Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

Michelle was released from the hospital Thursday morning and is very relieved to be home in her own bed once again. After struggling for over a week with only small improvements from day to day, Wednesday was a banner day as her pain management issues resolved and the medicine to get her digestive tract working again finally produced tangible results.

The radiation damage to her liver continues to be a major source of pain, and after all she went through in the last 2 weeks, her supplemental oxygen needs remain fairly high (5 liters). The pain pump that was installed last Friday is working well, and she is getting good (but not perfect) pain relief with much reduced side effects.

We are very hopeful that with continued breathing therapy using the inspirometer supplied by the hospital, her oxygen needs will return to the pre-hospital level of 2 liters, if not go away completely.

Dr. Marschke said that as long as she feels up to it, we will still be able to take our trip (we are scheduled to depart 2 weeks from today). While we are still hopeful that will be the case, she definitely needs to show more improvement before that will be practical.

Chemotherapy is on hold for the moment. Michelle was scheduled for a treatment this past Tuesday which we skipped for obvious reasons, but since we are going on vacation the week after next, and since the Gemzar caused the radiation recall effect resulting in the damage to her liver, we want to regroup a bit and discuss all our options with Dr. Marschke before restarting treatments. He wants to meet with us next week to follow up on Michelle's progress and then again after our vacation to discuss chemo treatment options.

Michelle's mom and dad, Ron and Sharon Beyer, have been staying with us since their arrival from the Phoenix area last Thursday June 25. It's been great to have them here. Dad worked on the deck nearly every day while Bill and Mom spent every day at the hospital with Michelle. Yesterday Bill helped Dad finish the decking, so the project is almost complete! Only the steps and railing remain.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and the notes, emails, flowers, and other good wishes you sent our way during this latest ordeal.

Love,
Bill & Michelle