|
October 31, 2001- diagnosed with AML (Acute Mylogonous Leukemia)
Jan. 2002- got out of the hospital for the first time since October
Jan-May 2002- in and out of the hospital for various infections
May 2002- In remission, off therapy and goes to the hospital every 4 weeks to check counts to see if she is still in remission.
20 months later:
Feb 16-2004- cancer returns Rachel is admitted to hospital for treatment
Feb 18- had surgery to place a port in her chest for the chemo and other medications, and had first round of chemo begins
Feb 24- went home
Feb 26-early morning went to emergency room with G.I. problems and fever
Feb 26-p.m. placed in ICU because of low blood pressure which is a sign of infection.
Feb 27- infection is confirmed and she is septic, after 5 blood transfusions her blood pressure stabilizes and is released to a room
March 1- still in hospital for IV antibiotics to fight the infection
March 15 - Rachel is in remission again but starts another round of chemo to prepare for possible bone marrow transplant in early May!
March 16 - Today Rachel had another round of chemo. She is doing pretty well, just a little tired. She will have a round tonight and one more tomorrow and hopefully we can go home tomorrow. Next Monday we will be back in the hospital for 3 more days for more chemo. Then we hope to have some information about a donor. You have to wait one month between AML chemo and the chemo she will receive for the transplant. So the soonest she could be ready for transplant would be the end of April.
March 21 - Rachel is resting well and eating well. She returns to the hospital on the 22nd for her 3rd round of chemo.
March 28 - Rachel has pneumonia, is septic (Brown Negative Rod) and is on a breathing machine - very critical - please pray!!
March 29 - Rachel is critical today! She needs A negative blood platelets. If her left lung gets any worse they are going to put her in a coma and increase the ventilator for her! She has no white blood count; she is on three antibiotics; eight IV’s and in very critical condition at this time.
4/1/04 Rachel is still critical. Her fever is 102. She is swelling and the doctors believe she has another bacterial infection that the antibiotics are not taking care of; she is having some problems with her kidney, probably because of the anti-fungal medication she is getting and she is still on a respirator; her pancreatitis has improved some. The doctors are going to induce her into a deep sleep so that she can rest. It appears that she is in a lot of pain. She still has no white blood count and her blood platelets are still very low.
4/5/04 Rachel is still critical. Her fever is 102. She is still in PICU and fighting new infections everyday. Her blood platelet count has risen as a result of the platelet donations that are now coming in for Rachel. He kidney function has improved a little and her lungs look a little bit better too. But it is like putting out fires. One thing improves a little and then something else goes wrong. The doctors have indicated that her white blood count should start coming back within the next 3 - 7 days.
4/7/04 Rachel is still the same - her fever is high - she isn’t improving very much - the doctor’s don’t know why.
4/8/04 Rachel is still the same - critical. Her fever is 102.5. The doctors are going to drain some of the fluid from around her lungs today. Her white blood count needs to come back now.
4/11/04 Rachel has been in PICU for 15 days today. She is still critical but stable. Her fever is down today and her white blood count was 560 at 2:00 a.m. today, up from 160 on Saturday. The doctors have indicated that the numbers could go back down because of the type of steriods she is on. A normal white blood count for a female is between 4,000 and 11,000 - so we still have a long way to go.
4/16/04 It’s been a long grim week with barely no progress. On Tuesday, Rachel’s condition became serious with a one percent chance to survive - since Tuesday she has amazed everyone and although critical, improved just a bit - today her white blood count started out at 210 and this afternoon it is 370 with 75% of that containing the neutrophils that she needs to get better. This weekend will also be a critical weekend for Rachel and hopefully a turning point for her.
4/17/04 Rachel is holding on - her white blood count has gone from 390 to 490 and this evening 670 with lots of the neutrophils today - she is resting comfortably; her condition is stable but still critical; she is responding to some verbal conversation...
4/22/04 Rachel is holding on and coming back - her white blood count earlier today was 2200 - up from late yesterday of 1600 (remember 4,000 to 11,000 is normal for a female). Marla indicates that Rachel doesn’t look like she feels well today but she is stable and improving inch by inch...
4/25/04 Rachel continues to hold on. In the last few days, her white blood count has jumped back and forth - at one time it went up to 4,000 and then dropped back to 3000 and then 2200 and then back up to 2600; her hematrocrit has also been going up and down - the doctors have explained that this happens as her body heals itself. She has been running a fever every day and a sonogram revealed a blood clot in her spleen, which doctors believe is a result of a medication she was given. The blood clot is not in the blood stream and they are watching it. She is still on the ventilator and will not come off of it until she breathing more on her on which could be another week or more.
4/28/04 Rachel is resting comfortably today. She is still on the ventilator, iv’s and all. Yesterday, a CT scan revealed that Rachel still has a fungus in her lungs that is continuing to grow despite the anti-fungal medications they are giving her. The results are not good for Rachel. The doctors are going to continue and move forward with their plan to get Rachel off the ventilator by the weekend.
5/2/04 Rachel is very alert today - she is breathing more on her own and hopefully the ventilator will be removed on Monday or Tuesday. Her white blood count today is 5000 and as it continues to improve, so does Rachel. The fungus in her lungs is still growing and a big concern. We do need a miracle to heal Rachel’s lungs.
5/4/04 Our sweet Rachel went to be with Jesus this morning.
|
