The adventures of J.L.

Tuesday evening, I went home for the night. I was confident that Joe was doing really well and happy to give him some alone time. I love spending time with Joe so that I can help him with various little things and so that we can encourage each other in this journey of ours. But I do make sure to disappear for at least a little bit each day so that Joe can have some time to himself - without someone breathing down his neck. :) Every few days I will either go home for the greater part of the day, or go home for the night. I always joke around with Joe that these are the days that he decides to cause trouble. Tuesday night, Joe did not disappoint. When I left, he was smiling and content. Turns out he had a miserable evening of fevers. The fevers were not quite as bad as in the past, but it was enough to ensure that Joe got very little sleep. Such a trouble maker.

By Wednesday morning, Joe's temps were much better. He was experiencing bone pain from getting Neupogen though. The doctors suspected that the fevers were probably from the Neupogen as well. After all, Joe hadn't spiked a fever for a week. Joe had been getting Neupogen approximately every three days, but this week he had two in a row. That seemed to be a good explanation for the fevers.

Another event on Wednesday was that Ms. Joanne decided to check up on Joe via the blog from a West Penn computer, only to discover that the hospital system had blocked it. More specifically, all blog sites were blocked because they are considered "personal & social." Ms. Joanne contacted Ms. Lilly about this woeful event. Ms. Lilly promptly contacted Mr. Mike the computer dude. By Friday, Mr. Mike the computer dude with a big heart made sure that the folks at West Penn could once again keep up with Joe's blog. (Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!!!) Joe's blog is the single exception though, so we can no longer keep up with our other blog buddies from this hospital. But we do know that Ann and Christine both had super duper amazing praise God kinda weeks in their journey. Yay!

Early Thursday morning Joe had a Chest CT scan. The results showed that Joe's lungs looked pretty much the same. Perhaps there was *slight* improvement on one side and *slight* worsening on the other, but overall things looked the same.

All week, Joe continued to experience shortness of breath and intermittent fevers. Sometimes Joe could go hours without oxygen, sometimes not. Joe averaged about 1-2L with the nasal cannula.

This morning was pretty scary. Joe started feeling some pain on the right side of his chest. It was near the site of his CT guided biopsy, so Joe assumed it was some lingering pain. Unfortunately, as the morning progressed Joe began to feel pain on both sides of his chest. After being given some meds for the pain, Joe decided to try and "sleep it off." After a bit Joe seemed to feel better. He went to the bathroom and then decided to try sitting up, rather than returning to bed. Suddenly, Joe had a really difficult time catching his breath and the pain seemed to be unbearable. Joe's oxygen was turned up to 6L., he was given a breathing treatment, and a portable chest x-ray and chest CT were ordered. Soon after all the craziness, Joe started to feel much better. By afternoon, Joe's oxygen was gradually decreased back down to 2L. Right now, Joe is feeling pretty well. We're still not sure what happened? The doctors were worried about a pulmonary embolism which is actually possible even with low platelet counts. There was no sign of that. Praise the Lord. The odd thing is that the CT scan seemed to be much uglier that it was just two days ago. It is hard to figure out what could cause such a change in just two days. Everyone is hoping that it is just more fluid overload, because that is a relatively easy fix. In the meantime, everyone continues to keep a close watch on all things related to Joe's lungs.

And so we continue to pray for healing in Joe's lungs even as we continue to pray for complete healing for Joe.

If you haven't already, go read Jim & Jesse's most recent blog. It is their last on-trail entry. These guys are so incredible. We couldn't be more thankful for their energy, determination, heart...and even insanity. You can even watch videos from their trek. Follow the link or search for "marrowtrek" on youtube.com. Jim & Jesse's craziness in the name of charity is really mind-boggling. Keep them in your prayers!

Speaking of which...thank you everyone for being so faithful in your prayers, good vibes, and thoughts for Joe. Hugs for everyone!
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Thank you Michael, December, & Ian for the card!!!!! It was a sweet surprise.
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Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him
~Psalm 126:5-6