Guest guest Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Hello dear friends, Sorry I have been remiss in posting....too much happening in our lives. Bob will be having open heart surgery on Thur 7/28, to replace the aortic heart valve. I'm sure he'll be fine. Should be in the hospital for 5-6 days, I'm told. His son and my two daughters will be there with us, so I am thankful for that. Bob is still having to have transfusions. He was in the hospital last week overnight and was given 3 units of blood. His HGB was at 4.2 and HCT was 13.3! The transfusions put him up to 10 and 33.1. The dr said this is being caused by the meds he takes for the high platelets. Since they suppress the platelets, they also suppress other blood making factors. He is currently on 8 mg Anagrylide and 1000 mg Hydroxyurea. When he was at UCLA on 7/11, his platelets were 1381, so that's when Dr Sawyers added the HU. He also had 2 units transfused on 7/6, when he was hospitalized because of another small stroke. So our hope is that once his heart is fixed and there is enough oxygen getting to his brain these small strokes will cease. They last about 24-30 hrs, and he cannot remember his name or mine and has difficulty walking, etc. Not really full blown strokes, but all the symptoms are there. So that's where we are at this point. All prayers welcome!! And we do know that they help. Another thing going on in our lives is his daughter, Connie, who has colon cancer metastasized to the liver. We took her to UCLA and they admitted her for 10 days and tried everything to help her, but nothing could be done. The tumors are too great in the liver, so they cannot do surgery or anything. She has a drainage tube in her stomach and another one in the abdominal cavity, because her liver is non functioning, and she is very swollen. She cannot eat anything except liquids, ice and popcicles. She is home now (at her brother's) and is on Hospice Care, which has been fantastic. Our daughter-in-law, , has been Connie's caregiver and I'm going to recommend her for saint hood. She has given her all to take care of Connie. I'm kind of glad that Bob's mind is in the condition it is because maybe it won't hurt so much when Connie is gone. She is his little baby girl. I tell him everything that is going on but I'm not sure how much is getting through. So that's how it is with us. I will try to let you know how the surgery goes when we get back home. It's taking place in Bakersfield, about 2 hrs from here, so I'll be staying in a hotel near the hospital with no internet! So congratulations to all who have had good news lately and hang in there to all the others! I'm sorry that I don't have time to respond to all the emails that I would like to. blessed be love and hugs to all nancy w inyokern ca temp 116 deg!!! ============================================================ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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