Highs and Lows-Part 2

As many of you know we brought James to the hospital yesterday and they kept him overnight for observation. A praise is that ever since we have been at MDA he has not run a fever. They are giving him IV antibiotics every 8 hours as a precaution for infection. Last night was quite a night. After initially getting through some difficulties with our room, we finally got him to settle and get some sleep. The nurse came in around 3am to start another round of his antibiotics. Not long after they started James started crying and pulling at his chest and throat. We called the nurse in and she made sure that he wasn't having an allergic reaction. We were able to rule that out and each of us got a little more rest. The doctor came in around 8:30 and checked him out and all was well.

About 10:30 his nurse came in to start his chemo. Immediately he began screaming and pulling at his chest. Again we called for the nurse and she noticed some swelling close to his line. They stopped his chemo and began to investigate the problem. They ordered a chest X-ray and the IV team was called to look at his line. They found out that his catheter had displaced and fluid was collecting under his skin. The IV team removed his catheter and they scheduled him for surgery tomorrow to put in a new line. Meanwhile they have had to continue his antibiotics so they had to put an IV in his arm. The first try was successful until they drew blood from it and then it blew. So they had to start over and put it in another part of his arm. When his blood came back they noticed that his potassium was high so that meant sticking him again to take more blood.

I promise this is not all doom and gloom. What we also learned from his blood was that his hemoglobin is beginning to recover(without a transfusion) and his platelets went from 151 on Monday to 266 today!!! Very good news. Also his white blood cell count is coming up. I agree with Greg when he talks about us being on a roller coaster of emotion. We so appreciate everyone and their prayers. They are truly getting us through this time. Please continue to pray for James that the surgery will go fine and that they will take him on time(he won't be able to have anything to eat or drink after midnight). Also pray that he won't have fever. The doctors think we will at least be here until Friday.

Again thank you for your prayers--we love you all!