April 20th......Charmaine back in Hospital

Things change so fast with all the possible effects that the chemo can have on the immune system.

Sunday night about midnight she woke me and said she was smothering and was having a hard time breathing. Her temperature had been fluctuating a bit 1 or 2 degrees and had my attention. That was enough for me to take her to the emergency room so we headed back to Emory. I called and told them we were on the way.

After being checked with chest xray and ct scan she was admitted back on the 6th floor.

She has a blood clot in her left lung. They say it is not large enough to compromise her heart or brain and has started all the meds to dissolve it and also meds to thin her blood to prevent that from occurring again. May be in the hospital for 2 weeks. Will remain until blood counts all get to an acceptable level and the clotting issue is calm.

Today her temp. got up to 102. They are flooding her with very powerful antibiotics along with her normal regiment of medicine. She will have to have a shot everyday for 9 months to prevent the clotting from happening again

The doctor also said from now on she may not leave the hospital as soon after the chemo treatment is finished. They will keep her there until her blood levels are safe since this has happened.

Needless to say this blood clot issue scared us both. Me more than her because she was too sick to be that scared.

As usual the doctors and nurses at Emory are on top of it in every detail. It is amazing how close attention is paid to the patients on the special care floor there.

We both lost a nights sleep and were tired today. Hope to get good rest tonite.

Will keep you all posted on progress.

Tomorrow is our 32nd wedding anniversary. What a wonderful life we have had together.

Thanks for caring.


Sam