I finally found a “for employee use only” computer to sneak onto here at LGH.  SH!  Don’t tell anyone!

Over the past several days, Kevin has continued to drain a bloody fluid out of his Gastric tube.  So far around 800 ML, which is quite a bit.  Thankfully, not as much as his first “bleed out” at Johns Hopkins. 

The hope was to get out of here today or tomorrow morning, but even after great points for his hemoglobin (sp?) after his blood transfusion, it dropped over 1 pt in 24 hours, which isn’t a good sign.  That could mean that the tumor is just continuallly bleeding, which is something we know about and are fine with.  However, it could also mean he has a bleed elsewhere, which of course if of major concern right now.  His temp and blood pressure are holding fine, so we are going to continue to hope and pray and BELIEVE that this bleed is just coming from the tumor dissolving from the chemotherapy.

Obviously, our hopes are a bit dwindled this morning in finding out that his hemo counts are already dropping.  We knew that he would most likely need blood transfusions for the rest of this tumor, but we didn’t expect them to drop this quickly, and I’m guessing they didn’t either.

Today we’re just sitting tight waiting on what they will decide to do to see if he is bleeding anywhere other than the tumor.  Kevin’s pain level is getting better, as they have upped him from a 50 to a 100 Fetanyl patch.  We are hoping this takes care of his continuous, chronic pain.  As much as we didn’t want to go up on the pain meds, being that there seems to be no direct cause of the pain other than this highly invasive cancer, this is what we have to do.

In GOOD news, the pre-digested feeding formula is working!!  We can get a 1.5 calorie per ML feeding when we get home, which means if he can continue handling 120 ml/hour on the feeding rate, he’ll be feeding for under 17 hours a day.  This is a huge improvement to only being able to do 100 ml/hr on a 1.0 calorie per ML feeding for almost 24 hours a day.  This will give him GREAT freedom.  Being that he is handling that so well, he’s going to try a higher rate today to see how he can handle that.  Awesome!  This is a huge hurdle and prayer answered!

We had REALLY REALLY hoped to get to the Penn Manor (my HS alma mater) game tomorrow night for the big homecoming game against Manheim Township.  For the first time in probably 10 or so years, Penn Manor is UNDEFEATED!  Being a former Marching Band geek, this makes me very very happy.  I spent YEARS in the stands when they only won 1 game a season, so this feels great.  However, if we don’t get to this game, we’ll hold out for the bigger games against other undefeated teams in the division: Bishop McDevitt and Wilson (a team that has kicked our bums for many  many years).  So, if we miss the game-GO PENN MANOR!!!  (In other news, congrats to the Hershey Bears for a great season opening game and way to continue to ride Penn State!  Steelers….you’d better shape up :)!)

Anyways…even in our hopes to get out by tomorrow, we understand the Dr’s hesitation in setting us free.  We pray that this tumor is the only cause of the bleed, and that they will feel comfortable enough to send us home soon being that his stats are so good and  his pain is getting under control. 

I called about the Physical Therapy Aide position at Willow Valley yesterday, and my resume was passed along for the interview process!   I hope to hear from them soon once they receive more applications for the process.  This position would be perfect hours, and provide benefits, which is huge.  Pray that comes through!  I am continuing to search for a part time job with benefits, as I cannot work 40 hours a week while caring for Kevin as much as he needs right now.

I am also going to look into unemployment, medicaid, and all these things as well.  Even though we signed that waiver when we got married for immigration, I figure that it’s worth a try.  We are praying for exceptions to the rule in our case.  Pray that something gives and we can get some more financial help through the government systems and some non-profit grants.

We have been struggling with where to open up our trust.  I will be getting everything signed hopefully within the next week for the Kevin Boitson Recuperation Trust to open so that any donations can be put in the trust to be managed properly.  We have decided that it will most likely be at Millersville Credit Union as so many banks around us are going under, being bought out, etc.  What’s your thoughts on this? 

Continue to lift us up for hope, for strength, healing and miracles.  Big thanks to the staff here at LGH who are taking great great care of us.

God is listening.