Good news, Bad news....

So the good news is they moved Abby to the IMCU (intermediate care unit) and her white count is going up and she isn't having too much pain either. The Bad news is her kidney isn't doing too well right now. She hasn't been peeing hardly at all but she is drinking a ton and her numbers are creeping up. This is a little worrisome because last week on of the Residents gave Abby contrast for her CT scan which is harmful to the kidney and an antibiotic that is as well. I am sorry but he was an idiot... Anyway so now her kidney isn't doing so well so we are a little worried. She is still so swollen in her legs and feet her legs are weeping.

Also the CMV they thought she had now they are saying she doesn't have it. So that is somewhat aggravating because now we wonder what the fever is. But also it is a relief because one of the meds for the CMV is bad on the kidney's too. We are really starting to think a lot of Abby's issues right now are from medication complications. This has been so frustrating for all of us but especially for Abby. We are trying to stay positive for her, but it is hard. We know she is going to be okay we just thought she would be better by now. It has almost been 4 months and now we are back to worrying about that dang kidney again.

But for now we are all grateful that she isn't having that severe bone pain like last time. We hope things will be on the up and up soon. Thank you to all who fasted for Abby on Sunday we know it helped.

Back in the ICU...

So Abby was moved back to the ICU in the middle of the night Wednesday night. It was a rude awakening for her the Residents that night were not very nice and just started making her drink contrast for a CT scan. They just started doing things with discussing them. This did not make my parent's happy at all. Poor Abby they were awful to her. I have to say this is the first time she has been treated poorly by Dr's but this was bad! So they decided because of her fever they wanted her back in the ICU. But she is treated very well down there so maybe that is better right now.
So they are really thinking Abby has CMV which is short for cytomegalovirus. Which is a very common Virus that most people get some point in there life. For healthy adults they probably don't even feel very sick but for small kids or immune suppressed adults it is worse. The symptoms are fevers usually at night and low white blood cells. She also has inflamed bowel according to her CT yesterday so that could be CMV it usually attacks some organ in the body so if it has to be any organ the bowels are better than her liver or kidney. The virus usually lasts 10 to 14 days. Abby showed first signs of it on Sunday so 5 days down, so we kind of hope that is what it is. Because at least she will get it over with and feel better soon.
The plan for now is to keep her on a slow IV drip of a high powered antibiotic and albumin which will help with her swelling issues. The antibiotic is more to protect her from infection because she has no immune system. Although we want to avoid neupogen for Abby because it was so bad last time. That is the medication that caused all of her bone pain. The doctor's feel that she needs to be on it. They don't think that her White Count specifically her Neutrophils will come up enough to protect her. So They will take every precaution to hopefully prevent adverse side effects. She is scared to death of it so I hope it goes well. That is really it for now. We really appreciate the continued prayers and support. We will be fasting for Abby on Sunday our parent's ward is having a fast and so is are whole family. So anyone has faith in fasting please join us in this fast for Abby. We would love for Abby to have no more complications and just be healthy again. Thank you for your faith!

This Stinks!!!!

So Abby is having major issues again her white count is non existent right now and she has a fever. This is bad very bad. As of right now they are not culturing any bacteria in her blood so it could be a virus or reaction to a line she had put in today. Her white count could be down from a few reasons. It could be a side effect from a drug she was on or a virus called CMV. CMV causes fever and the WBC to come down. But they are down more than they should be so it could be a combination of both. Whatever it is it's scary and we are all very worried right now!
The biggest problem right now is they can't even give her the medication to bring her white blood cells back up because she had such a bad reaction last time.
This Stinks and we need her to get better we need her WBC to come back up! She is so sad right now she needs a miracle so she will continue to have faith that she will be ok! Please keep her in your prayers!

Just plain frustrated.....

