01/24/11 What caused the visit to ER?!? Update on Bonnie.

It was a very interesting visit with Dr Winton at Winship/Emory today! I was able to be there at 12:30 PM after my Shoulder appointment just when the doctor had just entered the room to speak with Joe. Joe's phosphorus level on Thursday afternoon was at 1.8. Ten hours later at 1:40 AM in the ER on Friday 1/21 his phosphorus level dropped dramatically and critically to only .9 (normal is 2.5-4.5). Doctor stated he had never seen them happen before and that Joe's bone marrow is overly active causing it to use excessive amounts of phosphorus and magnesium. They gave him an IV of phosphorus and his last blood result for phosphorus at 4:30PM on 1/21 was now 4.5 thus they released him from the ER.

In the future Joe will be given a phosphorus supplement starting on Day 8 (day 1 is when chemo start) to see if it can be normalized. I feel comfortable that the seizure was not preventable from the information known on the tests earlier in the day.

Dr. Winton is calling in an ENT specialist about Joe's stubborn sinusitis checking to make sure that it is not a fungal infection instead. Joe goes back into Emory for Part B of HyperCVAD-R this Thursday. Also the doctor said the higher White Blood Count is NOT Lymphoma and no lymphoma is being seem right how. We agreed to lessen the days of Neupogin to only 5 days starting 24 hours after discharge from Emory chemo treatments. We also let the Dr. know how Emory ER wanted Joe to be transferred to another hospital. Winton said that is a BIG NO with Joe's situation and should never happen. If this were to happen again, contact him immediately and he will stop it. We also told him about the disorganized ER area and the dirty chemo tree. He hates when patients have to go to ER with the flu epidemic going on right now in Georgia and goodness knows what else. At least Joe did wear his mask and we were in an ER exam room with three walls and a curtain.

Today, 1/24, Joe's blood counts and chemistry levels improved wonderfully. With his WBC at 12.1 (on the high side but not excessively.)His RBC at 3.38 improved since 1/21. His hemoglobin improves to 10.6 from 9.3. His hematocrit went from 29.73 to 31.9 which is the highest level since 12/2/10. Joe's platelets are at a respectful 139 which is a smidgeon below normal.

My orthopedic Dr. Mason at Emory Orthopedic and Spine Center reviewed my MRI from Friday. He stated that there appeared to be a slight tear of the rotator cuff and inflammation in the joint. He got the ultrasound machine to pin point where to put two shots into the joint. Dr Garcia's worked better for me since he put the steroid shot in the joint which did give me more movement and a lot less pain. When Dr. Mason gave me the steroid shot it was outside the joint and at the rotator cuff tendons which did nothing, He is convinced the pain is from the actual joint because of that thus the two shots in the joint today of which one was a steroid and the other a nerve blocker. He also prescribe for me physical therapy twice a week with home exercises but if I feel a bunch of pain to stop and come see him since it is probably a frozen shoulder. Since I had hurt my arm tugging luggage in Europe, I would stop using the arm to stop the pain thus it would cause the shoulder to freeze up. Back in 1988, I had a frozen shoulder from a car accident in 1987 where they put me to sleep that manipulated it which is basically breaking it apart. When I woke up, I was in tremendous amount of pain and yelling where they finally gave me a nerve block. Nowadays they give the nerve block before one wakes up. Thank God since that moment is etched in my memory forever. So, it is six weeks of physical therapy then a follow up appointment with Dr. Mason. AMEN.

If anyone is interested in reviewing the Excel spreadsheet that was created when we started this journey, please send me an e-mail.

To Joe’s Prayer Army, please keep the prayers going . You are so appreciated and valued.

God be with you and your loved ones!