Andrea update

Note from Mom:

Dear family,
Here I go again with a note about Andrea! But this time it is
better news! She has some movement in her arms and was able to grip
the doctor's hands this morning. I doubt that I have all the details
correct, but I will tell a little of what has transpired in the last
few days. I was with her on Monday and Tuesday as Mike's colitis had
kicked up and he had to go home and "take care of himself" for a few
days. Marilyn took Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off and came up
late Wednesday morning to stay with her. She was about the same as I
had reported when I got home and e-mailed you all. She has had a
terrible problem with constipation with her immobility and pain
medications so they gave her something for it on Thursday. Mike was
up there on Thursday evening with Marilyn and Andrea had some
explosive diarrhea, but when they went around the bed to tell her
they would get her cleaned up, Marilyn said her eyes were wide open
and her pupils were totally dilated and they couldn't get any
response from her. They were terrified and called and said they
needed a nurse right away and four of them came running. When they
saw the diarrhea mess they said, "Oh, we'll get this taken care of."
Marilyn said she told them, "You don't understand, her pupils are
completely dilated and she isn't responding at all! The nurse did
some checks and called the doctor, who checked her and concluded,
"We've got her overdosed!" In trying to get her pain under control
they had tried a narcotic patch, as well as giving the IV morphine
when she seemed to need it. So they have backed off on those
medications and her speech has cleared up and she's more alert. I
believe it was Friday night, a chiropractor that Mike and Marilyn
have used for years came in to see Andrea at Mike and Marilyn's
request. When he saw Andrea's condition, he told Marilyn that he was
very reluctant to do anything, but Marilyn just told him, "Nothing is
happening, nothing else has helped. If you want me to sign a waiver
absolving you of all liability, I will do that, but we need to try
it." He was able to fairly easily make an adjustment at C1-C2; he
said she also had some problem at C3, but he couldn't make that
adjustment on a soft bed. He left saying, "Marilyn, call me if we
have a miracle." A little later, Andrea was very angry about
something and began to just throw her arms around (it doesn't sound
like there was much controlled movement, but at least it was
movement.) This morning Andrea was able to grasp the neurologist's
hands with hers when asked to do so. (Marilyn called the
chiropractor and told him, "We have a miracle!") Marilyn said that
they really can't know that the chiropractic treatment was the cause
of the change as this is about the time they expected the Cytoxan
treatment might begin to show some effect. Whatever has helped,
we'll take it. Mike and Marilyn are hoping they can take Andrea
home on Tuesday. The doctor's feel that the abscess is clearing up,
though they are reluctant to do another CT scan to check as she has
had so much radiation with the various tests in the last little
while. They have restarted her tube feeding and she is receiving 40
cc an hour and seems to be tolerating that pretty well. Let's hope
this is just the start of improvement! I'll keep you posted,
Love,
Jan

Pictures of flowers from Jay, Candy and Lukas