A Better Day

So, last night Nate and I arrive at the hospital. Nate had KFC for dinner and then proceeded to eat 3 HUGE chocolate chips cookies, a carton of Dibs ice cream, animal cookies and 2 sprites. Can anyone guess what I spent a portion of my evening doing? That's right. Standing behind Nate as he threw up in the toilet in Gary's hospital room! It was my fault because I allowed him to eat so much junk food. I felt really bad. After about 10 minutes of being "the perfect puker" Nate took a hot shower and felt 100% better! What a champ!!! We played "Gorilla, Man, Gun" and Nate belly laughed so hard and that brought HUGE smiles to Gary's face!

We had a little bit of a better day today with Gary. Gary ate a little more and actually took about 15 steps to sit in the chair for about an hour. His pain seems to be just a little better. When we threatened to give him his Tylenol by supository tonight he actually smiled. Zach got to spend a good part of the day with Gary and the three of us had a great time.

Gary has been running a fever. The ID doc (Dr. Fee) thinks it might be tumor related but Dr. Barth thinks it might be an infection that is hiding somewhere in his abdomen. Tomorrow they will begin a test that takes about 3 days to determine if indeed there is an infection.

DESCRIPTION OF THE WBC SCAN
A WBC scan is a nuclear scan in which a radioactive material is attached to a sample of white blood cells. It is done to locate areas of infection or inflammation.

Blood will be taken from one of Gary's veins. White blood cells are separated from the rest of the blood sample and then mixed with a small amount of a radioactive material (radioisotope) called indium-111. The cells with the radioactive material are considered "tagged."

About 2 or 3 hours later, the tagged white blood cells are returned to Gary's body through injection into his vein. The tagged cells gather in areas of inflammation or infection.

Approximately 6 to 24 hours later, Gary's body will be scanned. The scanner looks like an x-ray machine. It detects the radiation given off by the radioactive white blood cells. A computer converts the detected radiation into an image that can be viewed on a screen or recorded on film. The scan takes about 1 or 2 hours.

Pretty cool, Huh? Hopefully this test will help Dr. Barth to narrow down the possible causes of the fevers.

Thank you to everyone who has made and sent cards to Gary! I am starting to fill up 1 part of his wall so keep them coming!

I need to get to bed soon. I think tomorrow will be a busy day for us.
Pray for Gary to have a peaceful slumber and an even better day tomorrow!

All our love,
L