March 16,2007
Lorie's surgery date is to be April 4th. She will be admitted to the hospital on April 2nd as there are last minute tests as well as prep work that will need to be done. Please check back here for more updates during her surgery and recovery period.

March 19,2007
Lorie's surgery date was changed today! The new date is April 10th! Part of Dr. Levy the transplant Dr's team is out of the country till after the original date of the 4th. Lorie was very disappointed and totally broke down today. I think at this point she is extremely tired and really worn down emotionaly and physically. She will still go into the hospital two days ahead of time so she will be admitted on the 8th for all of the prep and last minute tests. There is a very real possibility that she will be admitted for a few days in the next couple days as she is not able to keep anything down and is dehydrated and in alot of pain! It is taking home health care a while to get set up. I will keep you updated on this. Thank You again for all your love and support, I know it really means the world to her!! Kathy

March 20,2007
Lorie was admitted to the hospital today for dehydration and pain management they will also get her started on TPN the feeding tube that she will have till her surgery. She was resting comfortably when I talked to Eric a little while ago.

March 24,2007
Lorie is going home from the hospital this afternoon with her TPN, as long as she kept the little bit of breakfest down. Home health care will come by to teach her how to take care of her TPN and then be checking on her. I talked to Eric this morning as when I called Lorie she was hard to understand as she was pretty medicated. She will be calling me this afternoon or this evening after she gets home and rests.
 
March 25,2007
I talked to Lorie this morning she was extremley happy to be home. this hospital stay was better than the last but still frustrating. She is on TPN 24/7 now and that seems to be going well, The home health care people were coming by this afternoon to help them learn more on that. Eric was feeling pretty confident with his ability to administer it but they both felt it nessessary to have them go through the process a few more times. She will be journaling as soon as she can. Again thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers.

April 3, 2007
We arrived in Arlington, TX. yesterday and spent part of the evening with Lorie and family, she looks really tired and very thin but trying real hard to be in good spirits. She is getting along with her TPN well and Eric seems to have the routine down very well!  He has been a real help with all her personal care. She is now on IV medication and that seems to help with the pain and helps some what with the nausea! We are here early to help with all the last minute things that need to be done as she is to physically exhausted to take care of them. Ashley and Robert got here on Saturday after getting a 30 day emergency leave from the army. Ashley has also been helping to take care of things!! Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers this week they mean the world to our family!!  

April 7.2007
We received very upsetting news yesterday. They have delayed Lorie's surgery date again, due to an enzyme that they use during the surgery. The FDA is saying that it may not be safe to use the bovine enzyme that comes from a cow because of mad cow disease. They have a new enzyme that comes from a pig, this enzyme is used to melt the pancreas so that they are able to harvest the islet cells for transplant, they say it works as well and is safer, they have to order this enzyme and it will not be available till the end of April. So they are thinking that her new surgery date will be around the 8th or 9th of May! This has been extremley stressful for Lorie as she was all geared up emotionally for the 10th of April. She is worried about Ashley and Robert and the military's time frame of leave, Robert will have to go home now before the operation and Ashley will have to ask for additional time from her new job. It has really made things a little more difficult. Lorie has really gotten to the point of being emotionally exhausted as well as physically exhausted. She spends alot of her day resting. On a good note though she has gained 3 lbs. from being on TPN. I will keep everyone updated as soon as we hear news from the doctors.

April 14,2007 We had a pretty big scare this morning as Lorie woke up she had a fever of 103, she was also very light headed, her left ear was numb and she had a terrible headache. She yelled for help as she was having a hard time getting back to bed she thought she was going to black out, they called Dr. Lamonts office and then 911. She was transported by ambulance to Baylor hospital where she was admitted, at this point they are thinking she has a blood infection caused by her feeding tube.They started her on major IV antibiotics and pushed lots of fluids through her IV today. Some of the blood tests came back today but the major tests will take some time to get results. They had her fever under control when I left this evening. I will be going up to the hospital first thing tommorrow morning and will post tommorrow evening hopefully they will have more news to post.

