From: Charles DeWitt [mailto:Charles.DeWitt@Vysym.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 10:21 PM
Subject: Chris visits the Emergency Room
Hello to all our friends and family!
Today I had to take Chris to the emergency room here in Frederick.
It has been 7 weeks since Chris went back into Hopkins for her 2nd chemoembolization. The week following the procedure was pretty rough but we were able to take a quick vacation and got some good R&R. After the 3rd week she was feeling well enough to go back to work. She was tired but was able to nap on occasion. Everything was headed in the right direction.
2 weeks ago though things have turned for the worse. Her temperature continued to stay up around 100 and she started not feeling well because of the fever. Long story short she has become severely dehydrated. This was causing her to be nauseous and that caused her to not be able to keep food or liquids down. Kind of a catch-22. She tried to eat and get hydrated but her body wouldn’t let her.
She spoke with her oncologist last Thursday and she ordered some bloodwork and a chest x-ray. After that day she continued to get worse. She literally has been in bed for about 5 days now. Today, at the direction of her oncologist, I took her to the emergency room. They gave her 3 very large bags of IV solution which should rehydrate her body pretty quickly. This in turn should stop her from being nauseous and that will allow her to eat and drink again. Sounds good on paper but we’ll wait and see what the results are. She also received some drugs to help keep the nausea away.
We have a meeting with her oncologist next week. We’ll be learning what to do next then. A follow-up MRI is scheduled for mid-September and then we follow-up with the doctor who did the chemoembolization. We are really hoping that all of this hard work is worth it.
Also, on top of all of this Chris’ lower back is causing her a great deal of pain. So much so that she can barely walk. Riding in the car and going over bumps hurts as well. We’re hoping that this is caused from being cooped up in bed for so long. They did several spinal x-rays today and they were negative. She needs to feel better before we can address her back. Hopefully, it is related to her dehydration.
Needless to say this has been a really tough month! Alex went back to school (which was tough for us both) as did both of the boys. I’ve been busy running around trying to get everything ready for them and taking care of Chris of the same time. It hasn’t been easy but all the school shopping is done and lunches are getting made. Ty’s bus leaves at 6:30 so I got up this week to make sure he was getting himself ready. He’s in 9th grade now! Michael is in 7th grade and leaves around 7:20. It’s quiet around here in the morning now. I’ve got a lot of work to do for work so it’s been nice.
We received lots of support and I am extremely grateful to everyone. In fact just today, someone that Chris is friends with came by and dropped off a beautiful flower arrangement and a basket of fruit. It was just perfect timing! Don’t hesitate to call me or Chris if you want. She’s not feeling too well for visitors but hopefully that will change quick!
I continue to update the blog as much as possible. Please check there for more regular updates. I think there’s some recent pictures on there as well. I’m sorry for the “not so upbeat” news but I know that everyone wants to know what’s happening.
Thank you to each and every one of you!
Charlie
Frederick, MD
charliedewitt@comcast.net
http://chris-dewitt-updates.blogspot.com/
240-285-7251 cell phone
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