Little Victories

Posted on July 4, 2022 by Margaret

As we suspected, Nelson is pressing the hospital staff for an exit-date from the hospital. Now that he’s been transferred from the ICU to a regular hospital room, there’s a new set of physical goals to reach. For example, he needs to be weaned off the high density oxygen without his numbers slipping below 95. And he needs to be able to walk around without his heart rate rising above 120. Nelson is doing everything in his power to meet these requirements, but most of it is out of his control. He did have several victories today, though.

1. The cancerous nodules in both lungs that were “too numerous to count“ have all significantly shrunken.
2. The swollen lymph nodes on both sides of his neck have also gotten smaller. They can’t be felt anymore from the outside.
3. His platelet count is up and all other blood numbers are stable.
4. He needs one less blood pressure medicine to keep his pressure up.
5. Two catheters have been removed, along with one IV line.
6. The lab lady was able to find a vein on her first try for this morning‘s blood draw.
7. Pain meds are no longer being given by IV but only by mouth.

But sadly, today wasn’t only about victories. We received one negative piece of news that both shocked and disappointed us: Despite being on blood thinners, Nelson now has a large blood clot under his clavicle bone area.

When his team gave him the details about this, he became overwhelmed with anxiety. After the doctors left, leaving his mind swirling, he called and told us he couldn’t handle “all this“ anymore, because there was no end in sight. They had asked him questions about making choices for moving forward, and he had been unable to organize his thoughts enough to answer. He seemed on the verge of panic, so we quickly mobilized and were in his room in just minutes.

He was still feeling anxious, telling us he felt like his hospital room had become a prison he could never get out of. But he was relieved to see us, especially his beloved Ann Sophie.

Just before we arrived, they had done a 90 minute ultrasound of his swollen arm, looking closely at the clot. They learned it was not just a small, marble-sized clot but one that reaches into four different veins: the internal jugular vein, the subclavian vein, the auxiliary vein, and the upper arm cephalic vein.

As a result, blood is flowing into Nelson‘s arm and legs but can’t get out. His limbs are so swollen now that he virtually can’t bend them.

The head nurse came in to answer more questions, bringing a print-out to help us understand. Once we saw the scope of the problem, we quizzed her at length about how to “fix it.“ She told us three teams of oncology experts would be arriving tomorrow morning: vascular, pulmonary, and radiation. All of them are familiar with Nelson‘s case, and together with him, they will structure a plan. We hope to be there listening in.

Before we left tonight, Ann Sophie questioned Nelson‘s nurse about his anti-anxiety meds, and they promised to be sure he had enough. Nelson never asks. He just carefully thanks every person who enters his room, telling them what a good job they’ve done and how he’s thankful for their care. This goes for everyone from medical people to food servers to cleaning crews. We’ve watched him bring light and goodness to each one.

Nelson is making a difference in the lives of many at the Clinic. As the old Sunday school song says, “Brighten the corner where you are.“

And despite today’s bad news, that’s what he’s doing.

“You are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8)

Sirens and Rotors

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Margaret

Although Rochester, Minnesota, isn’t a big city, there is no day without the sound of sirens and helicopter rotor blades. And they all say Mayo Clinic on the side. These are welcome sounds because they indicate that some very sick people are being transported to the help they need.

After a 911 call last Thursday after midnight, Nelson was ambulanced to the people and medical equipment he needed. Today the doctor told Ann Sophie that the single most important factor in saving Nelson‘s life was that our apartment was only five minutes from Mayo Clinic.

This helped the EMTs get him there in a hurry. We were speechless in hearing this, since it’s the second time God has stood in the way of death to let Nelson live.

Today included more sibling visits as the clinic continued to listen to, and act on our pleas to be near Nelson—beneficial to both patient and visitors. He was much like his old self today, though still in need of morphine to eliminate pain that would otherwise be unbearable.

Several doctors said they were shocked by Nelson’s rapid improvement. After all, it’s been only 2 1/2 days since he was in a very bad way. The plan had been to let him stand by his bed for a few minutes today. But as usual, Nelson pushed the envelope and did three laps around the nurses station instead. The walker, the two nurses and Ann Sophie accompanying him, were there mostly to tote the equipment.

Nelson worked up a little sweat during his walk but was glad to be back on his feet. Best of all, he did it without the warmed, humidified oxygen he’s been using in the ICU, though he still needs a high concentration through the smaller cannula.

Then, at about 4 PM, the catheter into his heart was removed—no longer necessary. All of his heart numbers have stabilized.

By 5 PM the hospital let us know he would be moving from the ICU into a regular hospital room, and by 7 PM, he was there. Knowing Nelson, his first question for the doctor will be, “When can I go home?”

“Nothing will be impossible with God.“ (Luke 1:37)

Life in the ICU

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Margaret

Intensive Care Units are places of action and, as the name indicates, intensity. The centerpiece in each room is a very sick patient who is laced with wires, tubes and lines. This needy person is tended to by multiple medical personnel, each doing a different job.

The rule says only two visitors per day, and those must be on a pre-registered list with „gatekeepers“ at the main hospital entrance. This list maxes out at five people. Nelson has six siblings, a wife, and a mom who all wanted to see him, but rules are rules.

Thankfully, Mayo Clinic was willing to flex on its rules for Nelson’s family. Many of us got to sit next to our patient today, two-by-two, for just a few minutes. Others will do so tomorrow. What we observed made us all appreciate that Nelson is there.

Nurse Kate bustled about the room efficiently without stopping once, even while answering our questions. Behind Nelson’s bed was his IV pole (laden with six different bags of liquid) and multiple TV screens flickering with a rainbow array of numbers. Kate was watching Nelson’s stats on multiple monitors, checking every beep, buzz and bell.

As we chatted with Nelson, the doctor came in and gave us a chance to ask questions. He commented on how well Nelson looked compared to when he came in the day before. He said, „When you first came in, well, let’s just say….whew!“ He said it as he pretended to wipe sweat off his brow. We understood.

Then Nelson said, „How many more days before I can leave the ICU and go to a regular hospital room?“

The doctor said, „You’re still here for two reasons: 1) That IV going into your neck goes straight to your heart and 2) The humidified, warm, high-dose oxygen you’re getting is keeping your O2 level from falling again. In a regular hospital room they can’t do those two things for you.“ Nelson nodded and accepted his fate. But he leaned over and said, „Can you believe I’ve been sitting in this same spot for two straight days?“

By the end of this day, we’d heard four pieces of happy information: 1) The fluid they’d withdrawn from around Nelson’s heart had no trace of cancer in it. 2) Nelson’s oxygen levels have been so consistently good that they removed the bulky, uncomfortable cannula and are now trying a much smaller one, the kind regular hospital rooms use. 3) Tomorrow they’ll no longer need to put medications through the line going into his heart, a step closer to removing it. 4) Tomorrow he’ll get to stand up for a few minutes, thus getting out of the bed as he’s so wanted to do. 5) And best of all, the doctor said, at 11:00 PM tonight, that it’s possible Nelson will leave the ICU for a regular hospital room tomorrow!