Mr. Grumpy Gus is doing better. As of Saturday night he was taken off the morphine 24/7 pump. On Sunday they removed the DIY morphine pump.
His bowels are slowly returning to a new “normal” and functioning better. This means on Sunday Hubby was switched to a liquid diet. Not necessarily clear liquids either as he was given red Jello and juice options along with ice tea this morning.
We still have not received the final pathology report which is annoying. All the oncology stuff can be handled out of the hospital technically speaking. We have decided to stay at Methodist Sugar Land since they have an Oncology Center instead of MD Anderson. There are many factors in that decision but convenience is a big one. It is only about 20-30 minutes away, has excellent doctors and most importantly (just kidding) free parking!
There is still a bacterial infection so the infectious disease doctor ordered more blood cultures. It is being treated with target antibiotics though.
Hopefully we will get more news tomorrow. Thank you for all your prayers and comments. They mean so much to me!
Elizabeth
Glad to hear that he’s doing better and well enough to be take off the pain meds.
So glad to hear that things are looking up and that your husband is stable. Stay strong and remember that there are a lot of us thinking of you and keeping you in our thoughts and prayers!
I found this post from reading the prayer request list at Kelly’s Korner, and I was in suprised that we actually live in the same city.As someone who has had personal experiences at both hospitals because of an unclear cancer diagnosis and other issues, I would say it would definetly be worth it to at least seek a second opinion at MD Anderson if you can, the medical center definetly has a different quality of doctors and MD Anderson is known for being the best. I wouldn’t necessarily say that he would need to recieve treatment there, but in my case it definetly paid off to have leading world experts review my case. Out of experience I would say that you should do your own research if you can, or at least get familiar with the medical terminology that will become part of your life for the next few months.Repeat every significant lab test if possible, in my case one spinal tap I had said the cancer was trying to spread, and the next one showed up clear. They said that it was impossible for it to clear up without treatment so they retested the first one. When they went back and retested the first one(they still had some of the sample because it was going to be used for research), the lab turned up clear as well, apparently there had been some sort of lab error.Its rare, but ifwe hadnt pushed for a retest, I would of had to endure high risk chemo and proton radiation which they were ready to start the next week! Also, a thing about proton radiation- it is safer and better in the treatment of some cancers (I am not sure which ones) and MD Anderson has the only machine in the city. Also, I know that cancer treatment takes up alot of money- read up on your insurance now. Find out what has to be precertified, ask the hospital for itemized statements of your bills (I have had MD Anderson bill me for things I didn’t really recieve), don’t be afraid to call up your insurance of the hospital’s insurance department, always get the name of the person you spoke with and confirmation numbers. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a binder to organize everything in, put articles from medical journals, lab reports, and any CDs of imaging done, and have him keep this with him anytime he is in a hospital or sees a doctor. It is nice to have things for your records down the road, especially if you see doctors at different hospitals or down the road when you go to your PCP ect.they have already proven handy for me.It will probably be a crazy few months, especially in the beggining, but dont lose faith. Our God is sooo much bigger than cancer! I am sorry for the long post, but I really desire to try to help anyone who has to go through this experience with the tidbits of knowledge I gained from my experience. Your husband will definetly be in my nightly prayers! Please feel free to leave a follow up comment if you would like my contact information for reference, I would be happy to help in any way I can!
Oh and whoops! I didnt find your blog through Kelly’s Korner’s prayer list…. it was a link from BlogHer on Kelly’s Korner!