September 27 – Tuesday, the day we begin the IV’s to stabilize Karen. The trip to Dallas was quite hard on her, and on top of that we immediately began the IV’s. They began with an IV of saline because of dehydration and then following up with an IV of nutrition. We got out of the clinic at about 6:00 pm, and Karen was pretty well worn out. While she was having her IV’s administered I checked us into one of those extended stay type hotels for the week. The hotel is about 5 miles from the clinic.
September 28 – Today we went back in and the administered the same IV’s as the previous day, and also drew blood for blood tests to see where she was at. Karen is resting well.
September 29 – When we arrived this morning the doctor asked me to come with him to another room, and I had this gut feeling that it wasn’t good. He informed me that her electrolytes were very low, especially her sodium. Because of the low level of her sodium, she was in danger of a seizure. The doctor recommended that we either go home to Austin and go to a local hospital or go to the Baylor Regional Medical Center which was close [two blocks] to where the clinic is. In fact, the clinic is located in one of the hospital medical offices.
We opted to go immediately to the hospital as there was no way I was going to subject Karen to the long 3 ½ hour ride back to Austin. Dr. Kotsanis called ahead and made the emergency room doctor aware of our situation and give him the “downlow”. We arrived in the emergency room at about 11:00 am, and they immediately began to administer sodium via IV. Finally at 4:00 pm they had a room available in ICU.
Both girls flew into DFW today, so once they had Karen in ICU and settled in, I went and picked up the girls at their hotel and brought them back to the hospital. They had Karen on so much medication that she was pretty well out of it.
September 30 – This morning the kidney doctor came in and informed us that the low sodium was not due to the cancer, but because of the low sodium intake in her diet. For the past two weeks Karen has hardly eaten…she simply did not have an appetite. The sodium level has to be built up slowly, so by this morning it had only raised one number, which the doctor wasn’t too happy about. They increased her dosage today on the sodium.
About 9 am the staff doctor came in and wanted to update us on info from the x-rays taken in the emergency room. Karen’s right lung is partially collapsed and there is a concern as to whether the fluid in her stomach is pushing it up, or whether the liver is causing the lung to collapse. Her liver is quite enlarged at this point, and needs to be addressed before we can even do a biopsy, and definitely before any real treatment can begin. They began to administer antibiotics as well to fight off the infection in the liver.
Kevin flew in around noon, so I went to his hotel to pick him up and bring him to the hospital. They did a CT-scan on Karen this forenoon, and we are awaiting the results.
The oncologist came in late afternoon to talk to us about the results of the CT-scan. She informed us that she only had the results of the upper chest and not the abdominal area, but she was concerned as to what she saw. The CT-scan showed a fairly large tumor on her right breast, and she wants to do an ultra sound on the breast itself to get further clarification whether the tumor is malignant.
It’s been quite the day…doctors, nurses, specialists in and out; throwing all kinds of information and recommendations…my head is spinning! I told the oncologist that we will hold off on any biopsy until we have the full report of the CT-scan, so we can make an intelligent decision on which approach to take.
Having all three children here has been a real booster for Karen, and she has been in good spirits all day.
Thanks again for all the support from family, friends and loved ones. We feel your prayers, so please don’t let up. Karen is still not stable….we are primed for a miracle. :-)
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