Still hangin in there

Today has been much like yesterday. Medicines, IVs, a shower, a little food, and lots of waiting. At around 8:30 this morning the nurse said that Linda was to receive a blood transfusion because of a low red blood cell count (anemia) which showed up on her 4:00 AM blood tests. This just involved Linda signing another waiver and the nurse running one more line into her catheter. It took about three hours total. The various liquids they are pumping into Linda are shown in the picture (taken this morning). The doctor said that the anemia was mild, but it is standard procedure to give a transfusion in the case of anemia during IL-2 because the treatment seems to work better when patients have a higher red blood cell count.

The doctors still say to expect worse side effects tomorrow and Sunday, but said that Linda is doing very well, relatively speaking.

Otherwise, Linda has passed the time playing Set and Boggle with Andrea, watching a movie and TV, working on a Sudoku puzzle, reading e-mails and blog responses, eating a little, and sleeping. We are all looking forward to the Red Sox game tonight (sorry, Tom). On another note, Jim and Andrea have both had a chance to take advantage of the hospital workout gym, which was a nice stress relief for both.

Thanks again to everybody for checking in. It's so nice to feel connected from so far away!

Love you all!
Linda, Jim, and Andrea

So far, so good

It's around 5 PM and Linda just got her fourth IL-2 treatment. Ten more to go (we hope). The first one was certainly the most exciting. About an hour after we last posted, Linda got the first and most severe of the side effects so far, namely "the rigors". This consisted of severe chills and uncontrollable shaking from head to toe. We were warned of these ahead of time and called the nurse as soon as they began. The nurse hurried in with warm blankets and a demerol IV. The rigors lasted for about 20 minutes total until the demerol took effect. Andrea and Jim held her hands and legs to keep her on the bed.

Needless to say, we were all relieved when that was over, but a little nervous about the next injection, which would be at 2 AM. For that reason, Jim and Andrea both spent the night in the hospital. Fortunately, the rigors have not returned. Apparently it is most common with the first injections.

Other side effects she has experienced are slight nausea, temperature changes, fatigue, and hypotension (low blood pressure), all of which have been managed quite quickly by the nurses so far. We hear these and other side effects get worse on the third and fourth days.

We are extremely impressed with the care here so far. The nurses have all been very friendly and helpful, and are well-equipped and experienced to handle the side effects of IL-2. We have a double room to ourselves so between the second bed and a cot, we are quite cozy in here. Between 8-hour injections, 4-hour vital-sign-checking, and 6-hour meds, Linda didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but rested well this afternoon for about 4 hours. She also was able to take a shower this morning which was very refreshing for her.

We REALLY enjoy reading all of your comments and e-mails. We keep the blog up all the time, and whenever a new one comes in, we make sure to read it aloud to each other right away. They are morale boosters, for sure. It's great to know how many people are out there pulling for Linda.

We apologize for the phantom e-mail that was sent to some of you this morning. We accidentally posted a blank blog and then removed it when we discovered the error.

By the way, thanks Jack and Joe for the care package. As you can see, the nail polish made it to the hospital.

Love you all,

Linda, Jim, and Andrea

Another Roller Coaster Ride

What a day. Linda ate dinner (quite a lot) and kept it down with no problem. She was feeling really good as we went to sleep, with big plans for the next day. Around 3am, Linda thought she should take some Tylenol just to get ready for the morning. The night-shift nurse decided to take her temp first, and it was 102! Checked it again, 102.1. Once again, that was it. The nurse said a temp that high was a sign of some type of infection, and they won't give IL-2 under those curcumstances. Besides, IL-2 raises the body temp, and you can't start with a temp that high. She told us how sorry she was, but they would draw blood for 24 hr blood cultures and see if they could identify the type of infection. She said they would send us home with antibiotics and wait until the infection is gone. So at 4am we called Andrea and told her not to come. At 7am I started looking for flights back to Cincinnati. Needless to say, we were numb by this time.

At 8:30am, the Nurse Practioner came in. She asked, "Ready to go?". We thought she meant to leave, but she was talking about STARTING TREATMENT! What the heck? She said she spoke with Dr. McDermott, and they were convinced that Linda's white blood cell count was normal, and the fever was not due to infection. They drew blood again to make sure, and checked her temp at 10:00am (No tylenol for 6hrs)- this time it's 98.1. At 10:30 we call Andrea back and tell her it's back on. She drives to the airport at 10:40 and makes the 11:20 flight.

We would be more excited, but now they can't start until the surgeon installs the catheter in her chest where all the medication is administered. They only schedule this for the first day (yesterday), so the surgeon is busy all day today and can't come up until 4pm! ARGHHH!

