Here is a link to Eric's online Memorial
http://marksfuneralservice.com/resources/Eric+John+Hatch.pdf

As a guest blogger today it is my sad task to tell you that Eric lost his battle with cancer this morning. He passed peacefully but the loss is all consuming at the moment.
We will have funeral services Friday October 1st @ the Johnstown Church Building. 3435 Brunner Blvd, Johnstown, CO. The viewing will be @ 9 am with the services @ 10 am.
Eric I Love You
Monica Hatch

what's next

They let me out of the hospital last Thursday. But this morning I woke up again and I just couldn’t catch my breath. The cancer is spreading very quickly. The doctor told me to prepare for the end and so we are. They want me to talk to one more doctor in Denver to see if there would be any hope left for a new treatment but the chance of this would be slim. I have contacted my family and they are heading out to say their goodbyes. This last growth of cancer has been so fast. We had a talk with the kids about what happens next and explained things as much as we can. Please keep them in your prayers as they are going to have a hard time in the near future. -Eric

home from the hospital

They let me out of the hospital. We are grateful to be home from the hospital today. I actually feel better here at home, probably due to the bed and good night’s sleep. The problem is they sent me home with a high OX requirement (8-9mL). This is not a problem in the house since I have an OX concentrator and a long tube. But leaving the house is very difficult as I burn through a large OX tank in less than one hour. I am basically home bound. So unless the chemotherapy drugs shrink the cancer in my right lung and remove the shortness of breath, I am stuck here. -Eric

update from eric

I don’t like hospitals. Between the constant visits from the nurses, constant trips to the bathroom, my body pains, the shortness of breath, and the horrible bed, I have not been sleeping well. It all makes me a bit grumpy. Unfortunately Monica, and the nurses take the brunt of my grumpiness. Once I received my medications and started feeling better, I had to make some apologies. The last week or so has been a big waiting game, they have been hammering me with antibiotics and performing tests to determine what it is in my right lung that is causing me pain and shortness of breath. The initial thought was that it was an infection or pneumonia. My doctor scheduled an Echocardiogram check the heart, and a Bronchoscopy to get samples from the lung. They determined that I was a little anemic so I received a transfusion of blood. The shortness of breath continues. This worries me the most, as it is a very uncomfortable feeling when you cannot catch your breath. I am on constant oxygen at high levels at this point . The Echocardiogram to look for Pericardial effusion (fluids around the lungs) and Congestive heart failure returned normal results. They Bronchoscopy results did not show signs of infection or pneumonia as was hoped or expected. They believe that the pain, the degradation in the right lung, and increase in shortness of breath is due to rapidly growing cancer in the right lung. This is not good news. Options at this point are:
Continue current chemotherapy treatments. The current treatment does not appear to be working. So I don’t consider this an option.
Experimental chemotherapy drugs. This is something that we can consider and we will look into these to determine if there is anything promising out there that might help.
Stop treatments altogether. It seems to me that you are just giving up at this point. So I don’t consider this an option.
Try a new treatment drug. Tarceva (a chemotherapy drug) has been identified as the next chemotherapy option that we will pursue. This is a daily pill, with the usual chemotherapy side effects.
Right now we need to figure out how to get me home from the hospital. I can’t leave until they can take me off the IV antibiotics, and get me to an acceptable oxygen supply level. Right now I am maxed out on my oxygen supply. It may take a few more days to get me out of here.

-Eric

latest

Hey all,

I know there has been some information trickling through, I have not had a chance to send out an update, so here it goes:
Late Monday night I started to experience sever pain my lower right side just below my ribs, along with sever shortness of breath. I woke up Monica and we decided to call the on-call doctor. He told me it sounded like it could be a blood clot and that we should head to the hospital. I was very weak, and unstable on my feet it was unclear if I could make it down the stairs and to the car under my own power. We considered calling an ambulance. After some time I did make it downstairs into the car, and we arrived at the hospital about 1AM early Tuesday morning.
I immediately started throwing up we when got to the ER, good thing it wasn’t in the car.
I had my oxygen tank with me but it goes up to 5mL. At the ER they saw the shortness of breath, and low oxygen levels, and immediately put me on a high volume oxygen pump to get my OX levels back up. They gave me some pain medication and I started to feel better.
They took some blood and a CT scan. The CT scan results showed that my right lung was full of something. The question was whether it is infection or pneumonia? After getting me checked into a room, they immediately started me on a number of different antibiotics. It was determined that I was Anemic so I was given a blood transfusion. Tests were run on blood, and on my Gallbladder. No results yet on these tests.
Right now I am very tired, weak, and my I am still on a lot of oxygen due to shortness of breath.
The doctor told me that I could be in the hospital for 5-10 days. I did not know if I should punch him, or cry due to my last stay in the hospital. I bit my lip and did neither.
The success or failure of the antibiotics will determine what it is that I have. Success of the antibiotics would suggest massive infection. Otherwise it is likely pneumonia. If I don’t start to feel better a Bronchoscopy would be required to take a sample from my lungs and determine exactly what is in there. There however is a lot of risk associated with doing this so we don’t want to go there unless we have to.
The kids and Monica are doing well. We have some good friends and neighbors that are helping us get the kids to and from school and activities so that Monica can spend as much time as she wants at the Hospital.

