Update 02/07/17

Time flies by when you are fighting cancer and in the hospital.  Time blends together and you begin to be confused on which days things happened.  Katy and I have a name for it.  We call it hospital time.

Katy has been in the hospital for her 3rd round of chemotherapy since January 12.  She started with 5 days of chemo drugs and, for the first 2 weeks, was bored while we waited for count recovery.  On the 14th day into the chemotherapy cycle things changed.  It has been crazy ever since.  Katy has had 2 blood bacterial infections, fevers, GI bleeding, a urinary tract infection called BK Virus, and a severe lung infection that has her needing C-Pap and high flow oxygen with a mask.

In the last two weeks, she has had to endure 4 peripheral IV's on top of a double lumen central line, 3 CT Scans, chest x-rays, echocardiograms, EKG's, IV antibiotics and anti-fungal medications, medications to stop the GI bleeds, countless platelet and blood transfusions, serious diuresis, pokes, prods and multiple other indignities.

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, Katy's team of doctors told us that they believe she has a significant fungal lung infection, in which they doubt she can recover from.  Even if she does recover, and it is truly a fungal infection, she will not be able to proceed with bone marrow transplantation.  They asked Katy if she wanted life saving measures, such as intubation and heart resuscitation, to which Katy replied "no."  They suggested she spend time with family and friends and allowed our bird, Basil, to visit her in the hospital.

We called family and had many visitors over this last weekend.  As of today, surprisingly, but in true Katy fashion, Katy has remained stable, if not slightly better, from a pulmonary standpoint.  She started having some GI bleeding problems again yesterday morning.  But even that seems under control today.

To summarize, Katy is in a very fragile, but currently, stable place in terms of her lung infection.  She is on antibiotic and anti-fungal treatments.  We are treating the current GI bleed.  We are anxiously awaiting for her white blood cell count to rise, in order to see how she will respond to this lung infection.  We have been told that Katy will most likely get worse as her white blood cell counts rise because they create an inflammatory response in her lungs.  We are hoping she can manage with the pulmonary support she is currently receiving.  Until we believe treatment can no longer help her, or until she gets better, she will remain in the hospital.

Before Katy got sick, she was creating some beautiful art.  I've included some pics below.

I will try to keep the blog updated every couple of days with brief updates, as we go through this process.  Thanks to everyone for visiting, providing food, and keeping our spirits up.  Thanks so much the Ali Thackeray and her cute girls for giving our front door a heart attack last night.  See pics below.  It takes a village and we feel truly supported.

Love,

Christina