Delight was put into ICU Monday afternoon. Tonya & I decided to go to Dallas as soon as we heard the news. When we arrived Terry Joe and Dewayne Brown were sitting outside waiting for ICU visiting hours at 8:00pm. Jennifer got to the hospital about the same time we did. Thanks Dewayne for taking Terry Joe a charger, eating and visiting with him. We visited with Delight for a short period Monday night. She wanted us to stay so we stayed in their room that they had the night before. Terry Joe and Jennifer stayed with Delight at the hospital. Delight had a rough night. She did not sleep. She was very anxious. She wanted to be able to see someone all the time. Tuesday morning when we were able to get back in to see her she really looked bad. She was struggling so hard to breathe. Sometimes her whole body would shake when she tried to take a breath. It was really scary watching her struggle so. She kept her eyes closed most of the day....but she was hearing every word we were saying in the room!! Tonya & I were talking to the nurse and we were telling her some story and Delight corrected us on something we told her. I said we better not be talking about her because she is listening to everything that we were saying!!! Delight was so scared. One of us had to be touching her at all times. She did not want Terry Joe out of her sight. He was able to slip off to take a shower and rest a little bit while we stayed with her but after he was gone a while she asked us to call him to come back. Jennifer left also to rest and take a shower. Once in a while she would ask for a drink. They brought her lunch in and she ate 3 little bites of Jello and a couple of drinks of tea. We guess it was the Jello that made her nauseous. They finally gave her something for that. Her vital signs were much improve yesterday from the day before. About 3:00 yesterday afternoon one of her doctors came in and said that the blood work showed she had a kidney infection that had got in her blood. They put her on some high powered antibodics and numerous other bags of something?? Anyway that was good news to have an answer. That still did not make her feel any better...because she was just feeling and struggling so bad. The doctor was really incouraging. 4 or 5 more days in ICU and then a few days in a regular room and she would be good to go. It did not seem like any big deal to him. We told her goodbye because Marion, Darlene and Walter were soon to be at the hospital. When they arrived around 4:00 Tonya & I left not really wanting to but felt like we should.
We talked to Terry Joe this morning and he said that the lung doctor drained a liter and a half of fluid off of her right lung. They have been pumping so many fluids into her that it caused her lung to fill back up quickly. She just had it drained on Saturday. After he drained that lung she IMMEDIATELY got some relief and has been feeling better ever since. He said she feels a LOT better this morning. She is sitting up a little is drinking some. So that is GREAT news. He said that she was not out of the woods yet though.
Yesterday several times she would ask us to pray for her. We would tell her how many people were praying for her and that seemed to help her. Please continue to pray for her and her family. When I hear anything else I will post.
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This is T.J. Delight is much better today! Her electrolytes are still a little out of kilter but they are giving her IV's to correct that. Evidently they have the infection under control and her blood pressure is steadily improving. Dr. Shulkin came in and said they would keep her in ICU at least one more day just to make sure her blood pressure would stay up. The last 5 or 6 days have been very rough for Delight and the last 2 have been about the scariest. I don't believe I have seen her as frightened nor have I been as frightened as we were yesterday. Not being able to breath or struggling to breath must be a horrible experience. Delight is amazingly tough and has been through so much already you would think nothing would scare her but she was so, so frightened! The good Lord was truly watching over us as Dr. Shulkin got the fluid drained and gave her almost instant relief. When he came in today he told Delight " this is how I want to see you, you have made my day!" Delight quickly answered saying " No, Dr. Shulkin, you made my day" He is such a good, compassionate Doctor! All the nurses, security guards, and other hospital personnel say they think Dr. Shulkin must live here because they see him all over this huge place at all hours day after day. Just wish we could get him to sign up as a provider on our insurance! Dr. Mirtsching, Delight's oncologist, has also been by several times. He seems to Delight may still be able to start chemo next week. I'm certain she will have to be completely infection free and have her blood pressure totally stabilized. The next chemo is a platinum drug called Cisplatin and will be given in conjunction with another chemo drug called Navelbine. Dr. Mirtsching says this is "heavy artillery" and will have very unpleasant side effects. He says it will be critical for Delight to stay hydrated as one of the side effects is it can be damaging to her kidneys.. Once started I think these next rounds of treatments will go on for a minimum of 12 weeks, assuming she is able to tolerate the Cisplatin. Delight wanted me to tell all of you that she loves you all very much and that both of us appreciate your thoughts and prayers more than we can adequately express. Please continue to keep Delight in your prayers as I know you will. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends! T.J.
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