-Eric

Sorry about the delay

I haven’t sent out an update in a while, there’s been a lot going on so let’s see if I can get you caught up. After starting the new Chemotherapy drugs I experienced some significant fatigue and weakness. My oncologist was concerned about my fatigue and general history of infection, so he scheduled a number of tests just to make sure that something new had not popped up. My scheduled chemotherapy treatment was canceled because my CBC (blood count) levels were very low. A blood culture was taken to check for infection and both CT and MRI scans were scheduled. Follow up CBC checks showed that my CBC levels had bounced back, so no significant concerns here, this can happen easily with cancer patients undergoing treatments, particularly with those starting new chemotherapy drugs. The blood culture tests came back clean, showing no signs of infection. The CT scan showed possible fluids around the lungs and the heart. The immediate concern was fluids around the heart since this could over-stress the heart and cause other problems. An electro-cardio-gram was scheduled. It took a few days to get the test scheduled and performed which caused some stress on our side. In the end the test came by normal so no fluids were found around the heart. Two MRI’s were scheduled. One of the head to check progress of the tumors on my brain, and the other to check the check progress of the tumor in my back. The MRI of the head showed so some actual shrinkage of the tumors on the brain, so that is good news. The MRI of the back showed NO shrinkage of the back tumor. This is bad news since that is what the recent radiation treatments were supposed to take care of. If the tumor in the back remains then pressure on the nerve in my back would also remain and continue to affect the function of my right leg. This makes me wonder if the Physical Therapy I am undergoing will have any impact at all given that the tumor is still there and the nerve is still being impacted. We cannot do any more radiation in this area, since I was given the maximum dose allowable. Two options exist here. Back surgery to try and remove the tumor, or hope that the chemotherapy will reduce/remove the tumor in my back. Surgery is not the preferably option, as it is very invasive, has long recovery times, and no guarantees that it will work. I have not heard good things about back surgery. Surgery is not an option that we are seriously considering right now. We are hoping the chemotherapy will deliver the results we need by reducing/removing the tumor in my back and helping to restore the function of my right leg and ability to walk. The CT scan also showed growth of the cancer in my right lung (the “good” lung). The left lung has been severely compromised and is generally considered non functioning, so seeing the degradation of the right lung is NOT good news. The growth of the cancer in the right lung has caused a significant increase in shortness of breath, and degradation in my ability to breathe on my own. I am on oxygen 24/7 at this point. There is a significant increase in my general fatigue due the chemotherapy, continued recovery from the radiation therapy, and degradation of the right lung. I get severely winded just walking from the bathroom to the bed. While walking up and down stairs is already very difficult due to the this issues with my leg, it is a huge chore now when adding the additional shortness of breath from the degradation in my right lung. We have also been referred to a specialist in Denver to look at the possibility of trying some trial chemotherapy drugs, we’ll be visiting with this specialist in the next week or two to look at the options. So at this point chemotherapy is our only hope in solving the host issues that I am experiencing. Taking all these things into consideration, the situation sucks, but we have not lost hope and will continue to fight this. - Eric

update

I started a new round of Chemotherapy last week. This included the new chemotherapy drugs that they have identified. Side effects so far are nausea, fatigue, (I'll spare you the bowel movement details), and a general feeling of crappiess. I also started physically therapy on my leg last week. Both of these new treatments together make me very tired. The fatigue is expected from the chemotherapy drugs. The physical therapy exercises on the surface appear easy, however it is surprising how little my right leg can do. The leg fatigues extremely quickly and doesn't do much at all. They gave me one or two exercises that I can do at home, scheduled more office visits for additional therapy going forward, and recommended some endurance training on a stationary exercise bike. I now own a recumbent exercise bike at home that I can use to help speed up this process. Well the kids are in bed now, which means it way past my bedtime. Take care, and wish me luck. -Eric

