Day 1: November 11th, 2009: Things are HOT!

Len did not have a very fun day today. Len was running a fever and needed a blood transfusion but the doctors did not want to do that while he was running a fever. Unfortunately they did not have any choice.

At 5am Len's temperature rose to 105, 106 is when you start to get brain damage, and the ICU was called in. I will spare you the details of that horrific night. Nevertheless, Len receive a blood transfusion. His temperature continued to go up and down so he was sent to the ICU later that evening.

More things continued to be up in the air throughout that night as you can see in the e-mails I sent below.


Here's the first e-mail I sent out:

Dear All,

Here’s an e-mail from my brother Scott who saw Len a few minutes ago.
I don’t mean to bombard your e-mails but if you could pray I would
really appreciate it.


Len is not feeling so great, his temperature has come down a bit and
his counts were too low so they gave him the infusion. He has seen
infectious disease specialist and they think one of the culture is
positive for strep. The are trying to tailor the anti-biotics to
combat that while Len's white cells are gone. This is a dangerous
junction cause Len has no way to fight off the disease and is very
weak. They may transfer him to ICU, for more care.

Pray that his temperature normalizes and that the anti-biotics fights of the strep
infection. They are giving him medicine for blood pressure to keep
that normal as well. He is on a respirator and his body is working
very hard, not only the chemo by the strep as well. Lastly, the 5
floor is schedule for a move, pray that things aren't confused during
the move.

I am praying that God will show compassion on Len. Is is only God that
can help him.

--Scott


P.S. Len had a horrible night last night. The Intensive Care Unite had
to come in and give him an immediate transfusion, despite the risky,
because his temperature was 105. Not good.


Thanks so much for your prayers during this time!


Here's the second e-mail I sent out that day:

Len is now in the ICU, he is having trouble breathing and has a fever.
They know he had an infection on Mon. but now the cultures have been
clear. The main concern now is his breathing. He has blood in the
lung, which may be the result of his coughing and causing blood leaks
(since he had such low blood platelet counts). He was infused with
more blood platelets and hopefully the blood and thus the poor
breathing will clear away. However he's in the ICU because the
alternative explanation of his poor breathing may be what the call DAH
which is more dangerous. This is blood in the lungs that sometimes
occurs during chemo, and the way they treat it is will high steroids
and pressurizing the lung (while len is in a coma). The doctors are
uping his anti-biotics also preemptively giving him steroids, so that
if it is DAH and his breathing deteriorates they have a started
treatment. The steroid do compromise the effectiveness of his
anti-biotics but this is the balance we need to strike. DAH sound
extremely dangerous, and let's pray that the platelets will seal Len's
lungs so he can breath properly. This evening is critical. Let's all
pray that Len's oxygenation improves. --Scott

Praise:
1) That Len's body seems to be taking the new platelets ok. We pray
that it will continue to receive this platelet transfusion smoothly.
Specific Prayer Request:
1) The Lord will immediately remove anything (blood or whatever it is)
that maybe hindering his breathing, heal any tears or wounds in his
lungs, and open up Len's air passages in his lungs.
2) That steroids will not have to be used because the Lord will have
already done the work of removing these blockages from his lungs and
healing his lungs.
3) That Jesus will strengthen Len's lungs and allow it be working on
its own again.
4) Alertness and wisdom for Len's doctors and nurses so that they can
make the correct and most wise decisions throughout the night and next
day about Len's fragile condition.

Thanks everyone for your prayer support and encouraging words. My
family could not be doing this without you!