And the crowd goes wild....

It's been mentioned by many of the masses that it's been a while since I sent out an update...Sorry!!! Lots of excuses but the fact is, I've been purely lazy, therefore it's a pretty long one...it's also late, and I'm tired so it might include some totally random stuff.

Three hospital stays in less than three months definitely took a toll on us, but, I believe we're beginning to get back on an even keel.

Tuesday (Dec 15), we had a bit of a disconcerting report from Dr. A regarding Ron's labs from the previous day. Once again his potassium was way too high (6.1) and his glucose was too low (46). The only variable we could come up with is being back on Heparin therefore Dr. A discontinued his 3xdaily Heparin injections and did another blood draw that Wednesday (16th); results showed everything back to normal. CRAZY! Dr. A decided until we can come up with another plan, Ron is to stay off the Heparin. The following Monday's labs were completely normal.

It's such a fine balance when you live on TPN, the delicate intricacies of our bodies that God created, man has a hard time replicating. Add on Ron's penchant to develop blood clots and having so many side effects develop due to blood thinners brings on a heightened level of complication.
Here's the problem:
blood clots can be deadly, optimally requiring some type of blood thinner therapy
BUT, Ron's body doesn't metabolize oral blood thinners properly; he develops hematomas with subcutaneous Lovenox (blood thinner) injections and now we find Heparin (blood thinner) administered through his PICC seems to elevate his potassium level as well as decrease his glucose level.
So...it's back to the drawing board for Dr. A and Dr. M as everyone holds their breath and prays fervently that Ron will not develop any clots while off blood thinners. I must say though, it's been a great break for both of us; this means 3 less times a day that I have to flush, inject therapeutic Heparin, flush again, and inject heparin lock. Not that I'm counting...but that's 12 less syringes I have to deal with each day!

Wednesday, December 16, Ron had his appointment with the neurosurgeon at UT Southwestern. Dr. S is referred to as the "cowboy" of neurosurgeons (the preeminent neurosurgeon around with his training being with the best of the best, in Zurich). We felt very comfortable and confident of his assessment. Diagnosis: he definitely has an abnormality (That's my guy AB-normal!) but it is under 5mm, therefore, Dr. S feels good about doing nothing other than to continue to monitor for a while. Ron will go back in a year for testing to see if there are any changes. As long as things remain stable, he'll continue to go yearly (for several years) and as long as things stay the same, after these several years the time frame will then be lengthened. Even though Ron has a history of aneurysms, this will not effect the course of treatment. Aneurysms in the brain are totally unique from aneurysms in any other part of the body. They share the same name but the characteristics, the way they act and grow are completely different.
(By the way, this has absolutely nothing to do with why he passed out Thanksgiving.)

On Friday, December 18, he had his followup with Dr. A who was happy to see that he has pretty much regained all the weight he had lost during the last few months. We talked more about the importance of Ron concentrating on physical therapy and healing therefore the recommendation is to take a much lighter load this next semester, keeping his body from becoming overly fatigued and hopefully helping to keep his immune system up so that he doesn't have any crazy medical episodes.

Christmas preparations and celebrations have kept us busy. We've really enjoyed spending time with various family members, yet pacing ourselves by also getting a lot of R&R. We've slept in alot, taken naps and even spent all day in our jammies once...it's been GLORIOUS! The first couple of days of my break, when the weather was wonderfully warm, I was able to enjoy getting outside to catch up on some much-needed yard work. And, of course, the Christmas Eve snowstorm ushering in a White Christmas was great!

That's our recap of the last few weeks...other than the little glitch with heparin-induced potassium and glucose problems, they've been pretty good ones. Busy, but good. Ron does continue to have yakking episodes, although he had a stretch of 7 days (woo hoo!) without yakking, it's been back to daily for the last 4 or 5 days :(

I was super-excited to be able to post on my facebook Dec 26th that we were home therefore breaking our "holiday hospital" streak! We're planning on going 2 for 2 with New Year's Eve coming up, so please join us in praying for a continued medically uneventful Christmas/New Year's season.

Blessings to you!!
Christie

PS: Please know we LOVE receiving your cards, e-mails, texts, facebook messages, etc. You are all so encouraging to us and I am such a slacker for not returning, but, what can I say....life often gets in the way of our best intentions. Please know YOU are VERY MUCH appreciated!!!