MAJOR Changes!!

Monday, January 6th, was "Hallelujah!"

As my PleurX catheter worked beautifully after being plugged and not working.

Today, Tuesday, January 14th, my PleurX catheter was taken out, removed...no more!!

It's been quite a crazy last few days...

The PleurX worked beautifully Monday through Thursday of last week

Then Friday it showed signs of slowing down again

And on Saturday quit working completely after drawing only 300ml of fluid

Question:

Do we go in Saturday night?

Or wait until Sunday morning?

When of course I'd prefer to ignore that there was a problem and not go in at all:)

Except I REALLY felt REALLY bad!

My whole body for weeks had been feeling worse little by little

And over the past few day had felt as bad as I ever remembered feeling:(

This along with a regular fever

Tipped the scales into going to the ER Saturday night

Boy...are we ever glad that we did!

As I write this blog on Tuesday night, January 14th...

I am still in the hospital!

Yep:)

This is a summary of what has happened leading to MAJOR changes in moving forward!

Saturday night the ER doctors decided quickly

After looking at my frequent flyer history at the ER

And my extreme body pain and fever

That something had to be figured out

Rather than just draining my lung and sending me home.

What a novel idea:)

Thus began the drawing of much blood, and the doing of many tests

e.g. urine, lung fluid, etc.

To try and figure out what was causing the increase in body pain and fever

And the steady increase in lung fluid,

Not to mention that the PleurX catheter was not working!

I was admitted into the hospital around midnight

And finally a bed became available around 10am Sunday morning!

Harrison Hospital is a busy place

And the care we have received there has been incredible:)

After the many tests and many conversations with doctors

The realization was come to that the pain and fever 

Were not from any infection

Or the flu

(although anyone coming into my room did need to wear a mask as a precaution even though the tests cam back negative for the flu!)

BUT...from the cancer growing:(

It was the cancer causing my misery....pain and fever and fluid

Wow!

This after the hair sample in December indicated a slight decrease in the cancer?

What was to be believed?

The facts were becoming pretty clear that my body was saying

That the cancer was progressing...

That we needed to do something different quickly

"If we could"

Or God's timing for calling me home may be very soon!

This marked the turning point...

"If we could"

Because when Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and University of Washington

Had deemed me incurable

And only eligible for palliative care

The current treatment plan that I've been doing

At least brought hope

That there might be hope

And it has been successful for some

But seemingly not for me

As the reality that I was getting worse daily

Was becoming starkly clear

So "if we could"

Happened this morning, Tuesday, January 14th

A PA friend working in oncology

Came to the hospital yesterday to meet with Cindy and I

She again pointed out the "handwriting on the wall"

Was that the cancer was getting worse

And highly recommended us meeting with 

An oncologist of whom she thought highly

We agreed

She walked over to his office

Chatted with him

And he agreed and did, in fact, come in to meet with Cindy and I this morning at the hospital

Thus the turning point!

SCCA and UW let me go

After a scope and biopsy were done,

And it was evident my lungs were filled with mesothelioma

And I would not qualify for an immunotherapy clinical trial.

The turning point?

The local oncologist offered me the very immunotherapy

I was unable to get through a clinical trial at SCCA and UW

Even though my insurance company 

Would not pay for it!

Hope was again being offered

Out of the blue!

This is a MAJOR change

Switching from the pancreatic enzyme treatment protocol

To immunotherapy supplemented by chemotherapy

But we believe it is the right decision for me at this point.

Again, thank you so much for your prayer and support and encouragement

The past few days have been really rough

And we know there are still some rough days ahead

Remember that I mentioned that my PleurX was removed today?

It wasn't working.

My lung will be observed for the next several days/weeks

To decide if...

Another should be installed

Or

Periodic thoracentesis procedures should be done

Or???

That about wraps it up...

If you made it through this whole blog

Congratulations!!!

Dave