The 1040 Window

Wow! We haven’t had a night that was as stressful as last night in a very long time. First of all, let me say that I am so grateful that we had a nice Thanksgiving. It was interesting and even fun. Aaron would tell everyone who came into his room “Happy Thanksgiving!” He even pushed the nurse call button to just say “Happy Thanksgiving!” That made everyone laugh a lot all day long. Aaron felt pretty well and we got to celebrate God’s blessings with my family and Aaron’s family.

Anyway, everyone went home to Ojai, so on Friday night, it was just Aaron and I. He started talking gibberish at one point and I thought he was drowsy from all the benedryl he got to prevent an allergic reaction to the blood he was getting. I told the nurse though and she took his temperature and it was 103.1 degrees. The nurse was adamant that his temperature come down. So, I got to use my fever-reducing skills that I picked up in the ICU. It basically involves laying washcloths that have been dipped in ice water all over his body and replacing them every 5 minutes after they warm up. It was pretty miserable for Aaron but he didn’t even complain! Praise God, it worked and his temperature was 99.3 after 45 minutes.

He felt really well for about an hour and a half but then all of the sudden around 2 a.m. he started shaking/shivering violently and uncontrollably. He was shaking so hard that he was in a lot of pain. Within a few minutes, there were 2 doctors and 3 nurses in the room. He was shaking so hard we couldn’t take his temperature because it would just fly out of his mouth but we did get it under his arm and he was about 101 degrees. As soon as they started taking his vitals, they saw that his heartrate was super fast-like 160- and his oxygen concentration (which is supposed to be between 95% and 100%) was between 75% and 80%. Basically, he wasn’t able to breathe. So, they put him on an oxygen mask. The nurses and doctors that were there frankly were pretty panicky, they didn’t know what was going on. But God sent in a Resident who knew what was going on. He said it was called rigors and that it was due to the fever Aaron had. He got Aaron some demerol and within a few minutes the shaking subsided. The whole thing lasted for about 15 minutes. He didn’t stop shaking violently at all during that time. Thankfully, Aaron did not need the oxygen mask after the rigor stopped. Aaron said it was so violent of shaking that he was thinking this must be what a seizure feels like. Just before he got the demerol, he was about to ask for something to put in his mouth because he was starting to bite down on his cheeks. It was pretty scary to watch but I knew Jesus was in control which made all the difference in the world in being able to handle it.

Because of all this, the doctors wanted to get Aaron on a monitor so that his heartrate, blood pressure and oxygen concentration were being watched continually. He hasn’t had to be on a monitor in over 4 months but this will be good in case it starts to happen again. Since they don’t have the ability to remotely monitor a patient on the 8th floor where we were, we had to move up to the 10th floor (home sweet home!). Actually, we are back in room 1040 where we started out! We were all settled in our “new” room about 5 a.m.

The doctor came in this morning and said that Aaron likely has a bacteria in his blood and no immune system to fight it because he is neutropinic. That is probably where the fever came from that caused the rigor. He is receiving the best antibiotics that you can get and that is helping him fight the bacteria. The doctor said the first fever is always the worst and they do not expect him to have another rigor. He is still being monitored though. Right now, Aaron is great, Praise God! Maybe a little fever but well enough to sit up and play a game on his computer. Please, pray for no more high fevers! And, Praise God also for antibiotics! After trusting Jesus through the difficult events of last night, I feel like King David did when he said:

How the king rejoices in your strength, O Lord!
He shouts with joy because you give him victory.

For you have given him his heart’s desire;
you have withheld nothing he requested.

You have endowed him with eternal blessings
and given him the joy of your presence.

For the king trusts in the Lord.
The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.

Psalm 21:1,2,6,7

Happy Thanksgiving! We have a lot to give God thanks and praise for every Thanksgiving (actually everyday!) but this year we have extra blessings to celebrate. God has done an amazing miracle in choosing to heal Aaron that we have seen with our own eyes. God is good all the time. Here is a small list of things that we are thankful for this year!

