Thank you to each and every one of you for lifting Terry up in prayer. He's been back in the hospital for almost 3 weeks now. I'm so thankful that his mom and dad have stepped in to be with Allie and TJ so I could be at the hospital around the clock with Terry. I've been here at the hospital with him for the last two weeks and most likely will be here through this weekend.
Terry was readmitted just about 3 weeks ago with acute Graft Versus Host disease (GVH). GVH usually attacks bone marrow transplant patients in the skin, the gut, or the liver. In Terry's case, GVH has attacked all 3 areas at the same time. Praise God that the skin and gut have gotten better. The virus is at least under control and the bacterial infection that was in his bloodstream is totally gone. However, his team of doctors are most concerned about his liver and secondly, the amount of fluid his body is retaining. Last week he had CT scans and ultrasounds and tests for hepatitis A, B, and C but we don't have the results from the hep tests yet. This week his team of doctors want to drain fluid out of his stomach to give him some much needed relief as well as send it out for lab testing. They also are making plans to do a liver biopsy probably on Tuesday to determine exactly why he's still jaundiced and/or his biliruben (liver enzyme) levels are still so elevated. The doctors are doing their best to rule out the different causes and they pump him with all these medicines-- antibodies, steroids, antibiotics, etc to treat the different complications. Because those same medicines can be dangerous to organ functions they constantly weigh the risks versus the benefits.
Not to mention we don't know if we need to read into what they tell us or not. Some time ago the doctors told us he was very sick but as long as he wasn't moved to ICU, it wasn't life-threatening so that was what we were going on. That is until yesterday, when a patient died in her room. So now Terry is even more worried and scared for his life. We know that God does not give us the spirit of fear but he can't help but wonder whether he's dying. It's like this is a terrible uncontrollable unstoppable merrygoround that he feels he's riding all by himself.
It was a real Valentine's Day treat that I got to see the kids for the first time in 2 weeks but even more because they got to see their dad.
Thank you again for all the thoughts and prayers.
Cherice
P.S. Terry is in the exact same room as before:
Terry Carlos
NIH, Bldg 10, 3NE-#2440
10 Center Dr
Bethesda, MD 20892-1528
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