Keep praying please

Glenn had major GI bleeding all night last night. The Dr. took a look today to find out why. One of the two spots that were found Monday is the culprit. Glenn's platelet count runs very low and that is the part of the blood that facilitates clotting. So he has gotten more infusions of that to see if that will stop the bleeding. So we wait and see. He has been resting for a couple hours since he got back from testing so i have silenced our phones. I will keep you all updated as things happen.

Post-testing update

Thank you so much to all of you who have sent up prayers, sent us love and concern. We are strengthened by all. Glenn had some tests yesterday to try to locate the source of the bleeding and there were two spots that were found that had to be clamped. We just have to wait and see if it has stopped. He received two units of blood the first day and will receive more today. He is getting IV antibiotics for a few days to try to reduce inflammation in the GI tract. He will be talking to a surgeon today, but we don't anticipate having to have surgery at this point. Right now he is waiting for me to finish this so we can go walk the halls a little bit.  TBC......

News

As I've said in the past, no news is good news. Glenn has been stable for several months with no problems.  But this week he has been having some GI bleeding, and this morning he was pretty weak and short of breath, so he is now in the hospital receiving blood and platelets. Tomorrow he will have some tests to try to determine the source of the bleeding. Right now he feels pretty good and you wouldn't know he is sick. But his blood tests say otherwise. He is in good spirits and if you want to talk to him you can call him. I'll keep you posted here with whatever we find out.

Upate times 3

We are over two months past Glenn's first experience with hemodialysis and he does not want to have to do that again. It has its pros and cons, but he's glad he can do the peritoneal dialysis.
This week Glenn had appointments with all three of his Dr.s yesterday and today. Yesterday we saw his nephrologist in the morning and everything seems to be going well; his labs are looking good overall  which indicates that the dialysis is doing what it's supposed to be doing. In the afternoon we saw his VA Dr.  He doesn't treat him but Glenn gets some prescriptions through the VA so we have to see him. So really nothing to report on there. Today we went to G'ville to see the oncologist. Again, his labs are stable, meaning that the Light Chain disease is still stable so he doesn't need any treatment for that. ( The nephrologist and the oncologist each look at different aspects of Glenn's labs).  We always enjoy going there to the Bone Marrow Transplant clinic because the nurses always remember their patients and are so encouraging. I think it does them good to see at least some of their patients doing well. They deal with difficult and sad situations a lot and are always very kind and compassionate, and I know it does them good to see positive results from their work. Glenn's Dr. is  from Israel and has family there and visits there as often as he can. We knew he was planning to go last month. We asked him how that went and he said it went well, but his travel there was limited, and he had some concerns about being able to land there, and then to be able to fly out at the end of his visit because of the unrest there.  We let him know that we had prayed for his safety last month while he was there; of course he appreciated that.
I'm trying to remember what we've been up to in the past few months since I last made an entry. Really not much that I can think of. We've had a couple visits from Anne-Marie. We've been able to enjoy her progress with her new love of the violin. She also went to Africa for two weeks in August to an orphanage in Liberia that we are connected with from church. She, and the team, left Liberia on a Friday night and that following Sunday the borders were closed for travel because of the ebola outbreak. The orphanage has since quarantined themselves not going out of the compound or allowing anyone else in. We pray for their safety from the virus. It's scary, especially when you know people there who are in danger of being exposed. So far they are all ok.
And so we come to the end of this entry and I probably won't be back here for a couple months, unless something comes up. Thanks for your love and concern.

Update of dialysis

Glenn's first experience with hemodialysis went better than he expected. But that's not to say it was a piece of cake. He was really tense the whole time.  The needle sticks weren't as traumatic as he (and I) were expecting. Everything went smoothly. And they did let me stay with him today, although I won't be able to after today. They had mercy on him bc it was his first time and they knew how anxious he was about it. So we are both glad that experience is over. Now on to new mountains to conquer!

Post-Op

Yep, Glenn had his umbilical hernia surgery yesterday and he is  doing amazingly well. Tomorrow he will have his first hemodialysis (in place of the peritoneal dialysis that he usually does.) This involves 2 railroad spike-sized needles in his arm for 3-4 hours. I won't be allowed in the dialysis room because they keep it as sterile as possible plus there isn't room for visitors. So with this one he's on his own. I don't particularly like that, but that's the rules in every dialysis center, as far as I know. The reason he is doing the hemo is so that the
site can heal. With peritoneal his abdomen is filled with dialysis fluid all day, and at night the machine runs through 4 cycles of filling and emptying.
His most recent visit to G'ville for his check was encouraging: his lab numbers were good again.         
I had the second cataract surgery done two weeks ago and this one was better than the first one in that I didn't have as much discomfort afterwards as the first one. My sight is better now and I may not need glasses except for reading. I can't say it's great because there is another issue with one of my eyes that causes distortion so my eyes kind of fight each other. But it's to be expected that things start falling apart after a certain age. I'm very fortunate not to have more problems. I play cards with a group of ladies several years older than I am and I'm getting a glimpse into what my life will be like if I live as long as they have.
So I guess I'll give you an update on how hemodialysis goes for Glenn. He may only have to do it for a week, which would be three or four times, depending on how his surgery heals.

Much to say about nothing much

Hello all, even though there's not much happening here, I thought you'd like to know that there's not much happening here. ;-) We are gliding along into summer in Florida.
We did get to go on the trip that Glenn planned for in May, but we decided at the last minute to drive up and stay in a hotel instead of doing the RV thing. There were a couple reasons for that change: there aren't any good RV places near where our daughter lives, and we were trying to do two things at the same time: RV and visit our daughter. So we changed the date of RVing to later in the year. Saved a bunch of money that way. And we had a great visit with her. We got to surprise her with a violin and lessons, which she has wanted for many years. And she was very surprised, to the point of tears. She starts her lessons this week. She is so very excited about it. While we were there in Raleigh we visited the NC museum of history, and Duke gardens. We hope to get to go up again in the future and see more of the area. It is very beautiful; I've heard it called "God's Country". It is very pretty, but I guess that description depends on one's perspective and opinions.
Glenn's next visit to G'ville is in a week. But there was a "Survivors" reunion for previous bone marrow transplant patients (of Shands in G'ville) this past weekend that we attended. There were people who were transplanted as long ago as the 80's . I think the reunion was as much for the staff of the bone marrow unit as for the patients. It is encouraging to see that their work has really saved lives. The unit is very much a family. When we saw Glenn's Dr. at the reunion, Glenn started to shake his hand and the Dr. said, "We give hugs here." It just reaffirmed our feelings about where we chose to have his treatment done.
Glenn has scheduled surgery for his umbilical  hernia for the end of June. The surgeon said it wouldn't get better but worse over time and would need to be done eventually so better to do it now when it's not an emergency. Glenn will have to go on hemodialysis for a month after surgery to let it heal. I am amazed at the progress he has made with accepting the stuff that he's had to go through. Certainly he is apprehensive about having the surgery done, but he seems to be accepting it well and not whining about it. This is especially amazing considering that his belly button is the most sensitive place he has and a person can get hit for even acting like they are going near it, (as a couple Dr.s found out.) And his  greatest fear about dialysis was hemodialysis that they use two large needles each time, which is three days a week for about 4 hours. He has a whole month to dread it's approach, so I know he would appreciate prayers for peace while waiting for the day to get here.
As an aside, I had cataract surgery last week while things are quiet here, and will have the other eye done next week. I had to slip those in when I could get it done and have him wait on me for a change. ;-) And, don't tell him this, but I'm really milking it!
So, for not much going on, I'd say there was a lot to share. As always, I will fill you in on our next  visit to G'ville.