12/21/09

12/21/09 So Joe is out of the hospital though he has many complications from the shingles; medically, physically and emotionally is not doing well. This has been a big set back for him and right know both of us are very tired though we are still trying to be optimistic for February. It is just that he was doing so well and it is like he has done a complete circle back to when we first came home. Hopefully he will be feeling better soon, I am sorry but I am going to make this short tonight I am emotionally exhausted and to upset to write tonight. Please keep praying for Joe's recovery we love you all, God bless and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

12/10/09

12/10/09 Well again I apologize for not updating the blog in a timely manner; it has been a long three weeks. Joe has been in the hospital since 12/07/09 he has shingles but let me back track first. So we have been living at the doctors offices over the last couple of weeks, let me catch you up on Joe's progress. The doctors last week got Joe's blood issue finally straightened out his INR has been staying around 1.8 to 2.0. One of the issues was that the test equipment they were using was not properly reading the INR level correctly. The way they explained it to me was the lab was using a piece of equipment that uses a light source for the blood testing and the reading they were getting was high even though they were giving Joe the vitamin K. So they sent it out to a different lab that uses a mechanical test equipment so what they found out after sending the blood out was that his INR was in normal range now well what was happening is that Joe's triglyceride level was so high the blood serum which should be clear was like milk and it was throwing off the test at the other lab. OK so when I say his triglyceride level was high I mean morbidly high. Normal should be between 30 - 200 his was 3060 ok off the charts the doctors were shocked so we solve one problem and get a new one. They are treating the high triglyceride with three different medications niaspan, lovaza and lisinprol in high doses. If this does not work quickly they will clean Joes blood with a technique similar to the way they collected his stem cells. Joe has never had high cholesterol so this is new and is not caused by his eating habits they think it is something to do with damage that was done to liver, pancreas from the amyloid but hopefully reversible with meds and time for the stem cell to make the repairs to the body from the disease. Back to the shingles, Joe was feeling pretty good for about two weeks it seemed like he was starting to turn the corner then all of a sudden he starting having pain in his left lower back, abdomen and left thigh and buttocks well this went from a dull ache to excruciating pain in the matter of two days. We contacted the doctor and they had me bring him in to the ER and met us here. The doctor was very worried that Joe had a blood clot in the kidney or renal area between the pain he was having, the meds they were using to thicken the blood and the high triglycerides this was a very real possibility. So they did a MRI with contrast to look for the clot. Thank God no clot was found but Joe was still in excruciating pain. Well he was still saying that the most pain was in the perineum region which on a male runs the distance between the anus and the base of the penis ok this not a place you want to have pain. So as the day progresses the pain is getting worse so they examine his bottom again and they discover shingles (ouch). The way shingles works is they are only on one side of the body and they follow a nerve path. Well anyone who has had shingles can tell you how painful they are but to have there is terrible. So they have put him on all the proper meds to treat shingles and a ton of pain meds, loratab, morphine to name a few. Poor guy what else is he going to go through. We have had good news while we were here the meds for his triglycerides are working it is down to 1080 and we got the results from the cardiologist though he is still having Afib the heart it self looks healthy and no damage from amyloid. They will address the afib at a later date the new heart meds seems to be helping he is not constantly in afib now it comes and goes. Still may have to do cardio version to get it in normal rhythm. Joe turned fifty on the 5th thanks everyone for sending him birthday wishes. My plan is to have a big party for him on his new birthday in August if all is well. Ok that is were we are at hopefully Joe will continue to start feeling better here at the hospital and he will be able to come home in a day or two. I will do a quick update when I know he is doing better and coming home. God bless and we love you all; Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.