New stuff

I had an appointment with my oncologist today. The biggest thing we learned was that I will be stopping my current chemotherapy drugs and starting a new set of chemotherapy drugs. Given that the cancer has been spreading recently (in my spine, and my liver); the oncologist was not happy with the progress of my current chemotherapy drug (Alimta). The new chemotherapy drugs I will be put on are Gemcitabine and Navelbine. Both of these drugs target lung cancer, and other types of cancers. The side effects of the new drugs are expected to be more harsh than what I am currently experiencing (fatigue, nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, flu-like symptoms, low blood counts, diarrhea, mouth sores, hair loss, shortness of breath etc.) All the usual suspects. I will be starting the new drugs next week. Additionally my oncologist will be sending me to Denver to see if there are any chemotherapy drug trials that may be of benefit in my situation.
I finished the radiation treatments on the Tumor on my spine last week. We won't know how successful it was until I get another MRI in a few weeks. Currently the pain in my back and leg is under control through pain killers. Walking is still very difficult and requires a walker to prevent falls. My legs are still very weak, and my right leg is virtually non functional. I will be starting physical therapy in hopes to get the strength back in my legs and hopefully get back to walking soon. -Eric

Not so good news

The doctor ran a number of tests this past week trying to figure out why I am retaining fluids. My feet and knees are swollen, and my belly is always tight and uncomfortable. The tests did not yield any conclusive results on the fluids, however one new thing was revealed. The cancer has spread to my my Liver. There are a number of tumors in my Liver, the largest, is about 1.5 inches in diameter. I don't know much more than that right now. I have many more questions for the doctor, whom we will see in few days. It's very likely that we will start a different chemotherapy drug and stop taking the one I am taking now. I am still experiencing a lot of pain due to the tumor on my spine. The pain is mostly managed with pain medication. I radiation treatments continue. I have three more doses of radiation to treat the tumor on my spine. I have not noticed any difference yet in my leg strength or ability to walk. I still have to use a walker for stability and safety. Hoping for the best. -Eric

old man

I bought a walker the other day to help me get back and forth from the bed to bathroom, and also to help with any excursions out of the house. It helps a lot, and helps to prevent additional falls. It works quite well. Today we put some safety bars in the bathroom near the toilet and in the shower. I am officially an old man. As much as I don't like this, it's better to be safe than sorry. I had my second dose of radiation this morning. It only takes about 10-15 minutes to administer. The doctor was already asking if I felt any improvements. I guess he is expecting some quick results. Nothing yet. Take care. -Eric

More stuff

I started chemotherapy again this week. My oncologist had put the chemotherapy on hold for a while due to my hospital stay, and making sure the infection was cleared up first. I had forgotten the wonderful side effects of chemotherapy ( Nausea, Fatigue), this morning I was quickly reminded. We visited an orthopedic doctor today (Dr. Grossnickle) to see what more we could do about the back/leg pain, and leg weakness that I have been experiencing. He first took an x-ray and found nothing. A follow up MRI showed more detail. He found that a cancerous tumor in my spine was pushing through the bone from the L3 vertebra to the L4 vertebra and shutting down the function of the nerve that controls by right leg. I essentially have no use of my right leg, which as you can imagine makes it difficult to walk. We took this as good news, and bad news. Good news that we now understand what the real problem is and we can now focus on fixing it the right way. Bad news because this means that the cancer is spreading. There are two options. 1) Radiation treatments on the Tumor in my spine. 2) Surgery to remove the Tumor. This surgery would need to be performed by an orthopedic oncologist specialist in Denver. My oncologist does not like the surgery option due to the overall risk and risk of infection. So we are going with the radiation treatments. We were able to meet with the radiation oncologist today in Greeley . He first performed a CT scan, marked my body with three tattoo marks and set up the radiation simulation. I also received the first radiation treatment today. Tomorrow I will receive the second treatment. I will receive ten treatments total , one each day over the next ten days. The radiation oncologist is optimistic that he stop the growth and relieve the pressure on the nerve. But he cannot promise that the weakness in my leg will be fixed. It all depends on how the nerve heals after the pressure is removed. I will stay on the pain management treatments with the steroid epidurals. Busy day. -Eric

