Back in the hospital... September 29, 2013, 8:48 PM

Lee is back in the hospital to receive IV antibiotics. Her primary care physician called this morning to update us that one of the blood cultures had finally shown some type of bacterial infection. There is a limited chance that it could be meningitis so they have her on isolation precautions until more definitive results are available sometime tomorrow. She had gotten some level of relief and better rest with the medicine changes the doctors made late Friday and was pretty disheartened to have to head back to the hospital, but the infectious disease doctor that her PCP consulted felt that the inpatient IV antibiotics was the safest course of treatment. We are just getting settled in and they are preparing to start the antibiotics via her central IV but she has gotten behind on her pain and fever medicines with the transition from home to the hospital so she's pretty uncomfortable at the moment, so please pray for timely relief.[...]

An Unexpected Turn... September 27, 2013, 7:55 PM

Steve again with an update and prayer request for Lee. The last 36 hours have been the most miserable I've seen her at least since we were in New York 13 yrs ago for her first round of surgeries. I'm honestly not sure what all is going on but she has been spiking fevers over 102 and then falling back to subnormal in almost constant cycles. It's accompanied by the worst head and body aches she says she's ever experienced. It started Wednesday evening after she saw her primary care doctor and received some injections in her neck for relaxing the muscles surrounding her fusion in hopes of providing some headache relief. Within about 2 hours of the appointment she began this roller coaster ride of pain and fever. It's as if her central nervous system has gone into overdrive in about every way possible and her doctor doesn't know the root cause.[...]

Home sweet home! September 21, 2013, 10:33 PM

Hello all, I wanted to confirm that I made it home from the hospital. I'm resting comfortably and slowly returning to a regular diet, although still a bit weak. Thanks for all your prayers and messages. For those new to Care Pages, I can't reply to your notes but can assure you I read every one. We've mailed all of my scans and requested medical records to my neurosurgeons in New York for their review. I also have follow up local Dr. appointments this coming week. Our Community Bible Study Group has been amazing. They brought my hubby hot meals to the hospital each night and have continued since we got home. The ladies even cleaned my house while I was away.[...]

Breaking out! September 18, 2013, 9:20 PM

The last two days have been progressively better than Monday and I'm happy to report that it looks like Lee will get to go home this afternoon! The doctors are still cautious in their optimism due to how quickly things have changed in the past, so they are going to leave her central line in for several days until they're sure she can keep her meds and some nutrition down. I'm hopeful she will be up to giving you the next update herself, but one of us will let you know how the transition goes for sure. Thanks once again for your prayers and support![...]

A Quick Update... September 16, 2013, 10:01 PM

Steve again with a quick summary of the past few days. It has been a bit of a "roller-coaster ride" as Lee has continued to battle severe nausea and vomiting along with significant swings in her blood pressure and heart rate. Her headaches are an ever-present complicating factor but they have been able to manage those fairly effectively over the past few days. We had made some slow but steady progress in controlling the nausea/vomiting over the weekend and Lee was able to keep down quite a bit of liquids with the hope of progressing to more "full liquids" and possibly even "soft food" today. Unfortunately, it appears that a combination of her medicines given early this morning resulted in some severe sedation to the point that we've essentially lost most of today. The latest plan from the Resident who just saw her this afternoon and consulted with her doctor is to allow her to continue her slow recovery from the sedation in hopes of starting over with the incremental changes in her diet either later tonight or more likely tomorrow morning. They are also adding back one medicine she hasn't had during her stay but that has shown promise in the past for controlling several of her symptoms. So, the prayer request is for a continued recovery from the over-sedation and that the additional medicine will provide some sustained relief of her vomiting and heart-related symptoms. On the positive side, her primary care physician has been in contact with some of her specialists from New York and they are collaborating on some possible longer term strategies for evaluating and addressing the recent significant decline in Lee's health.[...]

Breaking the silence September 11, 2013, 9:38 PM

Hello all,
This is Steve....You obviously know that Lee hasn't posted any updates here in over a year now. The primary reason was that she was growing weary of posting only "down" or "negative" news rather than sharing more encouraging progress. In hindsight, she regrets
not having kept you more up-to-date on things and wanted me to apologize for her silence. We have both truly valued the continued prayers and encouraging words that many of you have offered on our behalf.[...]