May 12, 2009

I would ask that you specifically pray that Bryce can get his endotracheal tube out tomorrow and that he will do well without it. This tube is really causing him to have a lot of agitation and he is so uncomfortable with it, plus it is extremely inhibits his communication ability.

The doctors are debating whether or not to take the tube out. Some feel that leaving it in will put him at a greater risk of developing pneumonia, but others feel that he is still too sick to not have it in and they want a good airway in case he goes into respiratory arrest. They question if he will be able to fully breathe on his own with his distended abdomen and post-abdominal surgery. (He is doing most of the breathing on his own, but occasionally have been supported by the ventilator.)

The good news today is that the continuous dialysis ended. He was on it for a full week. Dialysis was very helpful in removing excess fluids waste products from his body. Currently his kidney is not working so they also took out the foley catheter. The doctors' plan is to do dialysis as needed several times per week.

The other good news is that he is down to 178 lbs - only 30 lbs heavier (due to excess fluids) than when he admitted. It is sure a lot better than the 235 lbs he got up to. However, now he almost looks gaunt in his upper chest and neck area - this along with how jaundiced he is really makes him look very ill. This morning as I held my son's hand and looked into his eyes and seeing how sick he is I felt like weeping.

We had a frank visit with the oncologist today about the cancer. He told us that Bryce's life is really up to whether the chemotherapy or the cancer wins the race. This evening Bryce's white blood count increased to 0.3. Yesterday it was 0.1. They cannot give him more chemotherapy until it reaches at least 2.0.

The oncologist said that he feels the chemotherapy is working to some extent because of the progress Bryce has made clinically and with his labs, but he had hoped that his liver function lab values would have improved more than they have. What is confusing to the medical staff is why Bryce's bilirubin keeps climbing - all of his other liver function labs have gradually improved, but his bilirubin has increase from 5.6 on May 1st to 9.6 today.

Thanks again for your faith and prayers. I hope tomorrow evening I can report that the endotracheal tube is out and he is off the ventilator.