Oxygen Helps!

Wayne has had a very rough last few days, and this morning we found out why.  He was low in red blood cells, the ones that carry oxygen into your bloodstream.  The doctor suggested blood and what he got was packed red blood cells.  And what a difference--almost night and day.  

Wayne hasn't been eating much either.  Yesterday he ate a bowl of cereal, about 1/3 of a junior cheeseburger from Wendy's, and a few bites of white rice and chicken.  Total amount of food for the day was less than a cup full.  He didn't eat any breakfast this morning, but once they started the IV he had a cookie.  And then another.  And he decided to go out to dinner. We went to I-Hop and he ate!  Not all of it, but more than he's eaten in a while.  And the doctor gave him some female hormones, that are supposed to increase appetite!  As long as he doesn't start looking like a girl!!

He's also been having some problems with cognition.  He's been confused about things off and on and this morning after he put on his clean clothes, he started to put his dirty ones on, on top of the clean ones.  Not enough O2 in the brain causes hypoxia.  I have had hypoxia.  It's not fun.  Your memory sucks.  You know that you aren't operating at optimum level.  And it's hard: it hurts your pride as much as your cognition.  After getting the blood, that has improved drastically.  And while I can't say the old Wayne is back, he is certainly better.

He gets to take a week off from chemo next week.  Then in two weeks, he will get another chest x-ray.  I think that we will see how that compares before making any changes.  However, we both felt that the doctor was hinting around today that the brain tumors are still there in full force.  That's not what we want, obviously.  We are still hopeful, but being realistic as well.  So please keep up those prayers.  We are still hoping for a miracle.