Yet another prayer request....

Continued prayers.
 
@Snal~ I haven‘t seen posts from you in a while. keeping Mrs. Snal and you in my prayers.
 
Keeping you both in my thoughts 🙏🏻
 
I PM'd him last week asking how they were doing and got this in reply.:



Doing pretty well, considering.
Doc is holding her transplant ransom to try to get her to gain weight. She was down 30+ lbs and the transplant will cause another 20lb loss. Right now she can't afford that kind of
loss.
I have become the calorie nazi. Doc insists on 2k per day minimum and so far I have her averaging 3200 but even at that rate the pounds are slow to acquire.
Still hoping for a February transplant, but they have her scheduled for an 8th round of chemo starting January 29th.
There have been 4 delays so far, so we're pretty much numb to the emotional/psychological effects of them now, but everything about this still sucks.
We are still hanging on to our sense of humor though, we laugh more than we argue now......kind of twisted but it's keeping us sane...LOL!
 
Update 1/31/24
Last week's bone marrow biopsy showed that her blast count had risen to 7%, which freaked us out, but today's visit with the Oncologist calmed us down.
She's had gut issues, which put a halt to her weight gain.
She started round 8 of chemo today, and the doc says she'll get her transplant in March unless something drastic happens.

It's been a damned long road since last June. Setback after setback, but we're hanging in there. Seems like our world now consists of our home, the cancer center, and the 38 miles of road between them.
 
Keeping you both in my nightly prayers. That is a long row to hoe for both of you.
 
More prayers going up. You both have been troopers! Thanks for the update.
 
Prayers up
 
Snal~ said:
Update 1/31/24
Last week's bone marrow biopsy showed that her blast count had risen to 7%, which freaked us out, but today's visit with the Oncologist
calmed us down.
She's had gut issues, which put a halt to her weight gain.
She started round 8 of chemo today, and the doc says she'll get her transplant in March unless something drastic happens.

It's been a damned long road since last June. Setback after setback, but we're hanging in there. Seems like our world now consists of our
home, the cancer center, and the 38 miles of road between them.
Click to expand...
I’ve been in your shoes, and it sucks. It was the longest year of our lives. But, as bad as it is, with prayer, family and friends to help get you through it, it will be so sweet when y’all beat it! Cindy had the same thing that Farrah Fawsett had, but it was caught fairly early. The doctors made zero promises and we were told that even if she got through it, there was a high rate of it returning. We had a fantastic family and church community! I missed an Iraq deployment because of it and I was truly grateful and amazed! It was a year from hell! I kept the road between home and the hospital hot! Then it was the road between Hickory and Winston, then the road between Hickory and Duke. It seemed like I barely saw the kids. And I didn’t have time to even mow the grass at home. That was 2005, and she’s been clear ever since! Hold her hand, love on her a lot! Pray a lot! It’s in the Good Lord’s hands, and He will see you through. You’re always welcome to call me anytime you need someone to vent to. And you’re in my prayers!
 
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Her Oncologist has changed her chemo drug to Dacogen/Decitabine today, which is stronger. This will be an IV infusion rather than the injections that she's been getting. Changing the time spent in the chemo lab from 15 minutes to an hour, and for 10 days rather than 7. Side effects are basically the same, with the addition of hair loss. Up until now she's only had thinning of the hair.
 
Prayers inbound!

That’s a T shirt I got but never want to share. My chemo was only one day a week on Friday for 9 weeks but 9 1/2 hours every session. Taxol was one of the drugs I got. Glad she is not.
 
I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but the wife is back in the hospital.
She was experiencing the typical after-chemo side effects this week but her body decided to add vomiting and diarrhea to the mix.
Sodium and Potassium levels dropped, so they put her back in the hospital yesterday.
They did a CT scan of her abdomen and found an abscess on her colon....again. Target antibiotics for that, then her Hemoglobin dropped as well
and required a blood transfusion.

Stay tuned for another episode of "A Year in the life of the SNAL~ family" :)
 
Prayers for the wife and family.
 
Prayers

Larry,
You know if you all need anything or if there is something we can do, please let us know.
 
Man, hang in there Larry. Y’all are troopers. Godspeed to the missus.
 
Prayers up
 
I hate this for you both. Cancer sucks.

If I can help in any way, I’m just a PM away. Will be in your AO tomorrow.
 
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Update....
She was in the hospital for 4 weeks, then in live-in rehab for 2 weeks.
Colon abscess had to be surgically removed, including about 3" of her colon. This was extremely risky, but so was doing nothing. She now has an
11" scar from the incision, plus a colostomy
bag that she'll wear for 6 months. Fevers kept coming back and then they found yet another abscess that was fist size, putting pressure
on her stomach. They had to go back in and remove that.
She got blood clots in her left arm, both legs, and both lungs. Legs were severely swollen and she couldn't stand or walk for 4 weeks.
At one point, two of the hospital docs didn't think she was going to make it. They were asking for her EOL (end of life) papers and asking
if she wished to not be put on a respirator. Scary crap! Her oncologist was still in charge of her care, and required approval for all medical
decisions, and she disagreed with the hospital docs, refusing to yield to the pulmonary team. She had faith that Jo would recover....and she did!
Fevers subsided, and her breathing improved enough for the hospital to release her. From there she went to rehab for 2 weeks. Leg swelling
subsided, and she was walking with a walker within 2 days.
She came home on April 5th and is doing pretty well. Left leg still swells if she spends too much time on her feet, but this is a minor issue.
We had a colo bag blowout the first night home, at 2am, that caught us unprepared. We had a sample kit of various bags and supplies, what was left of the
hospital supplied bags, and others that the rehab center gave us. None of those were the same brand or interchangeable so I was frantically trying to find parts
that worked together. Looking back, it was comical, but it sure wasn't at the time....LOL! We are much more prepared now!
She saw her oncologist yesterday, and had another bone marrow biopsy to see where we stand now, and to determine the next chemo needs.
We go back in 2 weeks to get the results and start the new plan of attack. Weight is still a concern, as she lost a lot once all of the swelling went
down. She's at 124# now, and the oncologist wants her to be at least 130# before transplant.

Thank you all for the continued prayers!
 
Continued prayers 🙏
 
Well...today her "mychart" lit up with all sorts of prep appointments for this week. Then the transplant nurse called to explain, and said that they are shooting for a mid May
transplant.
So ahead comes a full body CT scan, EKG, Pulmonary tests, Angiogram, ect., ect.
We've been here before, many times, hopefully this time there won't be any more setbacks.
We've learned not to get our hopes up.
 
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