It's been nearly a week since James's upper endoscopy. In the meantime, we hosted old friends of ours that we've known and ministered with for nearly fifteen years (!) and celebrated two family birthdays (complete with themed parties - woot!). There's been a lot of fun...and sugar...packed in to the last few days.
Prior to James's endoscopy, the doctor told us that he really had no way of knowing the extent of damage to James's esophagus. Due to radiation, he expected James to have multiple ulcers up and down the length of his esophagus, and he expected his esophagus to need stretching as well. Unfortunately, when your esophagus shrinks as a result of radiation, you don't get the normal one time fix. Instead, after your esophagus has been stretched, it is only a matter of months before it needs stretched again...and then will need to be stretched again..and again. But, ever the compassionate doctor, he reassured James we'd just go in an have a look and go from there.
About twenty minutes later, James was wheeled back in to the pre-op hospital room with the doctor - who has only ever communicated deep sympathy to James for having to go through this whole ordeal - who now was emoting relieved happiness.
As it turned out - James has very minimal damage to his esophagus at this point. Because of minimal scarring, he does not need to have his esophagus stretched (now or in the future). Furthermore, instead of multiple ulcers, he only has one. One.
Happy day.
So, James will keep on high doses of prilosec for the next two months or so, which will allow the ulcer to heal. Again, because of radiation, this type of ulcer has fairly extensive/deep tissue damage and can take up to 3 months to heal. Of course, we're praying that it will be faster than that.
We remain thankful for all that God has healed James of thus far, and continue to trust that in time He will bring about complete healing. James's PET/CT will be May 7th...continue to pray that it's a good looking, clean scan free of flesh eating bacteria and deadly tumors.
Thanks for checking in with us...Have a great week!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
The Tale of the Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Sorry for not posting in a while - it has been a bit of a crazy ride these past few weeks! I have been helping my parents with spring lambing season, which means everything from pregnancy checking ewes (my "extensive" obstetrics knowledge coming in handy!) to bottle feeding lambs to laying over 1000 square feet of sawdust with a pitchfork to ear-tagging over 300 lambs. In the midst of all that, I also went to Vermont for a few days to participate in a bakery training course at King Arthur Flour Bakery (and to see a part of the country that is even more rural than Indiana).
James, meanwhile, has had his own share of crazy. First, he got the flu. Then, he started coughing up blood...kinda lots. (But apparently, on a relative scale of "Is it cups?" says the doctor, maybe not so much?!) So, while I was in Vermont, he went to the ER and then stayed in the hospital for 5 days while doctors tried to figure out what on earth he had. He was checked out for TB (we doubt it) and pneumonia (we think so). He was placed on IV antibiotics and responded well to the antibiotic, so the doctors have decided it's pneumonia, despite James's lack of more common symptoms (fatigue and fever).
Here's where it gets interesting - based on the CT done at the hospital, it looks like James has something called "cavitary pneumonia" which means that the pneumonia is creating cavities (holes) in his lung tissue. It's also known as "necrotizing pneumonia" which "refers to a pneumonia characterised by the development of the necrosis within infected lung tissue." That is to say - James has a flesh eating bacteria in his lungs. Yowza.
We met with the pulmonologist yesterday who has placed James back on antibiotic (he felt his initial course from the hospital was too short) and will follow up with a PET/CT at the beginning of May. He expects the cavities to get bigger before James gets better. After the scan, if James is not better, the pulmonologist will scope to see "what is growing down in there." Other options are - an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria, tuberculosis, a fungal infection, or squamous cell carcinoma. (Hey! We had that before!) The pulmonologist was quick to say that he does believe that it is bacterial and that this current round of antibiotics should kick it.
We were able to discuss the degree to which James's health is cancer-related. The pulmonologist believes that James's illness is related to cancer treatment - radiation knocks you down and makes you susceptible to infection. We were "glad" to hear that he had several other patients (who did not have cancer) with this same type of pneumonia in recent months. ("And one guy was WAY worse than you, James!") [And in truth - part of the problem with James's diagnosis in the hospital was that he just seemed too healthy to have pneumonia.]
So, to sum up & let you know what's on the horizon for us, here are a few things to pray for
*Pray that James's lungs respond well to the antibiotic, that it IS a flesh-eating bacteria (because there are things that are actually worse!), and that the health of his lungs would stabilize/continue to improve.
