Kenny Update--March 6th

 Awesome and ALMOST unbelievable updates for today. Kenny’s recovery from this hospitalization went into warp speed since yesterday. His white cell count jumped from 200 to 1,000, the ANC count an incredible 11X what it had been from 40 to 440 and his hemoglobin that had been falling was up to 9.4 from 8.9. His ANC count 3 days ago was a whopping ZERO. There is no discus...sion of a transfusion and they are looking to kick him out of here within the next 48 hours! One of the antibiotics that he was on has been removed this morning. If his counts continue to improve tonight then the other antibiotic will be stopped early tomorrow. His mouth sores are nearly healed since his body is producing white cells again. He now has permission to leave his room (masked) and walk the hallway.
The x-ray that was done yesterday of his chest did not show any issue. The chest pains might be from sores in the esophagus and stomach so a NEW med was started today to coat the lining BUT the pain has subsided significantly over the last 36 hours. There was need for only one additional dose of morphine last night. He explained the pain as someone sticking a lot of needles into the center of his chest. All of this is a side effect of the chemo treatment.
Kenny was up for 7 hours straight this morning before he crashed for a well-earned nap. He was able to finish Bible Bowl, math and took 2 quizzes. He also has been getting as much time in as possible on a new iPad and a couple of games that came with it. He also built a bird house this afternoon in the activity room. He is REALLY feeling better.
Sleeping at a hospital is only a series of naps and the last couple of nights have not been an exception. Between the routine health assessment checks, hanging a new IV bag, getting up to use the facilities because they are pumping so much fluid thru your veins and the IV alarms that go off because of an air bubble detected or a med that is nearly finished. I think that the longest period we have slept is 2 hours. We are looking forward to crawling into our own beds and staying unconscious for as long as possible till we need to face a new day.
So here are the prayer requests - that the news continues to be good, home is just around the bend, we can catch-up on as much sleep as possible before his next scheduled chemo hospitalization next week, his body is protected from the side effects of the chemo, his strength is built up before next week’s hospitalization and over the next 3 weeks we are home more than we are at the hospital. Thank you for your continued prayers! 

 

~Ken and Jo~