Mon eve May 14 - Ray critical - update and still on ventilator

Family and Friends,
Ray is still in ICU and in critical condition.  He remains on the ventilator he was placed on Friday evening.  He is breathing much better now and getting good oxygen to his organs.  He is not struggling for every breath now.  That is a blessing.  He experienced issues with his blood pressure going down Sat and Sun off and on but it seems to have stabalized today.    Below is an update on some specific areas:

1.  White Blood Cells/Immune System - BEST MOTHERS DAY GIFT OF ALL - YESTERDAY, SUN, RAY'S WHITE BLOOD CELLS STARTING COMING IN!!  PTL!!  This is HUGE - we have been waiting for this so that Ray has something to fight this infection with.  His white blood cells started coming in 3-5 days earlier than most, with the help of a daily injection to help promote their early production.  There was no guarantee this would work, but it did and we are so thankful!  This is what the Drs said will help Ray recover the most...his own immune system.  God made the human body to be an amazing healer all on our own, but we need our immune system to do it!  Ray's numbers increased this am considerably and his white blood count is now at 1.5 (up from .3 yesterday)...normal range is 4.5 - 11.  They think by tomorrow it may be 4 or 5, which would put him in the normal range.  Please pray his white blood cells continue to come in quickly and that they can help fight this unknown infection and heal his body! 
2.  Kidneys -The Drs put Ray back on the kidney dialysis this eve to help remove the fluid build up in his body.  His kidneys are still functioning well but they cannot keep up with all the fluids they are giving him daily.  They thought this was best to get the fluid off quickly.  It may take 2-4 days and then should be removed.  Ray has between 20-30 pds of extra fluid in his body that has to come off.  This is evident in his legs, feet, arms and stomach...but mainly in his legs/feet.  It is also surrounding his lungs, which make it difficult for him to breathe and the main reason he's on the ventilator.  Once the fluid comes off, his lungs should improve and he can be taken off the vent.  This may take several days or til end of week, so please pray for this to happen quickly.
3.  Brain - Drs are doing an EEG tonight sometime...they are checking his brain activity to see if he might be having seizures; since he's in an unconscious state, he could have had some small seizures and if so, they need to put him on anti-seizure medicine.  The reason they are concerned is that while the lung dr was here on Sat, Rays left bicep was twitching for about 60 sec.  It hasn't done it since, but that caught the Dr's eye and he wants to make sure.  Ray's main doctor thinks this is an unneccesary test and he is fine in this area.  Should receive test results tomorrow.
4.  Lungs - Lung dr thinks Ray may have pneumonia again, although he couldn't say for sure.  This baffles me a bit (that he can't confirm) but there you have it.  He definitely has fluid around his lungs and inside his lungs, but it isn't considered pneumonia until there's infection and up until now they assured me there was no infection/pneumonia (except for two nearly 2 wks ago when he first came to ICU).  They have him on every antibiotic known to man, as I've previously stated, so if so, it will be treated with those antibiotics.  I'm praying its not pneumonia as that can become very serious when you don't have a full functioning mature immune system.  He gets chest xrays daily so they will continue to monitor this closely. They also believe his capillaries are 'leaking', especially in his lungs...this is a 'common' side effect of the chemo/transplant process and they are giving him steroids for a few days to heal this.  The down side is that the steroids can suppress his immune system, so just when he's getting it and needs it the most, it may not be as effective as possible while he's taking steroids.  Pray they can stop the steroids quickly so his immune system isn't suppressed! He needs it!
5.  Liver - the Dr just talked with me tonight and said his main concern of all right now is Ray's liver.  This was news to me...no one has expressed much concern about this.  I knew Ray's billirubin count was high after the organs were failing a week ago...including the liver.  But since then, they has signs his liver was recovering and said the liver is always the last to recover, so they weren't particularly concerned.  Now the Dr said his billirubin has been rising since Friday.  It is possible he has developed a very serious liver side effect/complication of bone marrow transplants/chemo...only 1% get this, so I'm praying that he didn't get this.  Those are such low odds!  They will keep monitoring this closely.  They should see signs of the number decreasing this week over time....a sign he doesn't have it.  There are other reasons why this number could be increasing...one is an infection/blood in the intestine and/or stomach.  Ray has had alot of bleeding (last week if you recall I mentioned the blood they pumped out of his stomach last Wed/Thurs when they tried to put the feeding tube in him).  The CT scan from last Tues showed a potential ulcer or blockage of some kind (which I just found out today and his own Dr said he hadn't been made aware of that!) and this bleeding could easily explain the high billirubin.  If this is the cause, it will resolve itself this week and start going back down.  If not, it will continue to rise uncontrollably.  There is no cure for this so please pray Ray doesn't have this rare complication and it is only the result of the bleeding.  That can be cured.  I'm VERY concerned about this based on my conversation with the dr tonight.

That's about it for now.  I have no update on the bleeding in his brain.  They cannot do an MRI due to his defibrilator in his chest, so they are just waiting this one out and will recheck via CT Scan later.  They don't seem too concerned about this as it is a 'common' problem after transplant due to severely low platelets.

On Friday, I should mention that Ray was alert, wiggling his fingers and toes, and told the Drs his full name when asked.  We asked Ray if he was in pain, and he said yes; I asked him where his pain was and he very clearly said "everywhere".  At least he was responsive and able to communicate, which was a blessing to us since he hadn't been responsive the 2 days before much at all.  Therefore, there isn't any concern about his neurological status with the brain bleeds.

I will continue to update as I can.  Please also pray for my health as I'm getting a bit of a sore throat tonight and panicking because if I'm sick, I cannot stay here in Ray's room with him.  I cannot afford to chance him getting sick from it at this critical time.   I cannot think about leaving him now so please pray its only sinus drainage or allergies and not something contagious that would require me to leave.  I'm logging off now to try and get some sleep as I think I just need better sleep.  Its hard with all the monitors going off every few minutes and the nurses coming in every 10 min it seems.  Just like tonight as they're doing an EEG at 1 in the morning!  I wanted to give this update real quick before bed as I know many of you read this and are anxious for an update since getting on the ventilator Friday.

Please continue praying fervently for Ray and his complete recovery and cure.  He has so much to live for and our 5 children and I need him very much!!   We have complete faith in God's control and healing power.  We know Ray is such a fighter and is trying to come back to us!  Now finally he is getting his new immune system to help him fight!!  Our thanks and love to everyone that is praying for Ray - we know there are literally thousands praying for him and it means so very much.  Ray has touched so many lives over the years....we know he has so much more to do still!!

Thanks again and God bless!

GOD IS BIG ENOUGH !!

Love, Teri