Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:34:22 -0500
Reply-To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: MOD Mike Collum 11/28 update
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Mary says:
>Amazing! He has had three really good days. This hospital is
>wonderful!!! They called in a consultant and along with all the
>other doctors involved....must be about 15 or more, they have
>decided to take him off the steroids, put him back on a smaller
>dosage of the chemo drug. His kidneys may not return to normal
>however we are not giving up that happening just yet. The Lungs
>have not healed as much as they would like but the x-rays for the
>past several days have not changed so nothing new is going on in
>there. He has maintained a positive attitude and his spirit has
>been high all the way. His doctors tell him that his attitude
>toward all that has been going on with him has helped him
>tremendously. He is making his own blood now and he has started
>getting some immune cells back, although the number is low it is
>still great news. He is still getting dialysis every
>day. Yesterday they got him up and walked him around in the hall
>for the first time in over a month. He did ok but had to stop
>several times to put on the mask along with the nose canula to get
>his oxygenation back up to a good level. They told us yesterday
>that he may get to go home on Wednesday or Friday. However in order
>to do that he has to be able to get up, move around normally and
>still maintain an oxygenation level of 92 and all the infections and
>fungi that is showing in his blood must be gone. When he leaves
>here he will still have to have dialysis every day, still be on
>antibiotics for at least 6 weeks. Not sure if his blood sugar will
>return to normal after the steroids are finished. Hopefully he will
>be ok in that he was never a diabetic before. There is a host of
>other meds he will be on too but we can handle that. He is looking
>forward to going home, says he has to do something to the Westy to
>get it ready for winter. I know the water storage tank needs to be
>drained but not sure what else. He would like to get in his Westy
>and take a nap!!! Can you believe that!!! Hope we have a mild
>winter because I am sure he is going to be sitting in his Westy for
>a few hours every week. Thanks for keeping in touch. My ability to
>get on line is difficult at times. Mary
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