AARON:

• staying with my family
• food
• my wife and kids
• somebody always staying with me in the hospital, having company
• God touching so many hearts through my sickness
• playing video games with friends
• my job at Newleads
• Tommy and Vanessa running our youth group ministry while we have been gone
• that my kids are so much fun
• the youth in our youth group
• Wet Ones
• God’s truth
• friends
• all the incredible love and support we’ve received
• how sweet Michaela is when I get out of the hospital
• my Treo
• being able to stay at the Tiverton so that my family is close
• that there are so many things that we are thankful for that we can just randomly list things and not run out of things to list

NATALIE:

• that what God says in the Bible is true
• a host of amazing family and friends
• an intact family
• beautiful children and a wonderful husband
• learning about faith and other lessons
• Dr. Paquette, doctors and nurses, who have had wisdom and skill dispensed to them by God; all the wonderful people we have met at UCLA who tenderly care for the sick everyday
• the power of prayer
• coffee
• being able to homeschool
• an omnipotent God who is in control of everything, there is nothing too difficult for Him!
• a God who smites
• an omniscient God: He knows. We don’t have to figure anything out–just trust Him!
• an omnipresent God: being able to look back at the last 7 months and see God’s hand of protection all along; Be anxious for nothing…He is near!
• Jesus Christ, our Redeemer
• not having to worry or fear anything

MICHAELA:

• Jesus
• doggies
• Mommy and Daddy and Brother
• animals
• snakes (the good ones)
• trees
• policemen and firemen
• flowers
• aunts and uncles
• sun
• toys
• electricity
• Little Bear (her stuffed bear)
• outside
• horses and ladybugs
• UCLA
• the ground
• rainbows
• libraries
• doctors

CHRISTOPHER:

• sleeping
• Mommy
• water
• TV
• Mommy
• playing games with Johanna and Sister
• grandmas and grandpas
• trashcans
• cereal
• Sister
• Christmas
• mirrors
• Daddy
• goo

Thank God! He deserves your thanks! His love never quits! Psalm 136:1

On Friday, they let us out for a few days. I had started to get a little feverish but thankfully it was minimal and immediately subsided. I am not feeling too bad yet, just waiting…

It looks like I will be admitted back into the hospital on Wednesday, for a hospital Thanksgiving! We picked up some cute Thanksgiving paper ware so that we can celebrate in style. We even got a welcome mat, at the 99 cent store, to create the Thanksgiving ambiance!

BTW, I have discovered more and more, that loosing my immune system from the chemo is somewhat specific to AML treatment. It makes sense, since AML is a cancer of the bone marrow. Only one more time, though!

Felicia Torres, don’t worry about it!

nstryker, I started designing the coaster, but once I got the track engineered in my super duper computer roller coaster simulator, it actually did not seem too thrilling.

Ryan Vick, I too am glad you did not get sick and die! I am going to give you a hug next time I see you for doing that. :)

And to everyone else, thank you so much for your comments, we love them so much!

Aaron is finished with chemo! He was supposed to receive 2 doses a day for 4 days–a total of 8 doses. However, the doctors decided not to give him the last 2 doses because his liver enzyme level is too elevated and they were thinking that it may be due to receiving the chemo. So, they discontinued the chemo as a better-safe-than-sorry type of thing. His main doctor stopped by and said he does not believe that the increase is due to the chemo. He wasn’t concerned and was laughing about Aaron sneaking out of the last 2 doses. I did some looking around on the Internet tonight and discovered that one of the steroids Aaron is receiving causes elevated liver enzyme levels. We mentioned it and the doctors decided to discontinue that as well. If Aaron’s liver enzyme level comes down and he does not get a fever, we might get to go to the Tiverton for a few days before he is neutropinic. Tonight, he is getting a little feverish so we will see what happerns.

Before we left for this hospital stay, my main prayer was that this round would not be as harsh on Aaron as the last round was. So far, that has proven to be true and I am grateful to God for that. We appreciate everyone continuing to stand with us in prayer. Much love to you all!

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1,2

Well, here we are again, ready to begin the roller coaster ride that is chemotherapy. A roller coaster that only has low points, that is. :)

This last week has been a lot like going into work on a Friday. Yeah, it’s not the weekend yet, but just one more day of work. We are not done yet, but just one more round! They should be bringing me my first dose of chemo any minute now, which is always the worst dose. So here I go again, one more round…