Just got in...

We we just got into the hotel. We arrived at hopt. at 6:30 and I pushed him in the wheel chair from here to there (you remember a prior blog about this floor, that floor and on and on) and just got in. 12 HOURS AT THE HOSPITAL. I can't tell you how many days like this we've had in the past 3 years.



Well, thank you for your prayers. Jim was able to make it through the cat scan. He got tons of blood work, a nasal wash to test for bacteria, and a pulmonary screening of the craziest type. The pulmonary breathing tests were scary.



Judy, sorry, but I didn't get your message until now and my phone is dead. I will call you tomorrow, okay? And thanks for the posting K and MJ. Nice to hear from you, too.



Jim's breathing tests are worse than 3 months ago. And his cat scan has something on it that wasn't there 2 weeks ago. So, that invalidates the breathing tests, sort of. So that is actually good. In other words, the pulmonary tests should be worse since he has this gray matter showing in the cat scan.



Now, what is it? The infectious disease doctor and the lung GVHD doctor came in. They were amazing and explained everything. Nothing concrete, of course, but at least they explained what we were seeing on the CT scan and such.



The infection diseases doctor said the mass is NOT cancer. They most definately believe it is some type of infection. Viral or bacterial, they are not sure of. And whether it's there because of GVHD, they are not sure of yet either. They are admitting Jim into the hospital tomorrow where he will undergo another bronchoscope...or something like that. Pray that he doesn't wake up while they do it. He woke up twice during the procedure last time. They will not confirm by the looks of the CT whether it is aspergillis pneumonia or not. They think it can be, or it not. From what I understand, they are supposed to be able to tell by the CT scan, that's why they do them, because they can clearly see the shape of it. We did not see the written report of the CT scan. I should have asked. I know because it's a clinical research hopt. they like to know for certain, and maybe that's why the broncho tomorrow, but I hope not. Jim shouldn't have to be put through anything extra. However, knowing for certain what it is can mean the right treatment for it. So, he will stay in the hospital over night. Hopefully that will be all. They took a bunch of other tests, and gave him some IV antibiotics just to cover all bases for the small things, considering he was poke at, and needled to death, and tomorrow the scope, etc. Pray also that his lungs don't collapse from the test. Small chance, but hey, it's us. :-



Now the GVHD doctor said she can't accept him into the trial until they know for sure it's GVHD. So, first they will find out and clear this thing up if they can, and then they will head there. Despite Jim's stemcell being a great match, it CAN be GVHD. She sees it about 50 percent of the time, even with a good match like Bob was. Also, she wants to see if there is any active GVHD on Jim now. He has some marks on his legs, but the infection disease doc thinks it's bacterial, and s the GVHD doc thinks they are iron marks, so they want them biopsied. I'm not sure if they will do that tomrrow or the next day. Once all the tests come back from bronchoscope and they know what Jim is doing, they will then determine if this is happening from GVHD, and the sure fire way of finding out if it is, is by doing a lung biopsy. SIGH... But that won't be for some time.

If it is Aspergillis, they can treat it, but it's often hard to get rid of. But the docs think there is a good chance it's not that because it doesn't make sense. They said we all have some of this in our lungs possibly because it's in the air and everywhere. And Jim's white blood cells, while low, are not showing that he would be susceptible to this. So, it's quite the puzzle.

Anyway... Also pray that I get a room in the lodge. I am eligible when Jim is a patient, but on short notice, it's sometimes hard.

I am beat, physically and emotionally....Jim's coughing right now....Please pray that he sleeps.

I had an amazing time of prayer today, and some great fellowship with the Lord. I think I learned something that could quite possibly go in the "amazing" category in regards to my spiritual growth, but I'm just too tired to share it right now. Let me just say that the Lord has matured my intercessory prayer life another step...Well, maybe I've taken the 1st step in understanding truly something about prayer that I could never get, but always wondered about.
Of course that doesn't mean I didn't cry about 5 times today, but you know...

Good night everyone.

Oh, Bill. I know that you have it set that the blog is automatically e-mail to you, and then sometimes you respond to it through e-mail. I want to tell you that I cannot get my e-mail from here, so if you did e-mail me, I'm not ignoring y0u. I'll get it when I get home.

Bye now. Pray for my dear hubs. He is so long suffering.