Pneumonia

I had hoped to talk about round four of maintenance. This week Michele is back in the hospital at MD Anderson with Pneumonia.

She had been feeling sick for a couple of weeks. We had attributed it to allergies or the change in weather. We managed to make it to our national conference in Dallas, but she only attended one of the smaller sessions. It was best for her not to be around a large crowd so she would not catch anything. right? It was still a good move, but she had brought her own bug.

On our way to Nathinal Convention

She was taking medicines from a round of coughing in the last couple of months to ease the symptoms. When we arrived Tuesday for her regular follow up, her temperature was starting to spike. Up until then, we had not seen her temperature rise. The immediately sent her to the ACCC, (Md Andersons’ version of the emergency room.) It became clear we were going to be admitted

Scans and x-rays

MD Anderson is the top cancer center in the world. They also have a doctor for every discipline imaginable. After a lot of blood work and X-rays, CT-Scans, and more bloodwork, we know that she has pneumonia. We just don’t know its origin. If it is bacterial or fungal. Yesterday we added the infectious disease team. It was the same doctors that watched over her when she had her seizure.

My assessment of the MD Anderson care team is that they will work methodically to rule out sources of the infection. They know how to manage the symptoms. Keep the fever controlled and keep her stable. They have used a broad spectrum of antibiotics for most of the week.

Fevers continue

Every day she has had a fever of over one hundred. It was as high as one hundred and three. This morning there is still a fever, but some of the other symptoms are starting to wane. They pulled eleven vials of blood this morning.

We hope they are getting close to the root cause. Much like her Seizure, once they know exactly the target, they can precisely target it.

Staying put until we figure it out.

No one likes hospital stays. Michele has certainly had three lifetimes of stay in the last two years. I am proud of how she handles it all. This round is scary for all of us. The mind wants you to think you are normal again. We are not there yet. We learned that we need to make more runs to the hospital when things are off.

The Leukemia doctors are always encouraging. Dr. V. was confident we will resolve this and that we should get back to living. No restrictions. I am sure we all take pause at that statement. Yet, it is the best medicine in the world. Live. Live your life.

And…

Bring all your medications. Even the ones that are as needed. Because you need them when they are needed. 😎

The story will continue.

There are days and weeks I am not always sure where this story will lead. The one truth throughout the thread of this story is that Michele is a fighter, a champion, and human. Her strength and light continue to outweigh the dark moments. I will post more this week as we know more.

Much love, Mike

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