Monday, August 04, 2008

Update on Barb . . . Please Pray!

This is an update from Barb's husband Duke that was posted on her CarePage:

Good evening everyone,

It is very late here about 11:30 PM and I just came back from Sartori Hospital where Barb has been admitted for overnight and possibly for an additional night or two.

This morning Barb was feeling very nauseous and began to experience some adominal & lower back pain. This pain was different in location and intensity from the pain from last week. She was not able to keep any food down or any of her medicine for chemo or pain. Barb called Dr. Masri (chemo doctor)who told her that if the pain got worse to go to the emergency room. The pain intensified in the early afternoon and when I asked her to rate her pain on a the scale of 1-10. She said it was a 9. So we immediately went to Sartori and after what seemed like forever, we finally was able to get Barb some pain medication. After several hours the doctor determined that he wanted some X-Rays. Initially from the results the doctor thought Barb may a stool blockage and that was causing the pain. Again more waiting, then doctor wanted a CAT-SCAN. In order to do the CAT-SCAN you have to drink this contrast stuff so the CAT-SCAN pictures will be clear. After drinking it, Barb threw it up 5 minutes later. More waiting, then after some more time and taking the contrast more slowly, Barb was able to keep enough down to do the CAT-SCANS.

More waiting for the results to be send out to be read. The results came back that Barb has an enlarged tissue area around the gallbladder and duoaudenum. This was more than likely caused by the growth of the lymph nodes in Barb's mid-section. So Barb had an NG tube placed through her nose and down her throat into her stomach to drain the stomach of any secretions and to give her bowel a break. In order for what the doctor called "to give time for that area to quiet down."

I will keep you all updated as soon as I have additional information. Barb has specifically requested no visitors. But your prayers and well wishes are certainly welcomed and definitely appreciated!

All for now.

Love, Duke

1 Comments:

At 10:40 PM, Blogger debbie said...

Good evening everyone,

This is Duke again. First of all thank you for all of your support for us and Barb in particular. I have printed off all of your messages for her to read and they are a source of encouragement.

Not much new information today. The doctors are speculating on what may be the problem. Barb's cancer doctor thinks the pain in Barb's back is muscle related, which if that is the case would be a good thing. He also said it may be a urinary tract infection. One thing for sure is that noone has any solid answers. Barb was able to drink a 1/2 cup of chicken broth and keep it down even after the nurse had turned off her NG tube for about an hour or so. This tube suctions anything out of the stomach. The doctors are starting to wean Barb off of the pain medication. Barb will not be released if she is still dealing with pain & nausea so it could easily be another night or two in the hospital.

Obviously I will keep you all posted on any important developments. Lastly thank you all for your prayers, we can't even begin to tell you how much it means to us!

Love, Duke

 

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