Update

They did an MRI on Kurt today, he has a fractured vertabrae in his lower back. They said it's minor, but he is in a lot of pain. They are letting him rest today, and then tomorrow they will have to start working on getting him up and around. This is the accute problem and then they will work on the liver issue after they get this taken care of.
I think he will get a medal in heaven for all that he's been through! The poor guy has suffered a bit. The bad thing is that we will be here for Thanksgiving. Oh well the holidays just don't seem that important this year.
I will keep you posted, he might be here for a week or two. Thanks again for all of your support, it means a lot to both of us.
Cindee

I Knew It Wouldn't Take Long

Well maybe it's a good thing that I didn't write yesterday. We had to go to the hospital last Wednesday, and then on Friday. The liver counts were looking better on Friday. Then we had to go back on Saturday to check his platelets. He needed them so we were there for a few hours, but didn't have to go back until Monday. But after we got home from the hospital, he started to complain about his back hurting, and because they increased his steroids, he was becoming very weak. Sunday, his back was hurting more and still very weak. On Monday, we were suppose to be to the hospital at 8:45am, but after he went to the bathroom, he laid on the bed and I could not get him up. I had to call his brother Kerry to come and help me. We did get him into the car, and I drove him up. Then once we got there, we had to have some guys come help get him into the wheel chair. He was in extreme pain. They took some X-Rays and decided to admit him again into the hospital. Another discouraging day. They are going to try to do an MRI tomorrow, and see if they can see anything else. They hope it is just a muscle sprain. Then the liver counts went up again, so they might try a new medicine to get rid of the Graft Versus Host Disease. The poor guy can't get a break! I will keep you posted on new info, and if we get out for Thanksgiving.
Keep praying. I didn't realize how many bumps there would be. Thanks again.
Cindee

Back Home For Now

Kurt came home from the hospital last Tuesday. He has been doing very well at home. In fact, he said this is the best he has felt in a long time. On Friday we had to go back to the clinic to get his blood drawn and counts checked. On Monday, they had done a liver biopsy, and on Tuesday they did a bone marrow biopsy, the told us they would have some of the results on Friday. After they checked his counts, they told us that his bone marrow biopsy did not show any leukemia which was great news, but that his bone marrow is only about 20% full of cells. They said that this is seen with other patients, and that when you do a transplant that it takes about a full year for the new marrow to produce your own cells to 100%. Then they told us that the liver biopsy shows a lot of iron in it, this is because when you receive blood transfusions, there is a lot of iron that comes in the blood, and they have no way of separating it out, so it sometimes puts too much iron in the liver. They said later they can remove some of his blood and get the extra iron out. Then they told us that the Graft versus host disease is in his liver and so they need to increase the steroids again to get this under control. We are not happy about that. This will attack his muscles even more and make him more weak. But he is bound and determined to keep exercising and walking to keep the muscles he still has.
It is really good to see him doing better with his mind and attitude. He has even started working on our budgets again on the computer, and for you who know Kurt, this is what he really likes to do, make excel spreadsheets with numbers and track his money. So maybe he is getting back to normal that way, and the physical part will come later.
Thanks again for everything. We have had so many offers to help us, and so many who have taken care of our yard, brought meals, cards and phone calls. It is truly unbelievable to see how many people care about you. Keep praying for him and I know that he will soon be better. We have heard and seen others who have made it through this, and know that we can too.
Cindee

Still In The Hospital.

This has been an extremely hard week, but has gotten a little better. We came in last Sunday, because he was confused and not himself. The next few days were very hard to watch. He was not coherent. He did not make sense, and he kept repeating sayings over and over. The next day, he would just keep talking about a dream he had, and everyone that walked into his room, would be in his dream. He would keep saying it over and over again, and then he would try to explain to everyone, why he thought he was in the hospital. He started to come around on Wednesday afternoon, and started to remember some things. On Thursday, he wanted to know how and why he was in the hospital. He was starting to remember lots more now, but could not remember anything about the last 3-4 days in the hospital, which was a good thing.
Now he is doing well with his memory, and some things, but his liver counts continue to go up, so they are going to do a liver biopsy to check some things out. We are both very discouraged about this and not wanting this done. They will either do this Monday or Tuesday, so we are not sure when he will be able to come home.
I will do an update and let you know what they find out from the test.
Please keep praying for him, we are hoping that some medication is causing his liver to be going up, and they will be able to fix that easily.
Thanks again for everything.

You're not going to believe this again!

Yes he's back in the hospital, and I think they just need to commit us both. Friday night we were doing just fine, and after going to bed, he woke up about 1:30 in the morning saying some strange things. I kept asking him what was wrong, and he just told me that he didn't know, but he had to think about it. He kept forgetting things that he normally does like flush the toilet. I just thought he was having a bad dream or still really tired. Saturday morning he was still saying things that didn't make sense and forgetting things. Then he would get really mad, and then he would get really sad and say that he was sorry. I called the doctor, and he said it could just be the steriods that he has been on for so long. He told me to call tomorrow Sunday if it was worse. He slept through the night pretty good, just getting up to go to the bathroom, but seemed fine. But when I woke him up to eat, he wouldn't even respond to me. I hurried and called the hospital, and they said they should check him out. So once we got up here, they were admitting him and going to do an MRI. They did that, and the doctor came in and said that the MRI was good, there was no bleeding, and no infection. Now tomorrow they want to do a spinal tap and then they were already scheduled to do a ultrasound on his liver, so they will do that too. We are just having way too much fun this year.
Keep him in your prayers and I'm sure this will all work out. Hopefully my heart can withstand all of this as well.
As usual we will keep you posted.
Cindee