Couple of updates for you. Shantel is back in PICU. They moved her today after she started having some difficulty breathing yesterday. The Dr. said today she isn't moving any air through the airways so back on continuous nebulizers and heliox.
Mom has an infection at her drain site that won't heal so they came back to NC on Thursday for a Friday appointment. The Dr. put her on Cipro for the weekend and today she had a followup appointment. The meds appear to be working so they continued the Cipro and added a couple other drugs. She'll have another checkup on Thursday.
Nathan, Heather and the kids came over Saturday to spend the day. We had a wonderful time cooking out and hanging out.
Please continue to pray for Shantel that her breathing will stabilize until Nov. when she can have her transplant at Duke and for my Mom that the infection will heal so she can continue chemo.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
UPDATE 8/19/2009
Well, we are still in PICU and Shantel seems to be showing small signs of improvements each day. She is still on high doses of steroids and continuous nebulizers which they have slowly reduced the amount. The positives are she is awake more and eating. Last night she even played bingo.......every Tuesday night is bingo night for the kids. The Dr. said her air movement is better but she still struggles to breath if she moves too much. Her heart rate is slowly coming down as is her rate of breathing.
Mom is doing well. She wasn't able to have her chemo this week because her drain site became infected. She's back on antibiotics and it's clearing up. Her blood counts were good as was her cancer maker test. Dad and Mom have been enjoying their summer in NY. They will be coming back to NC in Sept. when Mom has here check up and is scheduled for a stent replacement.
Our lives are day to day.......sometimes minute to minute......but as my Dad reminded me just the other day that God loves Mom and Shantel more than we do and He has the perfect plan for them.
Mom is doing well. She wasn't able to have her chemo this week because her drain site became infected. She's back on antibiotics and it's clearing up. Her blood counts were good as was her cancer maker test. Dad and Mom have been enjoying their summer in NY. They will be coming back to NC in Sept. when Mom has here check up and is scheduled for a stent replacement.
Our lives are day to day.......sometimes minute to minute......but as my Dad reminded me just the other day that God loves Mom and Shantel more than we do and He has the perfect plan for them.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
SUNDAY UPDATE
Respiratory failure aren't the words you ever want to hear! Her CO2 numbers are coming back good so hopefully the treatments she is receiving now will keep her stable. They are still keeping a very close eye on Shantel. She had a good night last night....minus the fact we made many, many trips to the bathroom and bed changes thanks to Golightly! Oh, if you don't know what Golightly I trust you'll never need to know!!!!! :)
Her heart rate and respiration were better last night but started going up again this afternoon. We were very excited because she ate some spaghetti O's, was a little more talkative and played on her Webkinz some.
Please keep her in your prayers. She's not out of the woods by any means.
Her heart rate and respiration were better last night but started going up again this afternoon. We were very excited because she ate some spaghetti O's, was a little more talkative and played on her Webkinz some.
Please keep her in your prayers. She's not out of the woods by any means.
Friday, August 14, 2009
SHANTEL UPDATE
Shantel is pretty much the same today. Her heart rate is high as is her respiration's. She is still on high doses of steroids and continuous albuteral and heliox. She sleeps most of the time because it wears her out to work so hard to breath. They are watching her closely. Honestly, she has everyone concerned.
On a positive note her CO2 levels were ok .........and she wanted Spaghetti O's !! :):)
We certainly appreciate all your prayers and thoughts and thank you all for your kind words of encouragement.
On a positive note her CO2 levels were ok .........and she wanted Spaghetti O's !! :):)
We certainly appreciate all your prayers and thoughts and thank you all for your kind words of encouragement.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
ROUGH DAYS
The past two days have been difficult for Shantel and today they have moved her to PICU. She is having to work very hard to breath so they have given her 3 doses of 60mg of steroids (YIKES) which messes with her sugars.....at one point today her sugars were so high the machine didn't read it! She has also been put on continuous heliox, a combination of helium and oxygen, and albutural. Working this hard to breath wears her out so she has been sleeping a lot. We know she's in good hands at Duke with nurses, Dr.s and staff that care about her and take excellent care of her. We also know she's in the best hands with God and His timing will be perfect for her lung transplant. It's just so hard to wait!!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
PARTY DOWN !!!!
This is what a "SUGARLAND" party at Duke looks like!!
So, here's the story. Three years ago when Shantel came to live with us she was able to attend school. I would take her each morning and on the way we would listen to my IPOD which has my favorite group Sugarland on it. One morning I didn't have it on and as we got closer to school she says "Mel, put on "Settlin" and I'll be your backup singer." So it became our routine. Every school morning I put on Sugarland's "Settlin" and Shantel would sing at the top of her lungs as my backup singer. What was even funnier is that she had been watching the video on CMT and would do the motions also!
We took Shantel to a Sugarland concert when they came to our area. I was able to get seats 12 rows back.......it was awesome!!!!! Little Big Town opened for Sugarland. Shantel loves them also so it was a really special night. She stood on the chair the entire concert and danced and sang at the top of her lungs!
Last night Sugarland had an hour special on ABC so I asked Shantel on Friday if she'd like me to come up and we'd have a "Sugarland" party. She was all excited and planned the details. Being in the hospital so much means you have to think up fun things to do. Shantel decided we need to have Japanese food for dinner so I stopped at our favorite place and brought up the food. She thought we would also need popcorn so I took up a box of popcorn to pop. She had gotten all her meds taken and treatments done early so we could enjoy the "party." We ate dinner, she showed me her new webkins on the computer and played a game of Yahtzee, which I unbelievable won cause I rarely beat Shantel, all before the concert started. When the show came on we sat on the bed next to each other and sang the songs and laughed.
It was a special time!
Shantel showing off her "rock star"
bad self!
At the Sugarland concert with her new shirt
So, here's the story. Three years ago when Shantel came to live with us she was able to attend school. I would take her each morning and on the way we would listen to my IPOD which has my favorite group Sugarland on it. One morning I didn't have it on and as we got closer to school she says "Mel, put on "Settlin" and I'll be your backup singer." So it became our routine. Every school morning I put on Sugarland's "Settlin" and Shantel would sing at the top of her lungs as my backup singer. What was even funnier is that she had been watching the video on CMT and would do the motions also!
We took Shantel to a Sugarland concert when they came to our area. I was able to get seats 12 rows back.......it was awesome!!!!! Little Big Town opened for Sugarland. Shantel loves them also so it was a really special night. She stood on the chair the entire concert and danced and sang at the top of her lungs!
Last night Sugarland had an hour special on ABC so I asked Shantel on Friday if she'd like me to come up and we'd have a "Sugarland" party. She was all excited and planned the details. Being in the hospital so much means you have to think up fun things to do. Shantel decided we need to have Japanese food for dinner so I stopped at our favorite place and brought up the food. She thought we would also need popcorn so I took up a box of popcorn to pop. She had gotten all her meds taken and treatments done early so we could enjoy the "party." We ate dinner, she showed me her new webkins on the computer and played a game of Yahtzee, which I unbelievable won cause I rarely beat Shantel, all before the concert started. When the show came on we sat on the bed next to each other and sang the songs and laughed.
It was a special time!
Shantel showing off her "rock star"
bad self!
At the Sugarland concert with her new shirt
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