Thursday, August 15, 2013

a long 24 and other notes

Greetings and Salutations -

Well, I had to go back and read my last post because I wasn't really sure where I left off.  It's been that kind of few days.  And I didn't really read it, I just skimmed it, so my apologies if I repeat something.

The last few days have been beyond nuts and I'm hopeful that we'll see smooth sailing on the horizon ahead.  I'm pretty tired, so I'm attempting to keep this rundown brief, but it may not turn out that way.

So, earlier in the week, Kurtis was scheduled for a blood transfusion on Wednesday which he did have, but he also got blood on Tuesday.  He was feeling really terrible and we ended up going into the cancer center for treatment.  They sent us to the hospital for two units of blood that afternoon with one the following morning (three units in total for you math whiz types).  This helped Kurtis feel better, but not endlessly so.  His blood number was at nine (remember that twelve-fourteen is normal for males of his size) and we headed home where I cleaned up our house in preparation for school starting and in the evening, Kurtis' mom came.

Now the fun really starts.

While finishing up baking some banana bread Madeline's for our staff breakfast Chauncey bounded in from the backyard and proceeded to bleed all over the house.  With pressure on his paw, I couldn't slow the bleeding at all so we fixed him a paper-towel-and-hair-tie bandage and I took him to the CSU urgent care animal hospital.  I was expecting him to get bandaged up like he has in the past when he's cut his paws, but after waiting some time I found out that he needed surgery.  So, emergency surgery for the dog (they had to call a surgeon in) after it took them forty-five minutes to stop his bleeding.

At midnight we headed home and by 12:45 or so I had successfully gotten him to pee outside, shoved six pills down his throat and carried him upstairs all while trying not to wake Kurtis up.  It was an adventure.  And of course, work started today and Kurtis and his mom were headed for chemo so ... Chauncey got to come to work.  Thankfully I work in the most amazing place in the world.

Today while I was at work, Kurtis and his mom headed to a doctor's appointment and ended up being checked into the hospital.  He needed a GI test to figure out where the bleeding was coming from as well as some more blood to try to push him to 'normal' and the lung doc came in to see him. Basic rundown:
-The blood went well, helping his color and making him feel some better
-The GI test found some bleeding nodules in his stomach and, unfortunately, the GI doctor thinks that they are tumors as well.  He put some clamps in to help stop the bleeding and pathology will get back with results tomorrow
-Tomorrow, Kurtis will have another lung drain or he'll have a drain placed so he can drain it himself.  I think right now he's leaning toward the personal drain

So, there you have it.  Our crazy 24 hours.  I'm hoping that we'll get out of the woods soon and that Kurtis can start feeling better very soon.  I'll update tomorrow as I'm sure many of you would like to know what is going on.

All our love,
Liz, Kurtis, and Chauncey-my-foot-is-hurt dog

1 comment:

  1. So sorry to hear of all this...As you continue this battle, please continue to have faith that soon this will just be conversation material. Sending love and prayers your way. I so admire the strength of both of you.

    ReplyDelete