took a dive

I took a dive today. My legs are very week due to the hospital stay, muscle loss, and also due to the drugs they give me for the sciatica. I was heading up the stairs and both legs gave out. I tumbled to the floor 2-3 stairs, hit my head on the wall and I think sprained a couple of toes. I am doing fine, no harm done, except for little loss of pride. It was earlier in the morning when it happened and Monica jumped out of bed very quickly to see what happened. Between Monica and Josh they could not get me up off the floor, so I had to crawl to the couch and I have been here ever since. The doctor says I need to eat lots of protein to get my muscle mass and strength back. Monica made monster cookies. (oatmeal, peanut butter, peanut m&m’s), not only do they have lots of protein, but they taste great. I may be sleeping on the couch tonight If I can’t make it up stairs.

-eric

more stuff

On Monday we noticed some signs of potential infection. (cold sweats, fatigue). We called the doctor just to make sure, and he asked me to come into the office for some blood cultures rigtht away. Given my history, he decided it was prudent to put me on an IV antibiotic, rather that the current pill antibiotic that I was taking. Apparently the IV form is more effective. Problem is they had already removed my PORT last week due to infection so this required them to put in a PIC, which is a cathedar in my arm to allow easy acces for an IV, without reacessing my veins on a daily basis. The good news is that they are letting us administer the IV at home so that we dont have to travel the hospital every day. Monica is becoming quite the nurse. They sent a nurse to our home to train Monica and now we can do this on our own for the next few weeks. A nurse will come by in a week or so to check up, and change the dressing, otherwise we are on our own. They had to do another X-ray of my chest to confirm the installation of the PIC. I can't count how many X-rays, CT-scans and MRI's I have had over the past three years (well actually I can, I am keeping track of all this stuff) but the point is, if I didn't have cancer before, I most likely do now, due to all of the radiation I have been exposed to:) I also just found out that I have Sciatica. This is the most painful thing I have experienced in my life. Basically it's a pain in my lower back that runs along the sciatic nerve down my buttock and right leg. It's not a constant pain but when the pain occurs I am basically immobilized and have to sit it out until it goes away. Ice packs have been the best temporary solution thus far. I went to a pain management doctor yesterday and he gave me steroid epidural treatment in the back that should help. I will need to get 2-3 more of these treatments over the next couple of months to help manage the pain. Appareently they are pretty successful so I have high hopes that these will work. More fun stuff. Take care. -Eric

update

I have been home from the hospital for a week now. I had a checkup with both my surgeon, and my oncologist on Friday. New x-rays show that things are looking good. My lung is fully inflated, and the incisions are healing nicely. I am still taking a lot of medication for the pain as I continue to heal, I am still on antibiotics, and I am still fatigued and generally weak. Going up and down the stairs is tough. My doctor says it will be 4-6 weeks to a full recovery, I am hoping it will be faster. I am very impatient. I was able to work from home last week, but not full time. We ventured out of the house for a bit yesterday, and a little bit today for the first time. We took the kids to a movie yesterday, and we made it to part of church today. I will likely continue to work from home next week and continue gather my strength. I hope to get back to the office soon. Take care. -Eric

home sweet home

They sent me home from the hospital this afternoon. The doctors determined that the leakage from the lung has stopped. The surgery on Monday worked and the lung is healing itself. They verified the fix with a couple of x-rays. They removed the remaining tubes from my chest, and the IV from my neck. After three weeks in the hospital I am now at home! I have three fewer ribs, some extremely manly looking scars, and my lungs are still in place. There will be some at home recovery time until I can regain my strength and get rid of the pain. I will still be on antibiotics and pain medication for a while, and I am not allowed to drive for a while. I should be able to work from home during my recovery.

-Eric

update

All, I wanted to get out an update on current status. Monday and Tuesday were tough as I tried to recover from the surgery on Monday. A lot of pain and discomfort, and a lot of tubes and wires to deal with. I am not getting a lot of sleep. Wednesday and Thursday were better as my body started to recover and we got the pain under control. Thursday an x-ray showed that the surgery had some good success and space they wanted closed off had closed up and the doctors decided that the leaking from the lung had stopped so they removed two of the four tubes from my chest. This relieved some pressure and some pain. They were also able to remove the epidural, the folio, and one of the IV lines. So the number of wires and tubes that I am connected to are significantly less, which makes it easier to get around. Later in the day the two remaining tubes showed some continuing leakage, so we are not out of the woods just yet, more waiting to see if the lung can heal itself with the smaller leak to work with. So lung removal is still a possibility. The doctors determined my IV port had to be removed due to infection concerns, so back to the operating table this morning. This was a relatively easy procedure, but it meant more cutting and more pain. Now I am recovering from the IV port removal surgery and waiting more on the lung to heal itself. I am getting really tired of being in the hospital. -Eric

What's Next?

