A long day after a long weekend. I began having severe itching and a spreading rash at the end of next week. Over the weekend, the rash began drying and peeling, leading the docs to wonder whether the cause was a drug allergy/interaction or the start of graft-vs.-host-disease. I had a skin biopsy today that should rule in or out GVHD - results will hopefully be available Friday. I also visited the local oncologist, who wasn't as concerned as I was about it all, and said I did not need to be admitted, for which I thankful, although a bit surprised. I also had a chest xray today, since my cough has gotten worse since last week.
I hope & pray that the results of all of last week's tests, as well as the biopsy today, will be available by Friday morning, when I see the dr. at Dartmouth. Pray that I will also have enough energy and relief from pain & itching to make the flight over & back on Friday. As such, I will laying low at home this week, trying to make sure I'm rested enough to make the trip on Friday.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Friday night at home
It's been a while since I blogged, so I thought I'd give an update while I'm thinking about it. I rescheduled all of my 6 month checkups and scans from the day of Mom's funeral to this past Mon. 9/15 and Tue. 9/16. I won't get any results until next Fri. 9/26, when I will travel down for an appointment with Dr. Hill to get the results and map out the frequency of my future visits. All the tests went off OK, although I do have a rash that seems to have developed either from drug interactions or as a first sign of graft-vs-host disease. Obviously, I hope its the former, rather than the latter. I will be having a skin biopsy done in Brunswick on Mon. afternoon. Please continue to keep these matters in prayer, as well as Dad, Brian & Jenn, Kevin, and Lisa & I as we continue to grieve & process Mom's passing away.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Barbara Basner, March 8, 1948 - August 27, 2008
It is with a sad and heavy heart that I write to let you know that my mother, Barbara Basner, passed away yesterday morning, August 27, at 4am.
While our entire family deeply grieves her loss, we also greatly rejoice in her “graduation” from this earthly world of sickness to the eternal peaceful rest, health, and glory in the loving arms of her Savior, Jesus Christ.
We greatly appreciate your prayers, cards, and expressions of love and concern.
Service arrangements are as follows:
Fri. August 29 - at
Please click here for directions from the FBC website.
Sat. August 30 - at
Please click here for the location of Marcus Hook Baptist Church
Internment to follow at
Luncheon afterward back at MHBC
In lieu of flowers, our family is asking for donations to be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Please click here to go to the LLS’s donation page online.Friday, August 22, 2008
update on Mom - Fri. 8/22
Just a quick update...things have improved slowly and steadily this week, so I am flying back home to Maine tomorrow. I am about to leave for the hospital this afternoon (my brother, Brian, has been there this morning). Mom has improved her breathing to the point where they think they may be able to pull out the breathing tube on Monday and she could breathe on her own, but there are a few more hurdles to that happening, mainly meds that need to be reduced or stopped, and she needs to be a little more responsive. Please pray that Mom would continue to improve to the point where the ventilator can be removed on Monday.
Thanks so much to all who are praying so hard - keep it up...Mom is doing better, but she's not out of the woods yet!
Thanks so much to all who are praying so hard - keep it up...Mom is doing better, but she's not out of the woods yet!
Monday, August 18, 2008
update on Mom - Mon. 8/18
It has been a busy and eventful weekend, and Mom has indeed proved the doctors wrong again, and has pulled through, and is doing better than any of them thought as of Wed. night. Mom is now more alert and responsive, her counts began to creep upward on Friday, and have pretty much stayed up since then, even improving slightly. We met separately with both teams of doctors (ICU & Oncology) today to discuss how the weekend went and where Mom seems to be right now, & they both said that healing is now possible and can be expected over the next several days and weeks, if things continue in this direction. Mom is still critical, and any complications or additional infections could change things any day. Blood counts usually return in patients like Mom around Day 30, and Mom's did not return until Day 35, but they now seem to be solidly there, though still very minimal. Mom still has a large fungal pneumonia and multiple other infections, is still on the ventilator, and still has a LONG and uphill climb to recovery. However, just as she did 11 years ago during her stem cell transplant for breast cancer, Mom is surprising the doctors by defying their predictions, at least for now, and we praise God for it!
