A Little Bit Longer Medical Update

It has been a while since my last medical update post. On February 12th I posted that God was still leading us to wait for the next steps on our medical adventure as we waited to get more testing and figure out treatment. Two days later we found out what that next step was to be. On the afternoon of the 14th the doctor told Joyce to get me to emergency at Marshall Hospital in Placerville. I had been unable to keep food down for a couple days and was feeling awful. It turned out that I had “right kidney failure” which had been caused by swollen lymph nodes creating a blockage in the kidney. Within the next 48 hours I had the lymph node biopsy that had been scheduled for weeks later and I also had a right kidney nephrostomy procedure that left me with a tube inserted in my kidney connected to a bag that hangs on the outside of my leg that is doing the job the kidney is supposed to be doing. After 6 days of kidney flushing (by jamming a lot of water into my system with an IV) I felt a little bit more human and the kidney numbers were almost back to the normal range. I will be wearing the bag and have a hole in my back for at the next 3 months. My kidney numbers are now within the normal range.

This also speeded up my time to get to my consultation at Stanford.  The next week we were down at Stanford for a consultation with the doctors there.  The preliminary diagnosis that they gave me was  T-Cell lymphoma, which was confirmed by subsequent testing.  They proposed a treatment plan that goes by the acronym CHOP.  We were pleased to find out that we could get this procedure done here in El Dorado County and only go to Stanford for consultation periodically.  So today I am getting a port installed for the chemotherapy procedure.  I’ll be going this afternoon. I'm already taking a steroid  that will reduce the swelling in the lymph nodes.  The treatment will consist of six  3 week treatments over  six months  and then we will see what happens.  The doctor says that they have had good success with this treatment procedure.

We are still enjoying staying at my parents house in El Dorado CA and are thankful that everything we need is so close. My other health-related prayer request would be that my edema would continue to go down. My body is retaining about 30 pounds of water which makes any position quite uncomfortable. Also please continue to pray for PIU. My extended time away puts a great strain on what is already a very short-staffed situation.

Thank you so much for your prayers.  They are much-needed and much-appreciated.  We will keep you updated on what is going on with our health.