Monday morning update

I am at home this morning. I just spoke with Jason, and he had an awesome night--PTL!! He slept well and his new pain patch is working great for him. We are seeing some very promising signs. Last night, we learned that they had started him on a third antibiotic. We are definitely going to have to get some acidophilus for him when he gets back home! With his steroids, it makes it much harder for him to overcome infection. Jason said they did not do any new bloodwork this morning. I know the doctor wanted to see his white count lower before he would release him from the hospital. Hopefully, with three mega-antibiotics, that will happen in the next day or two. Jason would like to go home today, but it might not be a bad idea for him to get the antibiotics via IV for another day or so, just to be sure, since I don't think the tablets would be as effective. We are praying that he will soon be home with no more complications arising.

Sunday Afternoon

Today's labwork showed Jason's white count had dropped some to 15,000. This is still a little high, and hopefully the antibiotics are making a difference for him here. We are hoping that in the next day or two, he will be able to go home. They are also changing his pain medicine. This new one is a pain patch, which will be able to be used at home. His new doctor does not like the old medicine and never uses it for his patients. I can't remember the name of the new patch. It is a synthetic opiate. We are hoping it is as effective in managing his pain as the old medicine.

We are still juggling the children. Right now, it looks like Kerri will be coming home tonight and a man from church will be staying with Jason at the hospital. Kerri's mom is feeling better and offered to stay the night with the kids again, but Mom is still very weak. We think she could use another day or two to recover. Please keep this situation in your prayers. It has been very hard for our kids to be juggled from place to place, but it is hard for Kerri to be away from Jason when the care he has received has been questionable and he is sometimes confused.

Sunday Update

Jason's white count is elevated to 26,000, indicating the presence of some type of infection. We don't know where the infection is at this point because the chest X-ray was good (or so they say). They have started him on a second antibiotic, but his steroids do slow down the healing process for him and make it harder for him to recover from infections. He is still coughing up bloody mucous, so we believe his lungs could still be at risk. His pain is still the same. We got moved to a private room two days ago, and then had to be moved again. The handle in the shower broke when Jason was leaning on it, almost causing him to fall and definitely causing him some pain for awhile after that because he had to "catch" himself to prevent from being laid flat out on the ground. He has very little muscle left. After his accident, they moved us to another private room, and, because of Jason's accident, the hospital is now having to check all showers in the hospital. Apparently, the handle rusted out from behind because of water leaking in, so the problem could have occurred in other rooms. Hopefully, this will prevent an accident for someone else. They have started Jason on PT and OT, and they are helping him walk around this morning while I am at home with the kids. Jason's sister had our children over the weekend, but last night her son (who is in remission from leukemia and still has a very low white count) started throwing up. I don't know what the plans for our children are at this point. Today is Jason's birthday and the kids and I are going to pick up a cake and go have a small party for him at the hospital. After that, I don't know. Thank you for your prayers.

New Jason Update

I am Kerri's mom doing another update. When she got to the hospital, Jason was much sicker than she realized. He coughed quite a bit most of the night. We are not sure if it is asthma or if it is heading into pneumonia. He also is running a fever and is in a lot of pain at the surgery site because of the coughing. They will be doing a chest x-ray later. They are putting him on an antibiotic and starting breathing treatments, but again, none of that has started. The hospital is full, and they are very slow at inititating new medications and treatments. Kerri really feels the need to be at the hospital and be an active advocate for Jason's care. I am feeling somewhat better, but am unable to be with the children yet. Thank you for your prayers for all of us.

Friday morning

I haven't spoken with Jason yet this morning, so nothing new to report there. Last night, I prayed myself to sleep because I was concerned about his asthma trouble and the nurses (seeming) lack of attention to the problem. I am hoping that they slowed down in the night and were able to monitor him a little better. He couldn't even talk to me on the phone last night because he was coughing so much.

I have childcare arranged from 8am to 3pm today and from 8am to 4:30-5 tomorrow. This will allow me to be up at the hospital with Jason at least part of each day. His pain level seems to be so much better that, if it weren't for the various other issues that keep popping up, I wouldn't be as concerned. I hope and pray that he will get to come home this weekend. It will make things so much easier on both the children and myself. But, at the same time, I don't want him leaving the hospital too early and having issues pop up at home. He did better all day yesterday as far as fever and his oxygen level is staying around 95 to 96, which is considered good. We meet the new doctor today. I am hoping to be there when he comes, since we have never met him and I want to be sure he understands about the asthma issues Jason is having. Please pray for God to work out this detail.

Thursday evening

Please pray for Jason this evening. He is having trouble with drainage and asthma and can't quit coughing. He had gone most of the day without pain meds, but may have to take them if the coughing keeps aggravating things. He has been trying for two hours to get the nurse to bring him medication and it hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile I am stuck at home with the kids. . . :-(

Thursday afternoon update

Jason's fever broke and his oxygen level improved about 4 o'clock this morning. He is off the oxygen for now and we will hope and pray that he does not need it anymore. He is still breathing into the device once per hour to try and help his lungs along. They have heard wheezing in his lungs, so they will be monitoring him diligently to make sure it doesn't turn into pneumonia. After his fever broke, Jason began to feel better over all. This morning we saw the doctor and he is going to begin weaning Jason off of the pain medicine pump. He will take oral pain medicine instead. He is also going to start solid food today. Jason's doctor is having surgery tomorrow, so we will be seeing a new doctor starting then. We have never met him, so pray that it is a good match. If everything goes well, Jason may be released this weekend.

We have had some new complications on the home front. Yesterday, Kerri's mother developed the stomach virus and had to go home. She had been watching the children up to that point. Jason's mother took over, but this morning, she learned that she has the shingles. I am home for now with the kids, so I am thanking God that Jason is feeling well enough to be left alone for a little while. It is times like this that I am so grateful that God gives us His armor to protect us and His Word to guide us. None of this has happened behind His back and nothing is out of His control. No matter how many arrows the Enemy shoots our way, He is there and we can trust that He has a plan to handle the situation.