Lisa and the kids plan to return home Wed. or Thu. of this week, and I will stay through the end of the week, and return home this weekend. We continue to covet any and all prayers we can get for Mom, but things are looking cautiously optimistic right now, especially compared to this past Wed. & Thu. Pray that this seeming turnaround continues. For now, we will wait for Mom's body to heal, and continue praying for God to do the healing!
Lisa and the kids plan to return home Wed. or Thu. of this week, and I will stay through the end of the week, and return home this weekend. We continue to covet any and all prayers we can get for Mom, but things are looking cautiously optimistic right now, especially compared to this past Wed. & Thu. Pray that this seeming turnaround continues. For now, we will wait for Mom's body to heal, and continue praying for God to do the healing!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Day 30 update on Mom
Mom is now at Day 30 in her chemo cycle, and her blood counts have still not come up in any measure. So, the docs have stopped her daily Neupogen injections (white blood cell booster) for the weekend, and will perform another bone marrow biopsy on Monday, hopefully getting a good sample of both marrow as well as bone this time. They hope to have some results from the biopsy available by end of day Tuesday, which should help provide info that would help guide treatment decisions moving forward. The hope and prayer is that the biopsy sample would be a good, solid sample, and that it would be free from any signs of leukemia, as this would give the most hope for recovery.
As of last night, Mom was improving symptomatically - her fluid output was greater than her input (indicating that she is now beginning to drain her lungs and swollen tissue), and her blood pressure had improved (because they were able to take her off the sedation medication that was causing the decrease in B.P.) which also allowed them to decrease her blood pressure medication. They put a "bite guard" on the breathing tube so that Mom can't bite off her oxygen, and were able to dial down the amount of work the ventilator is doing so that Mom was intiating her own breaths, and Mom was able to sustain that for about 24 hours, which is a lot better than earlier in the week. They have ruled out one of the most common fungal infections of the lungs (aspergillius), and have reduced the antibiotics Mom is getting. All of these improvements in Mom's symptoms are encouraging, and, we are hoping, are good indicators of at least some clinical improvement, as well.
Please pray that:
1) the biopsy would be completed successfully with no complications, and that they would get a good sample
2) the biopsy results would show no signs of leukemia, and even some signs of blood cell growth, which may not have made it out int ot he peripheral blood stream yet
3) Mom would continue to improve both symptomatically and clinically
4) Mom's blood counts would begin to measurably rise
5) strength for Mom to continue fighting, strength & endurance for my Dad to deal with all of the decisions, long hours at the hospital, along with the normal activities of life, and grace and strength for our family in dealing with all the praying, hoping, waiting, and the unknown.
Thanks to all who continue to check in for updates. Your thoughts, concern, and most of all, your prayers are felt and are having an effect in ways you'll never know.
As of last night, Mom was improving symptomatically - her fluid output was greater than her input (indicating that she is now beginning to drain her lungs and swollen tissue), and her blood pressure had improved (because they were able to take her off the sedation medication that was causing the decrease in B.P.) which also allowed them to decrease her blood pressure medication. They put a "bite guard" on the breathing tube so that Mom can't bite off her oxygen, and were able to dial down the amount of work the ventilator is doing so that Mom was intiating her own breaths, and Mom was able to sustain that for about 24 hours, which is a lot better than earlier in the week. They have ruled out one of the most common fungal infections of the lungs (aspergillius), and have reduced the antibiotics Mom is getting. All of these improvements in Mom's symptoms are encouraging, and, we are hoping, are good indicators of at least some clinical improvement, as well.
Please pray that:
1) the biopsy would be completed successfully with no complications, and that they would get a good sample
2) the biopsy results would show no signs of leukemia, and even some signs of blood cell growth, which may not have made it out int ot he peripheral blood stream yet
3) Mom would continue to improve both symptomatically and clinically
4) Mom's blood counts would begin to measurably rise
5) strength for Mom to continue fighting, strength & endurance for my Dad to deal with all of the decisions, long hours at the hospital, along with the normal activities of life, and grace and strength for our family in dealing with all the praying, hoping, waiting, and the unknown.
