Iowa Update: 05/16/2011

We arrived in Sioux City, IA late, late Friday night.  Ed’s dad, Rich, had already been in the hospital for an infection.  Saturday, we went to visit him.  When we first got to the hospital to see him, he was pretty down.  Not really speaking coherently and sleeping most of the time.  We stayed around a bit.  He ate and got some fluids.  A little later, he was feeling better so he got up and we played card games in the hospitals family room.  We had a good time laughing and playing Uno.  He gained a lot of strength while we were there. 

The next day (yesterday), he was released in the afternoon and Ed made our normal, Nummy pizza for dinner.  He had plenty of food and fluids and was doing pretty good.  We all went to bed, but Rich didn’t sleep well.  He has nightmares and woke up in the night having difficulty breathing. 

When we woke up he was sitting in his comfy chair with his oxygen, still having difficulty breathing.  He had a doctors appointment at 10:30 today (05/16) and the doctor found that he had fluid on his belly, among other things.  The doctor decided that he should be readmitted to the hospital.  After a CAT scan, they determined that he had another blood clot in his lungs and that is what had woken him up during the night.  The fluid on his belly is also causing the labored breathing.

In addition, the tumors on his liver have multiplied.  The last time they went to Mayo, Karen counted 11 tumors.  Today, they showed more than 50.  At this point, they don’t think he will be well enough to start chemo.  They give him one to two weeks.

mfG,

Alexis