The Impatient Patient

      As we finish an entire month inpatient here at Huntsman, its been another long week and we are still in the ICU.  Chris is growing increasingly impatient and super eager to get home.    A sign to me that he is feeling more himself.   I hope that getting home will be possible soon, but unfortunately I think we still have a ways to go.   His body has so much to recover from and healing takes time.   

      We thought we would move from the ICU on Monday but his kidney's still needed more TLC.   He was on the continuous (CRRT) dialysis for most of the week.   On Thursday they took him down to IR and replaced the line in his neck for a tunneled line.   Something that is more comfortable and poses less infection risk.   With the new line this afternoon they have been doing traditional dialysis and mentioned likely will return tomorrow.   His blood pressure is still on the low side so they haven't been able to remove as much fluid as they would like, but he was able sleep peacefully through it.  

     He has slowly been working his way down on number of tubes and IV's.   On Wednesday night they removed his feeding tube.   He doesn't have much of an appetite so I keep trying to encourage him to eat.   He will spend forever looking over the menu, but nothing sounds good and he only eats a bite or two.   At one point he was disconnected from all IV's.   It didn't last long, but it was a milestone.  

     As an expected side affect of the chemo,  he has needed three units of blood this week and likely will need more.   This is such an important part of his treatment and we are grateful for the amazing people who donated so he could have this precious infusion.   I know there are so many people who want to help.   It would be AMAZING if there were people reading this who could donate blood.   It doesn't go matter that it can't go to Chris specifically,  just having people donate so that that this life saving treatment is available for others who also need it would be a blessing.   

       They ran his myeloma markers earlier this week, but they take several days to come back.    They run a TON of labs while in the ICU (no wonder he needs blood).  Because of the blessing of technology we have access them quite quickly in an app.   I've been anxious each time a notification pops up that a test result is available.    This afternoon they popped in.   His light chains were at just over 1000 on 9/9, climbed to 1600 on the 9/15 and then 3100 on 9/22.   On 9/28 they are down to 815.   Whew!    Still high, but a huge improvement in just a week.  

     As well, today for the first time in almost two weeks.   Chris was able to put his feet on the ground and stand.    This months challenge knocked us both off our feet, but little by little he is overcoming some immense challenges.    Hopefully the coming days will allow rest and healing,  so that he can gain the strength needed to return home.