Better Days Ahead

This has been a very rough round for Kaitlyn.  She's had a fever for over a week now.  She's had the terrible bout of mucositis as well as colitis, bloating, and some inflammation in her right lung which has caused some pain.  She also has had c.difficile infection causing diarrhea, etc.  All the skin peeled off the palms of her hands in big sheets.  She has been on i.v. nutrition for over a week because of the pain and irritation all along the digestive tract making it impossible for her to eat normally.  Every 24 hours or so she vomits from the drainage of all the mucus going into her stomach.

The good things are that her hands now look a lot better since the old damaged skin is gone.  The mucositis seems to be improving some...the sores in her mouth are better, her throat doesn't hurt anymore, and there seems to be less mucus build up in her mouth.  The sores on her lips look better, too.  The c. Diff seems to be abating with antibiotics.  The fever continues, but responds well to the i.v. tylenol (which, according to the nurses, has only been available in recent months).  Numerous cultures have been taken and procedures have been done to determine the cause(s) of the fever, but everything has come back negative so far.  The doctors think it is probably a result of the inflammations and will clear up with the return of her immune system.  They expect to see some movement in that direction within the next week.

Kaitlyn is now through two out of four rounds of chemo and, in spite of everything, is at the same weight as she was when she started treatment at the end of October! -I see that as one of the many blessings God has given her to help her through this time.