My Husband - Raymond -- Part II

[Anhelyna]

The end of phase 1 of Raymond's treatment is today - the first round of Chemo is over [ well later this evening :) ]

He now , as he told me , has no immune system - his resistance to infection is zero.

At this stage it's even more important than ever that he is in that isolation room.

From tomorrow he enters a recuperation phase during which time he will continue to be on antibiotics being given by his Hickman line and will also be getting anti fungal treatment as well. During this recuperation period his blood will be monitored very very closely to see if he goes into remission - even if he does - a second round of Chemo will follow and another recuperation period too.

Since his treatment started just over a week ago he has not slept for more than 2 hours at a time - either day or night since his IV Pumps 'sing' as the bag nears empty - and when he has 2 going at once they rarely finish at the same time :( We are both hoping that he may get a reasonable sleep soon - he's understandably very very tired.

We thank you all for your prayers

Once more , we watch and wait, and I pray.

[Lukaris]

:crosseo:

[Asinner]

Prayers for you both. :crosseo:

[Thekla]

:crosseo:





:hug:

[SaintMarina]

:crosseo:

[Mary of Bethany]

This is such a tough time for you both.

:groupray: :crosseo:

Mary

[ThePosterFormerlyKnownAs]

:crosseo:

[Orthosdoxa]

My prayers, friend.

[Monica, child of God]

:crosseo:

M.

[Nichole]

:crosseo:

[Philothei]

Prayers Anhelyna. I am sure God is with you guys and He will heal him ...

Lord have mercy.
Philothei

[Khaleas]

Prayers for both of you!!!

[EmperorConstantine]

:crosseo:

[rusmeister]

I'll burn the candles at this end...
:crosseo:

[nikolayalexandroff]

:crosseo:

[Chocolatesa]

:crosseo:

[Anhelyna]

May I ask for a few extra prayers tonight please ?

His temp is very high , he was on 3 IVs when I got there and his antibiotics are to be changed tonight.

He is not fighting at present :(

[Mary of Bethany]

Lord have mercy.

:crosseo: :crosseo: :crosseo: :crosseo:

[Khaleas]

Lots of prayers!
I hope he regains his fighting spirit soon. Please keep us posted!

[Thekla]

Lord have mercy on your servant, Raymond !

[Greg the byzantine]

:crosseo: May God who is the physician of our Souls and Bodies, who has the power to do all things, grant strength and healing to his servant Raymond, stretching out his mighty hand upon him.:crosseo: :crosseo: :crosseo:

[Nichole]

:crosseo:

[Anhelyna]

Mentally/emotionally he is a little better today - but the staff admit that they are worried about his temp staying up. There is blood which he badly needs , crossmatched and ready to infuse , but this cannot happen till his temp is stable - and the temp is going up and down like a blasted yo-yo. Because of all this he's not exactly comfortable and is exhausted.

I'll be visiting again tonight.

Thank God that our younger daughter is up this weekend and is seeing him , before it may be too late

[Khaleas]

Continued prayers!
May God bring his temperature down and ready him for fight!

[Anhelyna]

We have seen him again tonight .

This is the first day he has been in bed all day - he really is exhausted.

His temp is down slightly above the temp at which they would normally transfuse him , but the decision was taken that his need for blood was so great that they would have to take the risk .

Sooooo once more he has 3 IVs running :(

I have brought home his wedding ring because his fingers are swelling so it was removed while it was still possible.

He is still not fighting - hopefully he will once he is not so tired.

[Thekla]

We have seen him again tonight .

This is the first day he has been in bed all day - he really is exhausted.

His temp is down slightly above the temp at which they would normally transfuse him , but the decision was taken that his need for blood was so great that they would have to take the risk .

Sooooo once more he has 3 IVs running :(

I have brought home his wedding ring because his fingers are swelling so it was removed while it was still possible.

He is still not fighting - hopefully he will once he is not so tired.
God be with you, Anhelyna

Prayers for you both !

[MariaRegina]

My prayers.

[Kolya]

Our continuing prayers for you both.:prayer::crosseo::prayer:

[Prawnik]

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends."

and my prayers.

[Dorothea]

God's healing and comfort to you and your husband, Anhelyna. :crosseo: :crosseo:

[Anhelyna]

We went in just before 12 today .