April 15, 2007 I received a call from Lorie first thing this morning that they were going to do surgery, to take out her medi port as the first culture came back that she definitley had staff infection, they think that it is coming from her port. So we hurried to the hospital, She went into surgery at about 1:00 and was out about 2:00 everything went well they put in a central line with a triple lu man on the other side of her upper chest area. They are giving her Levaquin and Vancomycin every 12 hours by IV these are very strong antibiotics. She will take these for 10 days and they will continue to test her blood through this process. She has had a very good stay at the hospital with some of the nicest nurses. She is also on her same IV pain medication and her nausea medication. When we left at about 6:30 she was resting comfortably and Ashley was staying with her tonight. I am going to try and be at the hospital first thing in the morning so I can be there for the doctors report. I will keep everyone updated.

April 17,2007 I just got back from visiting Lorie, she seems some better today but still pretty nauseated but she had enough energy to take a bath and a little walk and I gave her a mini pedicure. They are still giving her the two antibiotics by IV and her pain and nausea medication through her IV.  She is on a liquid diet. We didn't see a dr. today so not sure what the plan is for the rest of the week. But we will work on that more tommorrow. We left the hospital earlier today as the weather is not so good this afternoon.

April 19, 2007 Lorie had a pretty rough day yesterday with nausea so they increased her nausea medication, she also felt really tired as she has not been sleeping well! She felt some better today and kept down her breakfast so they decided to send her home. She finally got discharged at about 6:00 this evening. Eric brought her home and Mom and Dad, Milt and I made dinner and spent some time this evening discussing her care for the next 10 days, she will have to continue her IV antibiotics and she will be on IV pain and nausea medication as well. 

April 20, 2007 I woke up early and was at Lorie and Eric's first thing this morning so that i could learn how to administer her IV antibiotics and her IV pain and nausea  meds. The nurse from option care worked with Eric, Ashley and I. I was Lorie's nurse for the day. It really felt good to be here and actually be able to spend time with her and at the same time be a part of her care!  It has really been hard being so far away and having her so sick!! She did well today and even had a small outing.

April 27, 2007 Lorie has had some really rough days this week, she has retained alot of water and is extremly worn out! She continues to have her IV antibiotics and her pain and nausea medicine through her line.  But even with all the nausea medicine she is taking she is still having a hard time even keeping jello down! The option care nurse came today to draw blood for labs.  She also changed the dressing on her line and said there was some drainage that didn't look real good so we are watching that really careful. They have set up wednesday of next week to take out her temporary line and put in a new more permanent line.  Ashley and Robert  left yesterday which I know was really hard on Lorie!! And today we said goodbye as we leave to start driving home tommorrow. Talk about a hard goodbye!! It has been really wonderful being here with her and being a part of her care!! We have been able to spend alot of time together. 

May 9,2007 As I'm sure you have read Lorie is back in the hospital as of Monday.  I talked to Eric this morning and they have changed Lorie's pain medication to 5mg of diladid every 2 hrs to try and control the pain so she can get some rest as she is so run down. They are still giving her 25mg phrengran every 3 hrs for nausea. They have made a new policy at the hospital that they now piggyback the phrengran in her IV. Instead of pushing it by itself which slows down and evens out the effect of the drug. They have also started her on lipids in her IV as her protein levels ,and her fat levels in her body are very low as well as her iron and potassium levels they think this is why she is so weak. They also said there are a few other things that were low but Lorie had a hard time remembering all of them. After talking to Eric I called and visited with Lorie and she sounded a little more rested and in pretty good spirits, well as good as can be expected since she's in the hospital. They have called in Dr. Mallot as Lorie really is having more pancreas pain and she feels that it is completly blocked off again so they may be going in to do an ERCP but we will not know that until Dr. Mallot see's her. I will keep everyone posted as I get new information please keep Lorie in your prayers and keep checking back!!

May 9, 2007 Update!! I just talked to Eric and Dr. Mallot has decided to do an ERCP on friday and if there is a blockage he will be stinting it! They are hoping that she will get some relief from it. She will be fitted in between other patients.

May 11, 2007 Lorie had surgery today, Dr. Mallot went in and looked at the pancreas and found a large stricture and stinted it so that it would stay open and drain. When I spoke to Eric, Lorie was in alot of pain. Dr. mallot and Dr. Lamont were coming by this evening to check on her but at this point they have left her pain meds the same. This is not unusual as when she has had the two other stints put in she was really sickand in alot of pain for a couple days. Mr. P (her name for her pancreas) does not appreciate being messed with.

