Mary Jo Update #31 - Another Day...Another Hurdle

Most everything was looking good this morning. Mary Jo's hair has started falling out again, and the sores in mouth are getting a little worse every day. But, her diarrhea has stopped. No more nausea and stomach cramping. She hasn't vomited in over a week. She hasn't had to use the morphine pump at all for over 24 hours. Her rash has disappeared. Her body temperature has been normal for over 24 hours. Her heart rate has settled down to a normal range between 78-84, with no wild gyrations. Her potassium and magnesium levels are holding their own. She has maintained her weight through all of this, she has experienced no breathing problems.

Dr. Engehardt said that everything was on track. Mary Jo just needed to start walking more and sitting in a chair, rather than staying in bed all the time. But, just when we thought nothing else could possibly happen, and that the tide had turned, Mary Jo has developed gross hematuria, with a lot of blood and blood clots in her urine. It started in the afternoon, and has progressively gotten worse this evening.

They had planned on giving her a two units of blood before the hematuria started. Now, they are giving her two units of platelets, in addition, to the blood to see if that helps the situation. She doesn't have any pain. They don't know whether it's a problem with her platelets, or an infection. They sent a vial of urine and a vial of blood to the lab for analysis. I guess that we are in a holding pattern until we get the results.

You have to be amazed at how powerful that chemo drug called BCNU is. That was the one she had last Saturday when her heart rate went over 180, we went to the ER, and she was admitted to the hospital. The BCNU side effects/hurdles list on the internet says that "Most people do not experience all of the side effects listed." But, Mary Jo is slowly, but surely, working her way through the list. She only has 2 or 3 of the side effects/hurdles left.

Before the hematuria started, Mary Jo heard Rod Stewart sing his new song called "Can't Stop Me Now" on Good Morning America this morning. Part of the song goes "You can't stop me now, the tide has turned." Mary Jo said that was going to be her new inspiration song. It seemed appropriate then. But almost a week after the BCNU, we are still waiting for the tide to turn. The hurdles keep coming.



So far, Mary Jo has been able to make it over all the hurdles that the BCNU has thrown her way. Please pray that the hematuria is nothing serious, and that Mary Jo can make it over this one, too. So that, we can get this tide turnin'. Amen?