So it seems like poor Abby can't catch a break. She was supposed to go home Saturday but because of possible blood in her drains they decided to keep her a little longer. Then Sunday night she spiked a fever so now she has to be back on IV antibiotics and so she has to stay at least another week. On top of all of that she can't keep food down and she wasn't able to get the pancreatic stint out. The Dr who put the stint in thinks she needs to have another stint put in because it seems like the pancreas is sill leaking. This whole pancreas issue is her biggest problem. So it is very frustrating.
I just want Abby to feel good again I want her to be able to live a normal life again. I know she will I just wish it was sooner. Abby is very frustrated and feeling very defeated. So she really could use some cheering on! She needs to feel like she will be ok again. So she could use some visits. She is on the 5th floor again so she can have visitors. She really needs some cheering up and so do my parents. She needs prayers still too she needs prayers for her pancreas to heal and for her to be able to eat and for no more complications so she can get home and be herself again!

Getting better...

So Abby is improving with each day. She is more with it and out of pain for the most part. She still has a little discomfort but hasn't had to take very many pain pills. They started her on the thyroid hormone which seems to be helping a little. She is still very swollen but they gave her a diuretic to help with that and she is getting more off so that is good.
The mass in her abdomen is an ongoing issue, they are afraid of infection but there is not much they can do about it right now. It is just dead tissue from her pancreas enzymes digesting things in her abdominal cavity. So at some point they may have to go in and take it out. They are going to remove the stint from her pancreas today or tomorrow and watch to make sure it isn't leaking. If it isn't then they will remove the drains. So things are looking up but she is still needing to be watched closely. She is a strong girl and she is a fighter. We hope she still has some fight in her. I think the worst is over and pray that it will be an easier rode from here on out.
Thanks for all the prayers on her behalf, and keep them coming!

Still hoping and praying....

Abby is still very out of it and still in a lot of pain. She is having a few more moments of being lucid and talking normal but they are few and far in between. They found out yesterday that her thyroid has not been working at all. We are not sure how long that has been going on but that could be the reason for all of her symptoms right now. So they started her on thyroid hormones yesterday. We are hoping for those to start working soon. We are just afraid that the brain issues could be permanent. So we are praying that they are not. They did some enzyme tests yesterday to check for brain damage we should have the results back today. We really hope they show no damage. We are hoping that she is just out of it from pain and lack of hormones and that she will bounce back as soon as that gets straightened out.

Pain management has been involved now so we are hoping that will help. Our prayers are also with the doctors that they can figure this all out in a timely manner so that Abby can be out of pain and back to herself again soon.

Thank you for all the continued prayers and faith on our family's behalf.

In the right direction (we hope).....

Abby had a very bad day yesterday (Wednesday) she literally cried all day. I don't know how my parents did it, being with her all day and listening to her be in pain. She was very confused and seemed like she was stuck in a dream world. When she would talk it didn't really have to do with anything that was really happening.
Thursday wasn't as bad as Monday my parents were able to get a lot more answers from doctors and were able to speak to more doctors that can help Abby.
They thought that Abby had an infection but nothing cultured also she is breathing better. The reason for that is they removed the fluid from around her lungs so she is on room air now. Abby has had issues with her abdominal cavity and has had drains in to drain the pancreatic enzymes that leaked. She had a pocket that has been causing a lot of problems and that hasn't been draining very well. My parents have been asking for weeks for them to try to wash her out a little bit to get it all out. The Doctors continued to tell them that it couldn't be done. Well as you probably know by now we don't give up. So one of the doctors that put Abby's stint in and also saved her life by fixing the bleed told my dad he would fix her. So he went in and figured out that it wasn't fluid it was dead tissue, a gelatinous like substance so to think to come out of a drain. So he got as much out as he could then was able to put some enzymes in that can possibly break up the substance so they can get it out. So that is definitely some progress that dang thing has caused her so much pain.
The doctors also decided to do a spinal tap to see if there is sign of fungal infection or another infection. When they tapped her there was a lot of pressure behind it so they started thinking maybe she has fluid accumulating around her brain. They did a scan and it didn't show anything on the preliminary report. The neurologist will look at it tomorrow but for now it doesn't look like there is anything wrong with her brain. So that is good news.
Abby is still very swollen but she is making more urine today so that will help. She slept more today as well she didn't sleep at all the last few days just was out of it. She also told the nurses she had to sit in a chair. She kept demanding it so they put her in a chair for a while. That was a good sign for my parents, it is a sign that she still wants to get better. Because she was right she is supposed to be moving and sitting up.
She is still really out of it but she is having more calm moments so that is good. My parents also had a consult with pain management doctors who are starting her on some new things to help the pain. We are also looking into some other meds that have had some success for cancer patients on the drug neupogen. Which is the drug that is causing Abby all of her pain. So thanks to an old friend who answered a question for me about Neupogen. My parents were able to find more info about it and were able to talk to the doctors about it. It just shows you how prayers can be answered. I was praying for a way to help Abby then all of a sudden I got this urge to Email this friend who is an oncology nurse in CA. She told my some new info about a way to help the pain. So hopefully the Doctors will start it tomorrow, they are open to it so that is good.
Our hope for now is that Abby will continue to improve and get better just as fast as she got sick! Thanks for the continued love, support and prayers! Until Abby is more with it we are limiting visitors because she is easily scared with people in the room. So we will let everybody know when will be a good time to visit.

