Drain, Drain, Go Away

The biggest news of the day…the drain is gone. Brian was beginning to think it would be a permanent fixture; no wonder, after 200 days! Yes, 200! I counted from Feb. 9th when he had his surgery. There was that little matter of about 48 hours back on June 1-2 that he technically was drain-free, but he ended up back in the hospital and was deathly sick. I hope I’m not jinxing things, as I guess the next day or so will really show if his body can absorb what little is left.

Chemo was fairly uneventful, with Brian sleeping most of the time. He felt sleepy, but good, and was surprised to find out that the treatment was over already. Once again, he had great care from the AIU nurses at Ellis.

He is scheduled for a CT scan and an MRI of the brain next time before deciding to move forward. We could really use the extra prayers over the coming weeks in anticipation of this checkpoint. Brian is battling what looks some like he has regressed where his right leg is concerned, and the doctor feels it is likely the swelling. Chemo can cause that area in the brain that has been irritated previously (from surgery) to swell sometimes, so we pray that is all that it is. He feels confident that it is not more cancer, as Brian’s MRI from 3 weeks ago looks so good. It is more of a precautionary measure to give us a clear understanding of Brian’s condition.

The platelet donation wasn’t too gory, and I was able to donate two units, so my donation helped two people or one person twice. It was more time-consuming than anything, and even at that, it wasn’t that much time. I was on the machine for 92 minutes, and then there was the screening and prep beforehand, and the relax time afterwards. As far as the needle being bigger, it didn’t bother me much; and the nurse told me the platelet needle is actually one size smaller than the needle they use for whole blood donations. They also requested that I donate red blood cells; I was surprised, but said sure, that they could have what they needed as long as I could keep what I needed! She said because I am negative, they always request blood because it is more in demand. So I was actually able to help 3 people today, 2 with platelets and 1 with the red blood cells. It felt like a productive few hours, and it beat watching Brian sleep. I am eligible to donate again in 3 days, and if I didn’t have anything else going on in my life, I would because it was that easy. I hope to schedule to go back again in the near future.

Thankfully, Brian’s illness doesn’t affect his platelet count. I can’t do anything like this to help him, but I hopefully can help someone else. His lab work today was good, and we’ll see about his white and red counts next time in three weeks.

Thanks for your prayers in hopes that today would go smoothly; they were answered tenfold. Please continue to pray for Kathy, Frank, Mike, Sheila and Bryce, and new prayers for Roger and Bill.

Many blessings from our family to you,
Jenni