Humanly speaking it seems as if Marty has made it through the most difficult part of his chemotherapy. I know we posted that the chemotherapy was completed already but after the actual treatment there is a period of time where the chemotherapy goes to work and destroys his whole immune system. Over the past week Marty has had continuous fevers, dealt with thrush and mucositis in his mouth, been diagnosed with c. difficile, pneumonia, a bowel obstruction in the small intestine. The thrush and mucositis are almost gone. He has been fever free for approximately 24 hours now and it seems as if his White Blood Cells are recovering. We wait for platelets and hemoglobin to recover and in the mean time he receives transfusions for these as needed. Marty lost his appetite (effect of chemo) early in the week and since Thursday he has not been allowed to have anything by mouth due to the bowel obstruction. He has an NG tube through his nose to his stomach to drain any of the bile that has been accumulating there. We are very happy to note that the drain has actually not been draining very much bile in the last 24 - 48 hours, which is a good sign. Hopefully they can remove the tube soon. After a few days of no bowel movements, things have started to move again and much of Marty's abdominal discomfort and distention has subsided. Due to the pneumonia Marty's oxygen saturation levels have dropped and so he has been placed on an oxygen mask. At this time Marty is receiving TPN, a form of nutrition through an IV. He is however, looking forward to eating again.
So now we are waiting to hear when the next MRI will be and we will find out what this most recent round of chemotherapy has done to Marty's brain tumour.
We thank our Heavenly Father for the excellent team of doctors, nurses and other support staff for the care that they provide for Marty. Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement!
"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. "
Psalm 130: 5, 6
"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour,
who daily bears our burdens"
Psalm 68:19