*Give thanks that James IS getting better! James is still coughing, though he is so much better than just a few weeks ago. He is regularly sleeping through the night now, is regaining energy, has a normal appetite, and is able to eat without any pain. Huge praises! We are so thankful for God's kindness and healing...
*James will have an upper endoscopy on April 15th. So while you're mailing in your taxes, ask that the doctor would be able to clearly assess damage in James's esophagus. It is possible, due to radiation, that his esophagus will need stretched in order to return to its former (proper) size. Ask that the scope doesn't cause any further damage and that healing will come.
*Pray that the upcoming PET/CT will be knock-your-socks-off fantabulous. (Is that too much to ask?!) The scan will show the extent of his radiation pneumanitis, the cavities from the flesh eating bacteria (is it better?), and...cancer. Let's hope for nothing new and everything better. Let's ask for another "unbelievable" scan. We would like that, anyway. Pray too that the scan will give the doctors (and us) very clear direction for next steps. (Like, "You're free and clear, pack your bags!" would be nice...)
Thank you, all, for your continued prayers...as we continue to persevere through this we are blessed to know that so many of you continue to persevere in prayer on our behalf. If we keep on asking, He will hear and will, at some point, answer (Luke 18).
James, meanwhile, has had his own share of crazy. First, he got the flu. Then, he started coughing up blood...kinda lots. (But apparently, on a relative scale of "Is it cups?" says the doctor, maybe not so much?!) So, while I was in Vermont, he went to the ER and then stayed in the hospital for 5 days while doctors tried to figure out what on earth he had. He was checked out for TB (we doubt it) and pneumonia (we think so). He was placed on IV antibiotics and responded well to the antibiotic, so the doctors have decided it's pneumonia, despite James's lack of more common symptoms (fatigue and fever).
Here's where it gets interesting - based on the CT done at the hospital, it looks like James has something called "cavitary pneumonia" which means that the pneumonia is creating cavities (holes) in his lung tissue. It's also known as "necrotizing pneumonia" which "refers to a pneumonia characterised by the development of the necrosis within infected lung tissue." That is to say - James has a flesh eating bacteria in his lungs. Yowza.
We met with the pulmonologist yesterday who has placed James back on antibiotic (he felt his initial course from the hospital was too short) and will follow up with a PET/CT at the beginning of May. He expects the cavities to get bigger before James gets better. After the scan, if James is not better, the pulmonologist will scope to see "what is growing down in there." Other options are - an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria, tuberculosis, a fungal infection, or squamous cell carcinoma. (Hey! We had that before!) The pulmonologist was quick to say that he does believe that it is bacterial and that this current round of antibiotics should kick it.
We were able to discuss the degree to which James's health is cancer-related. The pulmonologist believes that James's illness is related to cancer treatment - radiation knocks you down and makes you susceptible to infection. We were "glad" to hear that he had several other patients (who did not have cancer) with this same type of pneumonia in recent months. ("And one guy was WAY worse than you, James!") [And in truth - part of the problem with James's diagnosis in the hospital was that he just seemed too healthy to have pneumonia.]
So, to sum up & let you know what's on the horizon for us, here are a few things to pray for
*Pray that James's lungs respond well to the antibiotic, that it IS a flesh-eating bacteria (because there are things that are actually worse!), and that the health of his lungs would stabilize/continue to improve.
*Give thanks that James IS getting better! James is still coughing, though he is so much better than just a few weeks ago. He is regularly sleeping through the night now, is regaining energy, has a normal appetite, and is able to eat without any pain. Huge praises! We are so thankful for God's kindness and healing...
*James will have an upper endoscopy on April 15th. So while you're mailing in your taxes, ask that the doctor would be able to clearly assess damage in James's esophagus. It is possible, due to radiation, that his esophagus will need stretched in order to return to its former (proper) size. Ask that the scope doesn't cause any further damage and that healing will come.
*Pray that the upcoming PET/CT will be knock-your-socks-off fantabulous. (Is that too much to ask?!) The scan will show the extent of his radiation pneumanitis, the cavities from the flesh eating bacteria (is it better?), and...cancer. Let's hope for nothing new and everything better. Let's ask for another "unbelievable" scan. We would like that, anyway. Pray too that the scan will give the doctors (and us) very clear direction for next steps. (Like, "You're free and clear, pack your bags!" would be nice...)
Thank you, all, for your continued prayers...as we continue to persevere through this we are blessed to know that so many of you continue to persevere in prayer on our behalf. If we keep on asking, He will hear and will, at some point, answer (Luke 18).
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