Now at least Linda is feeling better, both physically and mentally. She eats a big breakfast and lunch and feels much stronger. The surgeon eventually shows up and starts installing the catheter just as Andrea walks in the room. It's now 6:45pm and the first IL-2 dose is finally being administered. Now it's really time to pray....

Jim and Linda

Nothing's ever easy....

It was not a good weekend for Linda. In addition to the persistent low grade fever and fatigue, she developed a bladder infection on Sunday. On Monday as we were at the airport ready to go, the flight was delayed one and a half hours till 6:45pm. Then she got nauseous on the plane, the first of several episodes Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Diarrhea began Tuesday morning as well. So by the time we arrived at the hospital, she was pretty much a mess. The nurse practitioner was on the fence about her starting the treatments, and when she heard about the bladder infection (and the fact that she was already taking antibiotics), that was it. As Linda was in the bathroom throwing up again, the NP said there was no way she would be able to start IL-2 injections in her condition. She said under normal circumstances, they would have sent her home and started some other week, but since we came from out of town, they didn't even want her traveling on a plane in her condition. So Dr. McDermott admitted her and started treating her nausea. He also ordered the blood tests and urinalysis to see what the extent of her infection was.
Anyway, by the afternoon, Linda was feeling much better. The tests all came back negative, that is to say that the antibiotics she took Sunday and Monday must have cleared up the bladder infection, and she thankfully didn't show signs of dehydration. She's started eating again, and our guess now is that she caught the 24-48 hr stomach virus that had been going around Cincinnati last week- at least that what we hope.
It's 6pm now, and assuming she continues to improve overnight, they plan to start the injections tomorrow afternoon, and just delay everything by a day. The big concern is that if she starts the process in a weakened state, she will not be well enough to get the full round of injections. So we wait and hope. Linda is right here in the room with me, and wants everyone to know she is feeling ok and looking forward to tomorrow. Your thoughts and prayers are deeply appreciated. We'll post again as soon as we have more information.

Love,

Jim & Linda

Three days to go!

Hello, all!
This will probably be the last post until we arrive at the hospital on Tuesday. Fortunately, things have calmed down around here lately. Jim is feeling much better now and we're just waiting and packing for the trip to Boston.
Some of you have asked for the hospital address. It's:

BIDMC
330 Brookline Ave.
7 Stoneman
Boston, MA 02215
Attn: Linda Wimmers

FYI, there are people in the same area undergoing bone marrow transplants, so flowers are prohibited. If there are any questions or you just need to get in touch with us, Jim's cell # is 513-254-7089 and mine is 513-720-5575. Andrea will be there too, and her cell # is 910-620-6020.

We plan on being temporary Red Sox fans while we're in Boston, so it should be an exciting time to be there.

I'm going into this with a very positive attitude because I've been buoyed by the love and prayers of so many of you already. I know that your support will get me through.

Love ya! Linda

Another interesting day for the Wimmers family

First and foremost, the nurse from Boston emailed Jim that "Linda has nothing between her ears". That's code for the CT of the brain was clear, and I am good to go next week.

While were in Boston Sunday and Monday, Jim developed an abcess on his tailbone that got bigger and more painful as the days passed. (You can imagine what the plane ride home was like for him.) Anyway, he got it taken care of this morning at Christ Hospital with the help of yet another Good Samaritan/neighbor, Tom Andrews.

If this weren't excitement enough, Andrea called this afternoon and told us about her day trip to Bald Head Island, where as part of her job as Recreation Director for the City of Wilmington, she was taking some older women on a tour and a walk up the Lighthouse there. Near the top, one of the participants (a 79 year old woman) collapsed, and Andrea at first feared she was dead. Paramedics were called, confirmed that she wasn't (dead), but still took another hour to get her back down. The woman turned out to be fine after a trip to the hospital, but Andrea was obviously shaken by the ordeal.

Jim and Andrea then proceeded to argue over who had the worst day. At least Jim was able to take Vicodin.

We're hoping for a liitle less excitement as we get ready for the Real Trip to Boston next Monday.

Love to you all,
Linda

Tuesday, October 2nd

Hi everybody, this is Jim. Linda is out tonight, so I thought I would send a quick note to let everyone know what hapened in Boston yesterday. Bottom line--Linda passed all her tests that we got the results for: the ECG, Pulminary Function, Stress test, blood work. The only test that matters that we didn't see was the CT Scan of her brain that they did at 5pm Monday night. Since she had an MRI of her brain only 3 weeks ago that was clear, we are hopeful they won't find anything new this time either. They said they would let us know today or tomorrow. The staff was great, and all our tests happened within 10 minutes of the scheduled time.
We got on the 6am flight this morning and are back in Cincinnati. The plan now is to go back up this coming Monday to start the IL-2 Treatments Tuesday. Thanks for all your prayers and support. Love ya,

Jim