The one with Sheila's own email updates on Jay....

Hey I just checked my email and found out that Sheila has been updating us all via email so I thought I would share her version of all that I have been telling you:


In Date order:


December 27th morning:

Jay is in good spirits (I'm very proud of him) but he's having a VERY tough time
physically.

His kidneys shut down yesterday and he will be undergoing kidney dialysis in a
few minutes. Unfortunately, fluid is now filling his lungs and he has a pretty
severe cough from it. They just took blood gases and he is on oxygen and an
oxygen monitor. They gave him a mild chemo pill last night to help bring the
white blood cell count down and it didn't seem to help much. They are hooking
him up to a paresis machine now to remove some of white cells. He is also going
to get an LP, and MRIs (if he can stop coughing). The respiratory Doctor was in
and they may do a bronchial scope too. This morning they placed a central line
in his groin so that they can do the dialysis and paresis. He also had 2 chest
x-rays and a sonogram of his bladder. He has been very busy.

They gave him some miracle drug that eats away uric acid last night and they
gave solumedrol (steroid) this morning to help with his lungs.

The Doctor Kaplan (one of the oncologist here) came in and spent well over an
hour with him last night just talking to him, trying to put him at ease. He is
doing remarkably well mentally for all he is going through.

The Doctor told me that his white cell count (normal is 5,000 - his was
134,000), LDH (normal is around 500 and his was 52,000), and uric acid counts
were the highest he has ever seen. What is amazing is that his bone marrow
biopsy on the 13th was normal and his pet scan on the 10th was normal. This has
all happened in less than 10 days. The 23rd was the first day we thought his
symptoms might remotely be the cancer.

If I didn't include his phone number here at the hospital it is 412-578-4450.
Again you can email me at shollums@dam.com if you need anything. I will be
working often online from the hospital so it may be hard to get through. Just
email me and I will get you a time you can call or I will disconnect.

I'll keep you updated. Thanks Sheila

========================================

December 27th evening:

Things have changed since the last email. Jay is now in the ICU at West Penn.
They had to do a bronchial scope on him and since he was not breathing well they
have placed him on a ventilator. They are hoping to remove him tomorrow but I
am not allow to stay with him tonight since they are keeping him unconscious but
we are hopeful that all will be well tomorrow. The found what they think to be a
hemorrhage in his lungs due to the low platelet count caused by the cancer.
They took samples and they analyze it to see if it's actually the cancer in his
lungs. I will email you tomorrow to let you know when he is released from the
ICU. They also did the paresis and kidney dialysis today. They are set to do
more paresis tomorrow morning while he is still in the ICU.

I will email all of you tomorrow to let you know how he is.

Thanks,
Sheila

===================================

December 28th morning:

I just got off the phone with the ICU. They still will not let me into see him
until 1:30 (unless they move him).
The good news is that he is no longer on the ventilator and is breathing on his
own but they told me that he removed the tube himself unexpectedly this morning.
They couldn't explain to me if he came out of sedation early or not or how he
did it himself. They said he is doing well though. The Doctors have not rounded
this morning so they couldn't tell me when he would be going to a different room
or if he would be staying in the ICU. I'm heading out to get him some things he
needs for the hospital and to put some pressure on them to give me more
information.

I will let you know as soon as he is released to a normal room.

Thanks,
Sheila

OK there you go. Hope all this information helps,and I can't tell any of you how much your thoughts and prayers matter to us all!