; the Doctors will be giving him blood today. They said the kidney function will take 3 to 5 days to improve.

As for his breathing, the blood thinner seems to be working with starting to dissolve the clots, resulting in Daddy not requiring as much help from the Bi-Vent machine. They have lowered his oxygen to 55% and his blood O2 stats are staying around 97, so that is a step in the right direction. As Daddy's lungs get stronger they will gradually wean him off the Bi-Vent down to the CPAP and then eventually breathing on his own.

Daddy is in very good spirits considering everything he is going through. He did ask the Doctor this morning when he could go home and the Doctor said:
1. When your lungs get stronger so we can get you off the breathing machine.
2. When your kidneys recover and are working properly.

We received the pathology report back from the bone and tissue they removed last Wednesday. The report showed no evidence of cancer on either end of the bone that was removed and there was no evidence of cancer on the edges of the gum tissue. Out of the 2 lymph nodes that were removed, 5 of the 30 glands were cancerous. There was also evidence of perineural envision which means that the cancer is in the nerve endings in the side of his face. The Doctor is very confident that with radiation and chemotherapy this should be taken care of.

Now he just has to overcome this additional bump in the road.

Tuesday August 4, 2009 7:19 P.M.

2009-08-04T19:18:00.002-04:00

He finally had surgery, Yeah! Everything went very well. They got the screen, central line and longer trachea tube put in. All his vitals look good and he is resting very peacefully. Now that his surgery is finished he can have his pain medication again. His chest incision was really hurting him today probable because 1.) he had limited pain meds and 2.) he struggles so much when they suction the trachea tube out.

He is still on the Bi-vent machine but his oxygen has been decreased to 60% and his blood oxygen level is staying around 94 which is another step closer to getting him off the machine.

Hopefully we will have an uneventful evening/night and I will post more tomorrow.

August 4, 2009 11:10 a.m.

2009-08-04T11:10:00.002-04:00

Still waiting for Daddy to have surgery.

Apparently their were a lot of traumas' that came into the hospital last night so Dad's surgery has gotten pushed back. We have been told that it should be sometime today.

Dad's getting pretty agitated because they are limiting all his medications (except for the blood thinner) so that he will be ready when they do call him for surgery. They stopped the feeding tube yesterday around 3:30 so without them putting anything in his stomach, Dad is hungry. He is also very, very thirsty but of course he can't have anything to drink. He even wanted to know what was taking them so long to take him to surgery.

All his vitals are stable and he is still on the Bi-Vent machine.

Monday August 3rd 10:06 P.M.

2009-08-03T22:06:00.003-04:00

Well, still waiting for Daddy to be taken for his surgery. We have been told that it will be sometime between now and 7:00 a.m. I will update blog as soon as his surgery is over.

Several of you have said that you can't post a comment to the blog. I've changed a couple of the settings under each post comment section and I've added a comment section at the bottom of the page. You can also go to this site for instruction on posting a comment:

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42399

Mom has been reading all the comments (or we read them to her). I know they are very comforting to her. Thank you all.

Monday August 3rd 4:17 P.M.

2009-08-03T16:17:00.002-04:00

Daddy had a Echo cardiogram this morning and a CT Scan, which showed he has multiple blood clots in both lungs and a clot in his right leg. A Critical Care Surgeon is going to put in a screen in the main vein in his right leg in the hopes of catching any other clots. The surgeon is also going to put in a central line at the same time. They have started Daddy on a high dose of blood thinner to try and dissolve the clots and to help prevent future clots. Which this raises some concern about him bleeding too much from the incisions. The Doctor is hoping that we are far enough out from the surgery that it won't be much of a problem.

The family would like to say THANK YOU to everyone for their support and prayers at this very difficult time. Daddy's not out of the woods yet, so please say a special prayer for him (and for Mom).

Monday August 3, 2009 9:38 a.m.

