Last week my step-brother, Bobby, who has been undergoing chemotherapy at the James Center in Columbus, Ohio for brain cancer, was rushed to St. Ann's hospital in Westerville (pictured above) when he came home from chemotherapy and was unable to breathe. Since he lives in Gahanna they ordinarily would have taken him to Mount Carmel East but the ambulance was diverted to St. Ann's where Perry's grandmother and grandfather both spent time.
Once he was admitted into the hospital (and rushed to ICU) and the nurses and doctors attending him received his medical history they diagnosed him with a blood clot in one of his lungs and one in his leg. They wanted to put him on a "clot buster" drug that would break up the blood clot but were afraid that any new or relatively new wounds would bleed. Relatively new wounds would include his brain from his brain surgery this past fall. If they did not put him on the drug, even with being put on oxygen, they gave him 24 hours to live.
After a long discussion with the doctors at St. Ann's and his neurologist, who actually performed the brain surgery, Bobby and Terree (his wife) decided that they would try the blood clot medicine. He would stay in ICU to be watched for adverse effects and signs of bleeding on the brain. As of yesterday when I last talked to my mother he was still in ICU but has had no sign of bleeding (other than a nick on his lip from trying to shave).
The next step is taking him off of Avastin, the only drug that seems to have done anything to his fast growing tumor. Avastin is supposedly known for blood clots as a side effect. Radiation and other chemotherapy drugs have not worked on reducing or even slowing his tumor. Now without the Avastin the next step may be hospice. This is a devastating blow since the Avastin has actually shrunk the tumor enough that he regained some movement on his left side. Avastin is also one of the drugs that Mom is taking for her chemotherapy. Now we have one more side effect to watch for with her.
Please keep Bobby and Terree in your prayers. Tough decisions need to be made about next steps, if there are any.
---Stephanie
Once he was admitted into the hospital (and rushed to ICU) and the nurses and doctors attending him received his medical history they diagnosed him with a blood clot in one of his lungs and one in his leg. They wanted to put him on a "clot buster" drug that would break up the blood clot but were afraid that any new or relatively new wounds would bleed. Relatively new wounds would include his brain from his brain surgery this past fall. If they did not put him on the drug, even with being put on oxygen, they gave him 24 hours to live.
After a long discussion with the doctors at St. Ann's and his neurologist, who actually performed the brain surgery, Bobby and Terree (his wife) decided that they would try the blood clot medicine. He would stay in ICU to be watched for adverse effects and signs of bleeding on the brain. As of yesterday when I last talked to my mother he was still in ICU but has had no sign of bleeding (other than a nick on his lip from trying to shave).
The next step is taking him off of Avastin, the only drug that seems to have done anything to his fast growing tumor. Avastin is supposedly known for blood clots as a side effect. Radiation and other chemotherapy drugs have not worked on reducing or even slowing his tumor. Now without the Avastin the next step may be hospice. This is a devastating blow since the Avastin has actually shrunk the tumor enough that he regained some movement on his left side. Avastin is also one of the drugs that Mom is taking for her chemotherapy. Now we have one more side effect to watch for with her.
Please keep Bobby and Terree in your prayers. Tough decisions need to be made about next steps, if there are any.
---Stephanie
No comments:
Post a Comment