Journal entry by David and Melissa Soucy —
"Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim."
Hello family and friends!
I am sorry I have not been posting often, as we really have been just treading water. There has been many ups and downs the past several weeks. Times where we have all felt the sense of hope and a glimmer of lights at the end of a tunnel, and then days like yesterday where that light was blown out quickly.
I (Melissa) was here last Wednesday. While here dad was put in ICU for blood pressure concerns. Basically, when you are on certain blood pressure medications you earn a spot in ICU. (Earn...really?) Things were ok and we were making gains with blood pressure and heart issues and sinking with kidney function. The kidneys take a huge hit with all cancer patients. The amount of medications that go through them is infinite...seriously. It tends to clog up the kidneys, which in turn causes a domino effect on all the other organs in his body. When I headed home Saturday, Dad was stable and blood pressure was almost back to normal with very little help from medications, heart rhythm was substantially better and he was pretty stable. His kidneys were slowing down but the doctors felt they were beginning to kick back up. I left and took Kayden home too, as she traveled with me because she really wanted to see her GRANDPA!!
Then the dominoes began to fall and the waves came crashing in. Saturday night they decided the kidneys were not kicking in enough and the toxins were building up in his body so dialysis was needed. During the procedure, dad started a very profound nosebleed that was very hard to control. They had to intubate him so the blood would not get into his lungs as it was going down his windpipe from the nosebleed. Nosebleeds are very common. When you have oxygen going into you through your nose, it gets very dry, just like us Montanan's tend to get more frequent nosebleeds because of the dry air. The irritation in the nose is amplified in cancer patients as healing in much slower and blood platelets are extremely low in most cases, so the blood does not clot. His nose was a major bleed and even required him to have blood transfusions.
This all being said, Linda, Nicole and I all came back Sunday night. We are all here with dad waiting to hear more from the team of doctors and find out our next move. As for the time being, dad is resting peacefully with the help of sleepy meds and hopefully healing whatever can heal.
Again, PRAY- Thank you all!
Hello family and friends!
I am sorry I have not been posting often, as we really have been just treading water. There has been many ups and downs the past several weeks. Times where we have all felt the sense of hope and a glimmer of lights at the end of a tunnel, and then days like yesterday where that light was blown out quickly.
I (Melissa) was here last Wednesday. While here dad was put in ICU for blood pressure concerns. Basically, when you are on certain blood pressure medications you earn a spot in ICU. (Earn...really?) Things were ok and we were making gains with blood pressure and heart issues and sinking with kidney function. The kidneys take a huge hit with all cancer patients. The amount of medications that go through them is infinite...seriously. It tends to clog up the kidneys, which in turn causes a domino effect on all the other organs in his body. When I headed home Saturday, Dad was stable and blood pressure was almost back to normal with very little help from medications, heart rhythm was substantially better and he was pretty stable. His kidneys were slowing down but the doctors felt they were beginning to kick back up. I left and took Kayden home too, as she traveled with me because she really wanted to see her GRANDPA!!
Then the dominoes began to fall and the waves came crashing in. Saturday night they decided the kidneys were not kicking in enough and the toxins were building up in his body so dialysis was needed. During the procedure, dad started a very profound nosebleed that was very hard to control. They had to intubate him so the blood would not get into his lungs as it was going down his windpipe from the nosebleed. Nosebleeds are very common. When you have oxygen going into you through your nose, it gets very dry, just like us Montanan's tend to get more frequent nosebleeds because of the dry air. The irritation in the nose is amplified in cancer patients as healing in much slower and blood platelets are extremely low in most cases, so the blood does not clot. His nose was a major bleed and even required him to have blood transfusions.
This all being said, Linda, Nicole and I all came back Sunday night. We are all here with dad waiting to hear more from the team of doctors and find out our next move. As for the time being, dad is resting peacefully with the help of sleepy meds and hopefully healing whatever can heal.
Again, PRAY- Thank you all!
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