Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Tuesday Night Update

It has been confirmed. Katie will be coming home Wednesday. She had a good, although slightly less energetic day today and is looking forward to coming back home. Her blood counts are still dropping as they should be, but that means she is getting closer and closer to that point where no visitors will be allowed.

Her PICC line was redressed again today because a nurse found some blood under some of the bandages so they had to take it all off just to make sure that everything was OK. During the redressing, the IV nurse was concerned that the PICC line seemed to be slipping out of Katie's arm so she ordered x-rays of Katie's chest to make sure that the line was still in a main artery. The only problem was that she forgot to mention that to Amy so Amy was a bit alarmed when a team of new nurses descended on her and Katie to take them away to x-ray. The nurses only new that they were to pick them up for unplanned chest x-rays, but not why the x-rays were ordered. Happily, her PICC line was still in place and working perfectly. Had it not been alright, she would not be coming home tomorrow.

When Katie gets home, I would expect that things will get less interesting. I will most likely be posting updates to the blog only once each day instead of twice unless something unexpected happens. Whenever she goes to Fletcher Allen for testing or treatment I will be sure to post the results here. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read the blog, and thank you to everyone for all of the offers of help and support. It is greatly appreciated.

On a related note, Lake Region Deca is hosting a blood drive on Thursday at LR and they are dedicating the drive to Katie. I will definitely be donating. We are going to be using so much blood over the course of the upcoming months just to keep Katie healthy that it is the least I can do.

Amy and I are handling the situation well at this time, now that we are over the initial shock. Josh is handling it very well on the outside, but I wonder what is going on on the inside. He is sillier and more emotional than usual and he is having a hard time listening; but he never talks about his sister unless asked directly. We have talked to him about the cancer in his sister's body and how that affects her and what doctors are doing to get rid of it. I think he is struggling to process all of that information and sort out his feelings. Right now, he needs lots of love and support, but also guidance, rules and routines. I would like to keep him near us right now and give him lots of family time, but as he becomes accustomed to his sister's new limitations I would like to give him opportunities to get out and spend some time with friends and family, just playing and be five. I will keep you updated on how he is doing over time.

1 comment:

Miller's said...

I am very happy to hear the news that you all will be home in hrs!! That is the best news and that she is still doing so well with all her meds. I wish i could come up for the blood drive, i will see what i can do maybe i can work something out and run up to do that? I know my heart goes out to Josh, poor kid, its so hard to wonder what those little minds are really thinking and its scary, just not knowing. they try there best to understand it and its so hard for us to understand things you just wonder how in the world can these kids really know what we are talking about. If there is anything i can do please let me know. Does he need anything special? Little gift card to someplace or anything please let me know. I don't know how it would be to send things to the kids if that is alright or not with germs? From the stores and everything?? But please know we are praying for you all and in our thoughts everyday. Take care and we wish you the VERY BEST!!!