Talc is in

The talc slurry was placed in the chest tube at 10:40a this morning.  Derek felt some achy pain, so he was given fentanyl through his IV for that.  He is resting comfortably now on his back. The schedule that follows goes like this...

11:10a. Move to left side
11:40a. Move to right side
12:10p. Up to chair, receive Motrin and norco for pain
12:40p. Take a short walk and then hook up suction for next 24 hrs.

Saturday at 12:45p unhook suction

Get 2 chest x-rays at different points to see how it's working.  If it looks good, pull tube out and monitor for a few hours.  Then, go home.  I expect we might get home Sunday if everything goes well.  A little 10th anniversary party is planned for us here at the hospital at 4p Saturday which we are looking forward to.  We hope you all have a nice weekend!  Our children sing in the church Easter program Sunday night, so they are looking forward to that.

Love to all,
Leann

Better spirits

I'm feeling better today.  Leann and I talked this morning and I realized what had happened over the last couple days.  I think I had given up in my mind and lost my positive outlook.  It wasn't helped when before the tube insertion procedure the dr asked about a DNR order.  It was something Leann and I had talked about before which wasn't hard then but telling someone else was hard.  So Leann kind of set me straight this morning that I can't give up.  Even though there are things I can't do, there are still things I can do.  My mind is still working.  I am not in any constant pain.  I have many reasons to be thankful.  I'm on a different floor this time but once again the cleaning lady has been an inspiration too.  It's kind of amazing how someone doing the lowest job from mans perspective can be fully persuaded that God is in control.  You couldn't have talked these ladies out of their faith if you had all day.

And then I've had a few visitors this morning and that always helps to get me thinking more about the future and less about my current challenges.

So thanks to all of you who haved prayed for us in recent days.  May God bless you and just continue to pray that God will direct our attitudes and hearts through any difficulties that lie ahead.

Derek & Leann

Pneumothorax reoccurred

Dear loved ones,

We are back in OSF and another chest tube is in, larger this time with plans to have a pleurodesis procedure using talc to "stick" the lung to the chest wall.  They are estimating we will be here until the weekend.  Derek is down.  Hard to find another way to say it.  Please pray for his attitude.  He doesn't want to be here, but God is faithful.

They tell him the goal for the inspirometer is 1,000 and he can only get it to 100....then 2 hrs later (on the suction), he can do 250.

Our biggest question is where his dry cough is coming from that seems to have set off this string of pneumothorax episodes.  Still no answer for that.  He has had a cough from New Years on.  It became congested the end of January.  The mucus cleared up with prescription cough medicines, but the cough continued and was really often and wearing him out this weekend while we were home.  The cough completely stops while the chest tube is in.  We believe the hyperbaric oxygen treatments could have made his lung susceptible to a pneumothorax, too.

We have mayo clinic appointments in 2 weeks (MRIs, PET scan, hearing test, 2 different oncologists- neuro and medical).  Hopefully, we will get that answered.  I feel like a detective these days.

Thank you for your love and prayers and advice.
Love,
Leann

Home

We got home Saturday afternoon. The Fri afternoon and Sat morning xrays looked good, so they let me go. We are just praying now that I can recover my strength and nothing with the lung goes backwards.

Today the kids went to church without Leann and I.  Thanks to everyone who watched them today.  We are hoping for a relaxing evening together as a family.  I think we will have a few visitors tonight.

Thanks everyone for your prayers through all of this.  It really helped.  I could tell I was not as discouraged as I would have been otherwise.

Derek & Leann

Chest tube is out

Dr verma, pulmonologist, just pulled the chest tube out with 2 residents observing.  It only took a second, and now we wait until around 430p to get another X-ray.  We may get to go home tomorrow...depending.  We appreciate continued prayers for Derek's lungs.

Leann

Thurs morning

We are still at OSF.  This morning the X-ray of the lung looked good.  It looks fully inflated.  They have turned the suction off, water seal on.  Tomorrow, we will have another X-ray.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

We sleep pretty good here.  We are looking forward to singers tonight at 7.  Derek's spirits have been up, and he has been walking with the walker a few times.

Love to all,
Leann

Wednesday update

My left lung did not totally reinflate but it's pretty close, say about 90%.  So Dr Verma decided to give it another day to try and inflate on its own before deciding to do surgery.  My pain is a lot better today, we finally got on a regimen and that is helping.  I made two short walks in the hall so that is a big milestone.

Thanks for everyone who has come to visit.  In general I am feeling up to it.  It does help my spirits to have plenty of people to talk with and Leann doesn't feel as bad leaving for a bit.

Wesley & Lainey came for a while this afternoon.  It was good to see them.

Thanks for your prayers,

Derek & Leann