Several hospital visits later...

Jeannette went to the ER at Northwestern Medical Center two weeks ago, complaining of pain in her esophagus and stomach.  After an X-ray showed no blockage or major issue, Jeannette was hydrated and sent home with Maalox with lidocaine to help with pain and to sooth any damage medications had caused to her stomach and throat.

After a week of treatment with the Maalox Jeannette felt as if her symptoms were no better, so her primary care physician Dr. Miller told her to go to the ER at Fletcher Allen.  That is where she and Tim spent this past Friday. There she was again hydrated, and after drinking the dreaded barium solution, she was given a CT scan.  The scan again showed nothing that accounted for her symptoms.

Just to be sure nothing had been missed, Fletcher Allen scheduled an endoscopy for today, which Justin and Jeff took Jeannette to.  After the tube had been sent down her esophagus, the doctor reported back that there were a few erosions in Jeannette's stomach, but that they were nothing major.  He is sending a sample to be biopsied, but said that these small issues shouldn't account for how poorly she's been feeling.  Jeannette was again hydrated, and spent some time discussing good food options and ways to eat to help get her back on track.  Slow and steady is the trick, since Jeannette has barely eaten anything for nearly a month at this point.


Jeannette will continue to follow-up with Dr. Miller and work to get herself back on an even keel.  Many of her other symptoms (fatigue, lack of appetite, nausea, dizziness) will likely be solved by simply getting back to a normal pattern of eating.

A Few Photos of the Visit (so far)

 

 Mary, Leo, and Jeannette:  The Guelpas!

 Cousin Eric and Jeff

The Siblings again

 Henry, Mary, Martha, Leo, and Tim

A few updates

Thanks for your patience, everyone.  It's hard for us to post frequently when a) not a lot is changing, and b) not a lot is positive.  However, here is a little bit of an update.

The good news first: tomorrow (Saturday) Jeannette's sister Mary Wiethake, brother-in-law Henry, and nephew Eric are coming into town from Colorado!  They are visiting until Tuesday and staying with Justin and Emily.  On Sunday Jeannette's brother Leo and his partner Martha are coming up for the day and there will be a big family dinner at Justin and Emily's house.  It will be a nice chance for all the siblings to be together.

In other news, things haven't  progressed much from the last post.  Jeannette has good days and bad days.  She isn't sleeping well through the night and yesterday got a prescription for that.  Today she received hydration and medicine to help with a few digestion issues she's been having.  Jeannette has been on and off some other drugs, so it's hard to know which of her symptoms are caused by what.  Side effect of the medicine, side effects from coming off the medicine, a need for new medicine?  It's not easy to sort out.

Hopefully my next post will include pictures of Jeannette with her family, and a few shots from the Wiethake's visit with us. 

Holding Pattern

Today we received the results of the spinal tap: everything was clear!  The findings showed no abnormal cells and no elevated proteins, which means that there is no cancer on Jeannette's brain lining.

However, this good news was dampened by the fact that the oncologist has no clue what is causing Jeannette's symptoms.  She is still extremely parched even though she is drinking a huge amount and received IV hydration today and yesterday.  She is fatigued and yet has insomnia, can't eat even though she isn't really nauseated, and is generally just unwell.  Without a diagnosis, the doctor said he cannot treat her symptoms.  All the tests they have done on her (including the spinal tap, blood work, kidney function, etc) have come back clean.  Other than the obvious (lung cancer), Jeannette's sickness cannot be explained.

This is obviously very discouraging, but Dr. Thomas is starting Jeannette on a few new medicines and is hoping to see a difference.  He believes if we can get her sleeping more regularly then she will feel better want to eat more regularly, and that in turn will make her more well overall.  Only time will tell.

Staying Put

After having a good weekend, Jeannette was back to feeling less well today.  Also, Dr. Thomas has scheduled her follow-up appointment from the spinal tap for Wednesday afternoon.  For both of these reasons, the trip to the Cape has been officially called off for this summer.  It's too bad, because the entire family was looking forward to it, but it is the right thing to do. 

Hopefully Wednesday's appointment will give us more answers on how to keep Jeannette feeling better, and we will post another update after that. 

Kathy Bessette's 54th Birthday Party

Today was Emily's mom's birthday, and Jeannette was feeling well enough to join the party for a couple hours.  The difference between Thursday and today is amazing; truly it is like a gift from God.

On the menu?  Homemade pizza (four kinds), salad, chips, and chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream.  It was so nice for Jeannette to be able to visit with friends outside her own home.  Keep all the prayers and thoughts coming that the Cape might still be possible!

Got Steroids?

Since Thursday evening Jeannette has been on a fairly enthusiastic steroid regimen.  It seems to be helping quite a bit.  Friday evening she ate a turkey sandwich for dinner, and then this morning she had yogurt and fruit.  Tonight Justin and Emily joined her and Tim for supper, courtesy of Jeannette's sister Mary.  Jeannette ate some chips and coleslaw and the better part of a BLT.  Today she was also able to do some laundry, dead-head plants, play Solitaire on the computer, and generally just be more present.  Conversation at supper was lively, and Jeannette seemed to feel much better.  While we are well aware this isn't a cure, we are grateful for whatever we can get.

Late Friday evening Dr. Thomas called Jeannette and Tim and said the early spinal tap results did not show elevated proteins, which is good.  The final test results should be ready on Monday.  Even if the spots on Jeannette's brain lining are cancer, the spinal tap would only show conclusive evidence of the cancer 50% of the time.  If the spinal tap ends up being inconclusive, further steps would have to be taken to figure out exactly what is going on.  Regardless, Dr. Thomas said whatever is happening with Jeannette's brain lining is causing inflammation, and her body's reaction to that inflammation is making her feel ill.  Hence, the steroids, and they do seem to be helping her symptoms.

If a positive trend continues, there may still be hope for the Cape this coming week.  Send thoughts and prayers!