I had phoned earlier this morning to be told he had had a bad night and was having a long lie this morning ;)

When we got in he was up in an armchair with 3 IVs in operation [ he now has 3 pumps going too and none of them finish at the same time :( ]

The big change is that he is now on continuous oxygen and admits he feels the better of that.

Mentally he was much better despite all his other problems - including, now, a rash :(

Tina is taking me out tonight for a meal [ Mothers Day here ] so we will slip into hospital again before going out.

And this is supposed to be a recuperation week !?!? So far he has been more ill since coming off the Chemo than he was while on it .

[nikolayalexandroff]

We went in just before 12 today .

I had phoned earlier this morning to be told he had had a bad night and was having a long lie this morning ;)

When we got in he was up in an armchair with 3 IVs in operation [ he now has 3 pumps going too and none of them finish at the same time :( ]

The big change is that he is now on continuous oxygen and admits he feels the better of that.

Mentally he was much better despite all his other problems - including, now, a rash :(

Tina is taking me out tonight for a meal [ Mothers Day here ] so we will slip into hospital again before going out.

And this is supposed to be a recuperation week !?!? So far he has been more ill since coming off the Chemo than he was while on it .
God help you both, Anhelyna.:crosseo:

[Thekla]

thank-you for the update ...

I'm sorry this is such a hard time for your family !

[MariaRegina]

My prayers.

[Lukaris]

Continuing prayers. Lord have mercy.:crosseo:

[Anhelyna]

Well - that's his first week of recuperation over.
I don't think we would have believed anyone who told us how tough it would be.

Most of the week he has had a very very high temp - that was to be expected.

He was tired - his IVs were changing every hour and sometimes every half hour day and night - so you can imagine how much sleep he got .

He has been on 4 antibiotics to try and control infections [ remember he has zero resistance now and is not as yet making any blood]
With all the fluid that is pouring in , despite being given duretics he has a truly horrific fluid retention and that in itself is causing him a lot of distress. He even has fluid on his lungs.

He is on continuous oxygen - which does help his breathing to be less of an effort.

And of course he has all the side effects of Chemo treatment now.

I don't know how long this stage will last - I just hope he can cope with it as during this week there were times when he said he could not live like this .

As yet we don't know when his next round of Chemo starts and after that we have this recuperation period to go through all over again :(

We have to come through this - it's his only chance.

Please pelase pray for us both - I can't get to Church often and my SF is sooooo far away and I can't talk to him much. I need Confession - and my priest here doesn't speak enough English - I normally got to my SF but I can't see him now till next year !!

[Thekla]

prayers for you both ...

this seems a long road :(

[Nichole]

:crosseo: Continuing to pray for you both! Could you call your Spiritual Father and do confession over the phone and then go to your priest to read the prayer of absolution?

[Khaleas]

My continued prayers! I told Father about the situation of you and Raymond and he said a prayer during Vigil for you (he is pretty strict who he commemorates during DL) but you are definitely in his prayers as well.
For what I've seen chemo patients (of course each type of chemo is different) but it seems that the first one is definitely the hardest and most intense. The reactions are unexpected and overall you don't know what to expect...
But know, you're in our prayers! I wish I was closer to lend more support.

[Philothei]

Prayers for you and Raymond Anhelyna,

I am sorry that your situation is so stressful... I wish I was close enough to visit you... with my hubby. Who knows maybe we will take a trip up there though... this spring....;)

Hang in there. Miracles are all around us.. Please pray to St. Nectarios for him... he is the saint for the cancer patients.

Lord have mercy on us.:groupray: :bow:

Philothei

[Anhelyna]

:crosseo: Continuing to pray for you both! Could you call your Spiritual Father and do confession over the phone and then go to your priest to read the prayer of absolution?
That's a great idea and I know that in Orthodoxy it is permitted - under some circumstances ;)

Sadly in Catholicism it is not . Though I do talk very freely to my SF - indeed everything I would take to Confession - he is strict about this , no Confession unless we are both physically in the same place at the same time and that is normally before Christ at the Iconostasis .

I'm going to have to find an RC Priest and try and get him to understand that I'm Eastern , and our practices are not identical .

[Chocolatesa]

:crosseo: