Things got a little rougher yesterday. After Aimee received her cells, she had difficulty breathing and her heart rate was speeding. Shortness of breath is a normal symptom for this type of treatment, as the white blood cells like to rendez-vous in the lungs first before they are deployed to the rest of the body. But the heart rate was a little abnormal- it could have been a result of the shortness of breath or something else. But because IL2 usually increases heart rate anyway, the doctors wanted to be extra careful before they started the 3rd leg of the treatment.
Her pulse dropped a little in the evening, and so she was able to get a dose of IL2. But then, of course, it jumped back up right after the dose. So, they figured the best way to care for her was to send her to ICU for close monitoring. Not a fun place to be.
This morning her pulse is down, breathing is back to normal, blood pressure is normal, and pulseox is almost back to normal. She got her second dose of IL-2 a couple hours ago, and so far so good. Everything is looking stable.
The doctors are playing it by ear, but they think she'll probably get just 1 or 2 more doses of IL-2 and stay here in the ICU for another day or so before going back to her other room.
10 comments:
Poor girl - She's in our prayers!! Today is the Feast of Guardian Angels - so they better be doing their jobs!!!
Tons of prayers and hugs. ICUs are just horrible.
Ask Aimee what the name of her guardian angel is. Each one has a wonderful name, and if you ask, your angel will tell you, whisper it in your heart or make it pop into your head (mine did). Once you know his/her name, you can ask your angel's special help, for knowing someone's name means you can call them into your presence and that you are intimate with them. Since this is the feast of angels, we need to get them all working in legions upon legions on Aimee's good health.
All our love and prayers always,
Chris and Bainard
My heart goes out to the both of you. This is just another bump in the road to getting 100% better soon. ICU is a scary place to be, but it's also the best place to be in at this time as they make sure everything is on track. I hope to God they have TV in there - otherwise poor Will has more games of scrabble to lose to our girl. sorry Will, we all know you're wicked smaht (little boston thrown in there in case you're missing it in MD) but Aims wins, period. Got that? :)
Love, prayers, hugs and chocolate kisses to you. (don't we ALL have to eat some chocolate for Aimee to make sure she continues to gain weight? That's what I'm telling myself anyways...)
bethg
Ok Will... I am speaking as the ICU nurse here... and to be honest, as I have been reading your posts daily, (which I truly appreciate), I was hoping that she would be placed in ICU for the IL-2 treatments. This is the absolute BEST place.. really, think about it... one on one nursing, or maybe two on one... and all the equipment right there at your fingerprints...
Some have TV's beth... if they do, then they probably have to be turned off at x hours...
All the blood work is done stat. All the labs are done stat... all the tests and meds are all stat.
To be honest, I love working there because you really can be all there for the one patient and the family...
So... let her stay here for the rest of infusions...
IL-2 - as with any immunoglobulin like product, can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, decreased blood pressure, or reverse, very high blood pressure, and rapid heart rate. Sometimes, we just slow the infusions, other times we can premedicate with benedryl, solumedrol, and zantac... or similar products..
Keep us posted - as you do such a fine job...
And let us know if there is anything at all, anything we can do...
Prayers headed your way :)
More and more..
All our love to you and Aimee.
Chris and the boys :)
(upstate new york)
Thank you so much, Will and Aimee both, for your incredible generosity in keeping up with the blog. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all - and with Aimee's newly re-educated cells!!
With love,
Katy and the Wilson/Borse families
We are praying for you and for your family. Sounds like you are in great hands, even through the rough stuff. Thank you for sharing your journey so that we can be there in prayer with you. God is using you to show so many of us true courage, strength, and faith....I cannot wait to meet you! You are amazing! Nicki
Glad to hear Aimee is so well taken care of and praying that this huge battle will mean restored health.
Love you guys,
Renee
Any news today??
How goes the battle? (As Gigi would say.)
Hope all is well. Lots of love and prayers.
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