A Quick Update on Greg's Hospital Stay Over Easter

Dear Friends and Family,   Some of you have heard that Greg is in the hospital again so I thought you would want to know the latest news.

Friday morning Greg woke up with severe chills and vomiting. When his fever topped 103 a couple of hours later we headed for the emergency room. We thought it was just the flu, but found out instead that he had sepsis, a systemic infection in his blood. He was immediately put on a broad spectrum of antibiotics and admitted to the hospital. They spent 2 days waiting for cultures to come back, trying to find out the exact nature of the infection and where it had come from. Late Saturday night part of the mystery was solved when his right leg started to hurt and became hot, red and swollen up to his knee. It turns out he had a blister on his little toe that had popped and allowed an entrance point for bacteria, even though the toe does not even look infected at all! (What a strange deal.) For you medical types out there, the red, swollen leg is Cellulitis. The good news is that the infection was finally identified as a Strep bacteria, which is better than a Staph infection and easier to treat. He was getting a correct mix of antibiotics all the while, so already his white blood count is going down instead of up. We had a scare with his kidney because the kidney function got worse with the fever and infection and one doctor was talking potential dialysis. We prayed for life to come back to his kidney. Thankfully it improved a little yesterday; this morning (Tuesday) his kidney was even better--back to roughly where it had been when he entered the hospital. We give thanks to God who brings new life on Easter Sunday and every other day! Of course when your body is busy fighting cancer the immune system is preoccupied with other things, and that allowed the bacteria to grow and multiply. We caught it early and doctors believe he is on his way to healing and is doing well. No word yet from the doctors when he will get out of the hospital. They want to see more improvement before letting him out. He is in good spirits and feels cooped up and is chomping on the bit to go. My apologies for not getting the word out sooner or responding quickly to those of you who have heard and texted. When your loved one goes into the hospital it's a full-time preoccupation--an energy-sucking thing--especially until the patient stabilizes and you know what's really happening. We hope your Easter was blessed with resurrection of new life from the risen Lord. Ours was! Thank you for who you are and for your prayers that move the heavens. Love, Jeane