Update Wednesday AM

Good Morning.


Prayer Requests for friends:

Carolyn's Nana is at Saddleback Hospital. She is in her 90's. She has suspected pneumonia and fluid around her lungs. Please pray for her and her family needs prayer. Give them peace and calm. Nana is very special to them.

Jake Fuster is 14 and he lives in Las Flores. I was on the Viejo Little League Board with his father Dave last year. Jake has been diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia (see below) and is currently at CHOC. He is waiting to find a bone marrow donor and the hope is that his brother is a match. I am sure this is such a scary time for this family with this new diagnosis. Please pray for their family as they prepare to bring Jake home and get treatment underway. Pray for the same thing for them - peace and calm.

DEFINITION OF APLASTIC ANEMIA
A variety of blood cells course through your bloodstream — red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Red blood cells carry oxygen, white blood cells fight infection, and platelets help the blood to clot. In aplastic anemia, your body stops producing enough new blood cells. This means you're fatigued and at higher risk of infections and uncontrolled bleeding. A rare and serious condition, aplastic anemia can develop at any age. Treatment for aplastic anemia may include medications, blood transfusions or a bone marrow transplant. Once considered nearly always fatal, aplastic anemia has a much better prognosis today, thanks to advances in treatment.


Gary Update
I would have to say that Gary had a relatively good day. He was pretty drugged up for the majority of the day so we got to poke fun at him during his many hallucinations! Zach laughs as Gary appears to be driving a car. He shreds paper. He talks a lot! Gary tells us (with the help of lots of morphine) that he wants his body buried under the apple tree in the backyard so that he can fertilize the soil. Can you imagine? Such stories! At least the kids get a little chuckle out of it. It sounds morbid but like I said before we have to keep some comic relief going amidst the grim reality of what we face. Always a party - just sometimes Gary is the entertainment!

Saddleback Hospice was wonderful! They are coming back out this morning at 9 AM to get a plan in place and meds on board and so on. Meg was the admitting nurse and she was so great. Maryann will be Gary's new nurse and Candy will be our social worker. We should be in that appointment for about 3 hours or so. It takes time to get these things discussed and a plan in place.

I have a boat load of errands to run and I had to put them off yesterday so we will see if I can get them done today. We will have friends for dinner and I have a staff meeting at 4 PM. My Dad made it home safe and sound and now my Mom is pretty sick so she is kinda out of comission.

I am going to try and go back to sleep. Gary had a very messy problem hence the sadness that I am awake right now. There is absolutely nothing on tv right now. It is hard to get back to sleep once you have been up for an hour. I will try. I guess I will have to kick Hobie out of my way. That dog does not move. He just loves laying RIGHT ON YOU! I had to pick him up again and take him off of Gary's bed. Lazy dog!

Have a great morning.

With love and praise,

L