I don't have a lot of new information, but I will tell you what I know and what the plan is. The experiments to get the hole in my lung to seal on it's own have not worked, it has been nearly two weeks and it's time to take the next steps. Tomorrow morning about 6AM they will take me into the operating room for exploratory surgery to find the exact location of the hole(s) and try and stitch them up. If they cannot stitch up the hole(s) directly, then removal of a part or all of the left lung will be required. This is called a Lobectomy if only one lobe is removed, or a Pneumonectomy if they remove the entire left lung. In my case if any removal is required they would start with a Lobectomy of the lower left lobe and then do a Pneumonectomy of the left lung as needed. The length of the surgery is dependent on what they determine needs to be done. It could be 20 minutes or a few hours. Based on my conversations with the doctors, and their external observations, it sounds very likely that removal of some part or the whole of my left lung will be required. If any removals are needed then they will likely have to remove another rib from my chest. They have already removed one rib during the initial surgery when they were attempting to clean out the infection in my lung. Once the lung is removed, the empty space is naturally filled with fluids by the body to compensate for the loss. I will have to receive an epidural for pain management, and I will still have a tube in my chest to monitor/mitigate things for a day or two after the surgery. Expected recovery time in the hospital is three to five days after the surgery. Thanks for all the support and prayers. Wish me luck. -Eric

Hot Date

It's Friday night at the Hospital and Monica and I did not want to miss our date night. So what do you do? We both crawled into my hospital bed, snuggled up and watched a movie together. It was awesome. I was a little short of breath today, but Monica has always taken my breath away. Take care. -Eric

update

Hey all, I did not get any glue put into my lung today. They put the probe into my lungs and figured out that the leak is coming from the upper left lobe which is the relatively healthy lobe so they did not want to fill that up with glue. They said that they would give it a few more days to see if it will heal on its own. I am still on the schedule for surgery for Monday. We'll know more tomorrow. I will keep you all informed. -Eric

next steps

The leak continues in my lung with no end in sight. The doctors have come up with an idea that will potentially prevent the need of any surgery to remove all or part of my left lung. They will put a probe into my lower left lobe, on this probe there will be a balloon which will inflate the lobe. Once the lobe is inflated they will be able to identify the location of the leak and apply some glue over the leak to plug the hole, and allow it heal. The success rate of this procedure is not great, and there are risks associated with this procedure, but the risks are low. At this point this is the only option we have to potentially avoid surgery. If this does not work, then I have been penciled in for surgery on Monday morning. -Eric

what's up

It has been a busy month. It started with us taking the kids to Disney World. The trip was great! The kids had a great time, the parents survived, and I felt good the whole time. We were blessed, and we really enjoyed our trip.
Two days after returning from Disney World I got sick. I did not think much of it since it's typical for me to feel a bit under the weather as I am still under going chemotherapy. My doctor thought otherwise, and wanted to check me into the hospital for some testing. I did not want to go in since I thought it was nothing, he convinced me otherwise. Upon checking into the hospital , and running some tests, they discovered some infection and fluids in my lungs that required immediate attention. Surgery was scheduled for the next morning to remove the infection/fluids. Upon performing the surgery they discovered that the lower left lobe was collapsed and nothing more than a ball of cancer, and the upper left lobe was completely collapsed. While attempting to clean out the infection/fluids from the lungs they discovered a hole somewhere in my lungs. They installed four tubes in my lungs to drain the fluids, and inflate the lungs. And they put me on continuous antibiotics to clean out the infection. They had to remove one of my ribs during the surgery to get better access to my lungs. I now have a very large scar (~ 30 staples) on my left side, not to mention the holes where the tubes are inserted. I can't leave the hospital until the hole has been plugged. The idea is that if they can get the fluids out and the lobes inflated the lung walls will seal itself against the plural cavity and seal the hole. I have been in the hospital for one week now as they try to seal off the hole. It is slow going and the doctor says it could take another two to three weeks in the hospital to seal off the hole, if they can do it at all. If the hole cannot be sealed then surgery will be required to either remove the lower left lobe, or both the upper and lower lobes. The surgery is risky so we will give the lungs more time to heal themselves before going with that option. There is a lot of pain associated with the rib removal, and the tubes in my lungs. They are controlling the pain with pain medications, and the infection is being treated with antibiotics. The worst of it is the waiting, and staying in the hospital. Monica has been able to stay with me in the hospital nearly every night. She is awesome. I could not do any of this without her. My brother has taken the kids to his house for the week. This is a great distraction for them, and it gives Monica and I some time to resolve this issue. The nurses have been great, the food is good, but the length of stay at the hospital is tough. Another three weeks here may kill me, if the cancer does not. Thanks to all who have helped us, or offered help. And thanks to those who have kept us in their prayers. Take Care -Eric

