Deja Vu All Over Again

Well, I haven't posted in a while, because things have been going well, for the most part. Over the past two months, Greg has been recuperating, trying to get stronger and feeling pretty good.

That all changed Sunday. He got a fever, we went to the hospital, and as of 5 this morning, he's in ICU, on a ventilator, and has some sort of pneumonia (he went into respiratory distress). We just don't know what kind of pneumonia. I'm having flashbacks to 2003. The good news is, I'm not pregnant this time. They don't believe its PCP, because his CT scan doesn't look like it, and he was covered for it with meds for the last 3 months.

He is currently considered critical, but stable, but they warned me he can go south very quickly. We're in Cox South in Springfield, and there's no talk of any helicopter rides to St Louis as yet. He's not stable enough for that right now. At least he's not on an orthopedic ward like he was the last time! I specifically asked the doc if I need to circle the wagons, and he said, "Not today." I didn't find that terribly comforting.

I've seen about 6 docs today, and the theoretical diagnosis changed about every 23 minutes. Right now they think he has "breakthrough zygomycosis." Go ahead. Google it. If you can figure out what they're talking about, you're way ahead of me. About all I can retain is that he has been covered for about 80 percent of all mold-type pneumonia since his transplant. So, naturally, this is in the 20 percent they can't cover for. They want to scope out and "wash" his lungs, but they can't until they can get 6(!) units of platelets into him (they keep saying they've "called for a six-pack." Really.) And a lung biopsy is out of the question, because of his low platelet count. As usual, they're all freaking out around here about his count. I asked what it was. 21. I was thrilled. I told them, "Hey, we've been at 3. 21 is excellent for him!" But, even putting the ventilator tube in made him bleed. So, we're waiting for the platelets. As usual. And he bit his lip and it bled like a stuck pig. I guess a little blood on a white sheet goes a loooooooong way. However, I have to say that the infectious disease doc and the pulmonary doc both seem very smart. Maybe that's because I didn't have a clue about 3/4ths of the stuff they were saying.

I've been in contact with Dr. Vij's office in St. L so they know what's going on. Greg is scheduled for a DLI next week there. Basically, they're collecting more stem cells as I write this from his original donor in Europe to give him an extra "boost" to get his counts up -- not uncommon. Needless to say, I RSVP'd to tell them we would be late.

That's about all I feel like writing now. I'll try to write more later, if I learn anything new.

Keep those prayers coming!