2009-08-03T09:13:00.003-04:00

Dad has had a pretty significant set back. Around 2:30 a.m. they had to put him back on the CPAP machine. He is requiring 100% oxygen to keep his blood oxygen level in the acceptable range. The Doctor said that from a surgical standpoint he is doing very well. However now there is an issue with either his heart, lungs or both. He had another chest x-ray at 3:30 this morning and it showed a lot of congestion in his lungs. The Doctor isn't sure exactly what is going on at the moment. He said it is possible that Dad had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in lung), but he is not sure. Dad's heart Doctor has been called back in to evaluate and treat. The Critical Care Doctors will also be monitoring Dad more closely right now.

They removed Dads last drainage tube this morning and the Doctor said the incisions look pretty good. He does have some puss draining from one part of the incision on his neck that they are going to be keeping an eye on. His white count is in the normal range right now so they are thinking there is no infection at this point.

They also took a culture from the secretion coming from his trachea and we are still waiting for the results from that. He does have a leak in the balloon in the trachea tube, but they said it isn't a problem and they aren't going to do anything about it.

They are also putting him on a continuous feed drip with the feeding tube because they have been having trouble regulating his sugar.

Please say an extra prayer for Dad (and Mom).

LeRoy L. Harris

Thursday September 16, 2010

Thursday September 16, 2010 12:10 pm

Tuesday September 14, 2010

Tuesday September 7, 2010

Wednesday September 1, 2010

Saturday August 28, 2010

August 23, 2010

Saturday July 24, 2010

Saturday July 10, 2010

July 4, 2010

June 24, 2010

June 15, 2010 -- Back From UVA

Tuesday June 1, 2010

Tuesday May 25, 2010

Tuesday May 18, 2010

Wednesday May 12, 2010

Friday April 16, 2010

Happy Easter! Sunday April 4, 2010

Monday March 15, 2010

Thursday March 11, 2010

Wednesday February 3, 2010

Friday January 22, 2010

Updated Video 1-14-2010

Friday, January 8, 2010

Wednesday January 6, 2009

Monday January 4, 2009

Thursday December 31, 2009

Wednesday December 30, 2009

Tuesday December 29, 2009

Monday December 28, 2009

Christmas Eve

Monday December 21, 2009

Thursday December 17, 2009

Monday December 14, 2009

December 12, 2009

Friday November 27, 2009

Wednesday November 11, 2009

Sunday November 8, 2009

Friday October 30, 2009

Monday October 26, 2009

Friday October 16 2009

Sunday October 11, 2009

Friday October 9, 2009

Tuesday October 6, 2009

Sunday October 4, 2009 **** UPDATE ****

Monday October 5, 2009

Sunday October 4, 2009

Saturday October 3rd 10:35 a.m.

Saturday October 3, 2009 4:19 a.m.

Tuesday September 29, 2009

Thursday September 24, 2009 (Day 57)

Friday September 18, 2009 (Day 51)

Wednesday September 16, 2009 (Day 49)

Monday September 14, 2009 (Day 47)

Sunday September 13, 2009 (Day 46)

Thursday September 10, 2009 (Day 43)

Tuesday September 8, 2009 (Day 41)

Saturday September 5, 2009 (Day 38)

Thursday September 3, 2009 (Day 36)

Wednesday September 2, 2009 (Day 35)

Tuesday September 1, 2009 (Day 34)

August 31, 2009 (Day 33)

Sunday August 30, 2009 (Day 32)

Saturday August 29, 2009 (Day 31)

August 28, 2009 (Day 30)

August 27, 2009 (Day 29)

Wednesday August 26, 2009 (Day 28)

Tuesday August 25, 2009 (Day 27)

Monday August 24, 2009 (Day 26)

Sunday August 23, 2009 (Day 25)

Saturday August 22, 2009 (Day 24)

Friday August 21, 2009 (Day 23)

Thursday August 20, 2009 (Day 22)

Wednesday August 19, 2009 (Day 21)

Tuesday August 18, 2009 (Day 20)

Monday August 17, 2009 (Day 19)

Sunday August 15, 2009 (Day 18)

Saturday August 15, 2009 (Day 17)

Friday August 14, 2009 (Day 16)

Sunday October 4, 2009 UPDATE