Thanks to all who continue to check in for updates. Your thoughts, concern, and most of all, your prayers are felt and are having an effect in ways you'll never know.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
update on Mom - Tue. 8/5
Sorry it has been so long...Wed. was rather busy and eventful, and then I flew home to Maine on Thu., went to my oncologist there in Maine on Fri. (all is good with me), as they let me do that visit there instead of at Dartmouth. My next doctor visit will be at Dartmouth on Mon. Aug. 11, where I'll see both the transplant doc and the infectious disease guy, who's watching my lungs. No problems there - slow but steady progress in my breathing capacity.
As far as Mom goes, her biopsy results were inconclusive, because they did not get a good enough sample. There just wasn't any liquid marrow where and when they drilled. They decided to go ahead and start her on daily injections of Neupogen, which stimulates white blood cell production. In the meantime, they did an echocardiogram (results OK) and a full body CT scan, which showed that the pneumonia is progressing. Without any white blood cells to speak of, the antibiotics they are giving her don't have much to work with (they only help with an infection; they can't do the "heavy lifting" of the healing work themselves), and there's nothing further to give her to help fight the infection. As far as the heart goes, there does appear to be some damage, and they have maxed out on the heart drugs she's getting right now. That means that when and if she goes into an arrythmeia (irregular heartbeat), they have no way to correct that except for using "the paddles" or manual chest compressions, which may not be enough to do the job. Dad and the doctors have decided tonight to wait until Friday to see if her white blood cells begin to climb, and if not, they will stop the Neupogen on Friday, give it the weekend to clear from her system, and then perform another bone marrow biopsy next Monday. We hope to find out whether the leukemia is still present in her bone marrow or not, as that will help give guidance to treatment decisions moving forward. We really don't have any good idea whether the cancer is still present or not, so there's no good way for the doctors to give any kind of prognosis, should the counts return and the infections begin to resolve themselves.
On a different note, it appears that my grandmother (Mom's mother), who is an 83 year old Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home near my parents, has developed fluid on her lungs today, and is being given oxygen tonight at the nursing home.
Please pray for God's healing and sustaining hand to be upon both Mom and Mom Mom (that's what we call her), for wisdom for the doctors involved and for Dad as he makes decisions for both Mom and Mom Mom, and for grace and strength for the entire family. Thank you for continuing to faithfully lift us all up before the throne of Grace in this "time of need"!
As far as Mom goes, her biopsy results were inconclusive, because they did not get a good enough sample. There just wasn't any liquid marrow where and when they drilled. They decided to go ahead and start her on daily injections of Neupogen, which stimulates white blood cell production. In the meantime, they did an echocardiogram (results OK) and a full body CT scan, which showed that the pneumonia is progressing. Without any white blood cells to speak of, the antibiotics they are giving her don't have much to work with (they only help with an infection; they can't do the "heavy lifting" of the healing work themselves), and there's nothing further to give her to help fight the infection. As far as the heart goes, there does appear to be some damage, and they have maxed out on the heart drugs she's getting right now. That means that when and if she goes into an arrythmeia (irregular heartbeat), they have no way to correct that except for using "the paddles" or manual chest compressions, which may not be enough to do the job. Dad and the doctors have decided tonight to wait until Friday to see if her white blood cells begin to climb, and if not, they will stop the Neupogen on Friday, give it the weekend to clear from her system, and then perform another bone marrow biopsy next Monday. We hope to find out whether the leukemia is still present in her bone marrow or not, as that will help give guidance to treatment decisions moving forward. We really don't have any good idea whether the cancer is still present or not, so there's no good way for the doctors to give any kind of prognosis, should the counts return and the infections begin to resolve themselves.
On a different note, it appears that my grandmother (Mom's mother), who is an 83 year old Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home near my parents, has developed fluid on her lungs today, and is being given oxygen tonight at the nursing home.
Please pray for God's healing and sustaining hand to be upon both Mom and Mom Mom (that's what we call her), for wisdom for the doctors involved and for Dad as he makes decisions for both Mom and Mom Mom, and for grace and strength for the entire family. Thank you for continuing to faithfully lift us all up before the throne of Grace in this "time of need"!
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