Did you hear that? ... I did.

I lost most of the hearing in my left ear about a year ago. I had numerous appointments with an ENT, antibiotic treatments, an ear tube put in, but no improvement; and no explanation for the hearing loss. We went in for second opinion with another ENT last week. I was getting tired of pretending that I could hear what people were saying. (huh, what did you say?) After the new ENT did an examination and a complete cleaning of the eardrum. (I make this sound trivial, but it actually hurts quite a bit) I could hear better. Underneath the crusted over eardrum he found a hole in my eardrum. Not sure how it got there, but due to this hole the sound is not properly transferred through the eardrum to the nerves. So even though I can hear better with all the crud cleaned off, the eardrum is still damaged and my hearing is still far from perfect. Options include surgery to patch the hole, a hearing aide, or do nothing. There are pros and cons to each option. We're mulling these over and will be visiting the ENT again in about a month to decide which way to go. In the meantime I am enjoying my improved hearing. As I drove to work the other day I stuck finger in my good ear and sang loudly all the way to work, it sounded sweet. The guy in the car next to me probably thought I was nuts. Take care. -Eric

Pleural Catheder/Hospital Stay and other fun stuff

Looking for a Romantic idea for date night with your spouse? Try draining fluids from your chest cavity together, it doesn't get any more romantic than that, you can even include the kids, although they think it is pretty gross. On Friday we drained off anohter1-liter bring the total so far to 9 liters. (More on this later).
Early Saturday morning I woke up in a lot of pain, headache, neck ache, and pain in my chest and left side. This was not a major concern immediately, as I was still recovering from the Pleural Catherder insertion so I took some pain killers and went back to bed. I was up two more times that night in pain an trying different pain killers was not working. About 6 am I woke up Monica and told her I had a problem. We decided to try a Vicodin. Again no response. We started to discuss calling the doctor. As we discussed out options I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, had a fever and was very very dizzy and a light headed. I headed for the bathroom as I felt nauseous but I only made half way there be I colpased to the floor and was out cold. Fortunately Monica was there to catch me and guide me to floor. Apparently I was out for few minutes. I don't remember falling or anything that happened in the few minutes that I was out. Monica quickly measured my blood/oxygen levels and immediately put me on oxygen. When I came to, I was feeling a bit better an wondering why I was laying on the floor. We made a quick call to my doctor a he told us to get to the hospital right away. We prepared the kids to be by themselves for a couple of hours, and we left. I was coherent but very weak and wozzy, and in a lot of pain. We spent about 12 hours in the ER. They were pumping me full of Morphin and other pain killers to mitigate the pain, but they only seemed to work temporarily and then the pain would be right back. They took two CT scans, one of my head, the other of my chest. They decided to take more fluids off my lungs (they took off 0.7 liters this time). My blood pressure was very low and they could not get it up to acceptable levels. They started me on antibiotics thinking it was some sort of infection, blood test results were still pending. After 12 hours they finally got me a room in the Cardoivascular Unit. A downgrade from the ICU unit where they originally wanted to put me. The bed was much better there. The antibiotics and the pain killers were finally starting to work and I was feeling a bit better. The hometeachers came by and gave a blessing. We arranged for the kids to stay with friends Saturday evening and Monica planned to stay with me in my hospital room that night. Just as the home teachers left the fire alarm in the hospital went off, that was an alarming few minutes as I wondered if I would need to run bare-butted into the parking lot or not. I was feeling better by the minute and as Sunday came around my hometeacher came back with the Bishop and he commented on how much better I looked. Still very tired and still with very low blood pressure, my shortness of breath was exaserbated. We took off anohter 0.4 liters for fluids from my lungs. We did more blood tests, a heart scan, and received consults from a lung doctor. My oncologist stopped by daily with update reports. The final blood test showed that the infection was likely surfactal, meaning it did not come from the fluids, but from the outside in. The antibiotics are working well and winning the battle. They let me out of the hospital Monday afternoon. I will be on bed rest for couple of days. In general I feel much better, the pain is nearly all gone. My blood/oxygen levels and looking better, but I still have headaches, although that could be a separate issue. The lung doctor recommended taking off more fluids daily over the next few days, so we took of another 0.5 liters last night. (That brings the total to 10.6 liters removed since November of last year for those you that are keeping track. Some quick math shows the following.