Deja vu

So I am not happy to report that Abby is back in the SICU. For the last few days she has been very confused and not feeling well at all. My parents took her for IV fluid on Monday and she just got worse. Yesterday the home health nurse came and took her vitals her oxygen sats were way to low about 68 so they called the ambulance and she was rushed to the hospital. She is in so much pain from a medication she got last week and she just screams and cries. She is also swollen again and so they did at CT scan. She has a lot of fluid around her lungs and her belly is infected. So they readmitted her to the SICU and started the big guns for antibiotics. One of the antibiotics makes her blood pressure tank so she couldn't have pain meds last night. We all just tried to calm her down best we could but she just woke up screaming in pain and confusion.

We are all very scared right now and feel like we are back to square one. Are hope is once the pain from the neupogen injection goes away that she will start to improve. They are draining the fluid around her lungs today and are going to try and reposition the stomach drains. So we pray that she will be more comfortable and more with it today. And that the infection can be treated. Thank you all for all the love and support. We will keep you all posted!

not again....

So we are having a bad day we were hoping for no more bad days!! So Abby has been in pain the last few days and hasn't been able to drink much and now she has been hallucinating. She is really not with it at all and keeps getting more and more swollen. So our fear is that her Kidney isn't working well. It seems like it is always something we are getting very worn out! My mom and dad especially and are at the end of their ropes right now. We need prayers and fasting for our family. We need to find out what is causing her mental issues and for her to be able to get rid of the swelling. She may have to be readmitted tomorrow morning our hope is that she will be fine in the morning. So please pray for her and for my parents they really need it right now!

She is home (for good we hope)....

She is home WAHOO! Her numbers are all very good right now so the doctors are very happy about that. They gave her some shots of Neupogen which increases white blood cells. It worked very well, but it has an adverse side effect is sever bone pain. So she is very uncomfortable right now. It is hard for my parents to watch her be in so much pain. But it should go away in the next day or so. She has been told to stay away from kids for the rest of winter so that will be a little hard. But we are glad she is home, we can make it work even though Courtney and I have kids.
We are very thankful for all the love, support and prayers Abby and our family have received. We have been blessed to have such great people in our lives. We hope for a great 2011 and for only good news!

She may be home soon....

So Sunday and Monday not much changed for Abby. Her numbers didn't come up much and actually came down a little bit. So we were a bit discouraged, but as of yesterday her numbers were up! Her neutrophils that needed to be at 500 for her to be able to come home are up to 500! So as long as they are still up or come up a bit more she will be sent home today.
She still is a little nauseated and throws up a lot so we need to get that under control but we think she will be better off at home!
So lets hope my next post is to report she is home!