Fluid removal:
Total removed so far: 10.6 liters.
Average amount removed per day 0.07 liters.
Average amount removed per week 0.522 liters.
Average amount removed per month 2.23 liters.
Extrapolating forward:
Average amount removed per year 26.57 liters

That's alot of fluids.

It was an exciting weekend. A bit too exciting, for my liking. But as I like to say it builds character right?

Thanks to all those that helped with the kids this weekend and to all those that wanted to help but did not get the chance.

Take care, I hope you are all well. -Eric

Pleural Catheter

I had a pleural catheter inserted yesterday. The catheter was inserted in my left side about half way down my chest and it comes out just above my waist. The intent is that now we can drain excess fluids from the pleural area at home, rather than making frequent visits to the hospital for additional thorancentisis procedures. The insertion of the catheter went well. However now that the drugs have worn off, I am in some pain. Moving around is tough since every movement seems to affect the torso. Hopefully things will heal quickly. In testing out the new catheter they removed 1-liter of fluids, so I think the total amount removed over the last 4 months is up to 7-liters. Monica was trained at the hospital on how to do the fluid extraction so she will take on the new role as in-home nurse, although she has already been doing this anyway, it's just one more thing for her to do. I am starting to feel a bit artificial. I have an implant in my throat to help me talk, a port in my chest to insert fluids, and a catheter in my chest to extract other fluids. I am just missing an on/off button. Take care. -Eric

more updates

The thoracentisis went well. They extracted 2-liters this time (remember that the first time they extracted 1-liter, and the second time they extracted 1.5-liters). The technician said there is likely another 2-liters in there, but they can only safely remove so much at a single time. I can't believe I have 4-liters of extra fluids around my lungs. Imagine inserting two 2-liter soda bottles between you ribs and your left lung, it's no wonder I have shortness of breath. I will be discussing with my doctor whether or not we should have more extracted in the near future, it would be nice to get to "empty". I came home and did the stair test. If I can make it up the stairs to the bedroom without feeling like I need to pass-out, then things are good. I made it up the stairs, no heavy breathing and no shortness of breath. It felt good. And remember that I still potentially have another 2-liters of fluids in there. If you are ever at the Northern Colorado Medical Center and need something to eat. I recommend the roast beef. All good for now. Take care. -Eric

updates

It's been a while since I last posted. We have been awaiting the next scan results. I went in for a CT scan and an MRI last week, and we got the results yesterday. The MRI of the head showed that one spot has grow a little more, not significantly, but enough to notice. We are not going to change any treatments right now but we are going to shorten the scan cycles to every two months , instead of every three months, in order to get more frequent looks at the progress. The CT scan of the chest/neck/abdomen was hard to read due to all the fluids built up around my lungs. Yes I accumulated a lot more fluids since my last thoracentisis that I had around Christmas time. I have significant shortness of breath and my blood/oxygen level is very low. (78 vs the ideal number of 100). This is low enough that they put me on oxygen at night. It is natural for anyones blood/oxygen levels to drop at night due to inactivity, but dropping from 78 and going lower could be very dangerous. I am going in for another thoracentisis today, and hopefully that will improve my blood/oxygen levels during the day, so that I don't have to be on oxygen during the day. The oxygen supply is a big fancy air filter that sucks air in through the back, super filters it, and pumps it into my lungs through my nose. I am not happy about being on oxygen, it means that things are getting worse, and not better, and it gives the impression that I am weak, and I don't like that. I agreed to go on it for two reasons. One: if i don't do it I could die in my sleep. Two: Monica threatened to beat me up if I didn't. Two good reasons. Take care. -Eric