June 7, 2007 As you probally already read Lorie is back in the hospital, she went in on Tuesday afternoon. She has seen Dr. Lamont her surgeon but he is bringing in Dr. Mallot her gastro Dr. as she is having alot of pain from the stent, and is having a major problem with acid reflux. They have her on ice chips only at this point. Lorie or Eric will let me know what Dr. Mallot had to say and I will update everyone as soon as I hear.

June 9, 2007 I talked to Eric this morning they had Lorie schelduled for an ERCP. Just about the time they called to have her go down for surgery they relized that they had not stopped her intake of fluids and they served her breakfast so they had to cancel it. They will be re scheduling it for tommorrow or Monday. Mean while she is still in the hospital on her pain and nausea medication and a liquid diet. She is feeling pretty rough and is sleeping alot as she is so exhausted.

June 12, 2007 They finally got Lorie in for her ERCP today! they took her in at about 10:00 this morning and she was out and in recovery around 11:00.  Eric got to go back to recovery and be with her at about 11:20. The fellowship Dr. came in and talked to him and said they found the stint completley clogged and they removed it and cleaned things out, when they were through it was draining really well. Eric said she woke up feeling better and a whole lot less pressure, so were hoping that it continues. Thanks to all of you, again it means so much to our family to have you all keeping Lorie in your thoughts and prayers.

June 13, 2007 I talked to Lorie a little while ago and she was home. She said that she felt somewhat better as far as the pressure around her pancreas, but she was still feeling pretty rough. We didn't talk long as she had company. She said she would try and journal in the next day or so.

August 16, 2007 I am back at the hotel and updating all of you! Lorie got checked in at about 12:00 today but didn't get a room till about 3:00. She didn't have orders from the doctor till about 6:00 and the orders came from a Dr. Lake which was on call. She finally got her pain meds at about 7:00. We haven't been able to talk to Dr. Lamont as yet but are hopeing to get with him in the morning. We plan on being at the hospital at about 5:00 am so that we can see Lorie before they take her at 7:30 am. I have been told that there is a wireless connection at Baylor so I plan on updating the site as we are updated. We thank everyone in advance for all their thoughts and prayers.

August 17,2007 It's been a busy morning, We all met up in Lorie's room at 5:30 and spent an hour with her! Her mood was really quiet and she was pretty medicated. They came to take her to the surgery prep area at 6:30 we followed her down and Eric and Ashley were able to go with her, we all found the waiting room and waited to see Dr. Lamont. He came in to talk to us at about 7:10 and answered all our questions I think the comfort check is a whole lot better now!! I was able to go back to see Lorie right before she went to surgery as Ashley came out and got me! Lorie was scared but doing ok they gave her something to relax her right before they took her back! Well the wait begins!! I will try and journal each time we get news!! Lots of prayers!!

11:20 am  We finally got a little info! They took her at 7:30 but had to do an Epidural and a main Arterial line in her neck as well as her arm. They didn't start the actual surgery till 8:55.I have updated and created a new image gallery called Islet cell tranplant for those of you that would like to see some pictures of the past few days!!

1:40 pm. Rhonda the O.R. nurse just called to let us know that the pancreas is out and on it's way to the islet cell lab. Lorie is doing fine. They will continue with the rest of the surgery and will do a non formal closure until the islet cells are ready to be put into her liver, this process will take 4 to 6 hours. When they put the islet cells into the Liver it will take about an hour. I will keep you updated!

7:25 We are finally in the ICU waiting room we were able to talk to both Dr. Levy and Dr. Lamont  they were very pleased. Dr. Levy was able to harvest 240,000 islet cells and Lories pancreas looked better than expected!! They put those into her liver at about 5:00 this afternoon. Dr. Lamont said she did very well the artery that ran through Lorie's pancreas and to her liver gave them some problems but otherwise it was a text book case! She is in ICU at this point and is off the ventilator and breathing on her own. He said they removed her pancreas, spleen, a small portion of her stomach as well as her duodeuman and a small amount of her small intestine. They left her appendix as he said it looked fine. We are all very relieved and want to thank everyone for there prayers today. We are waiting to get our rules from the ICU nurses I will keep you all updated!! 

August 18, 2007 Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm having computer problems, Lorie is doing fine and I will give a full report when I get back to the hotel.
 
11:20 pm. Well today was another long day. It took them most of last night to get her pain under control. They have her on 5mg dilated every 2 hrs. as well as an epidural and two leads that go into the front of her stomach that are ran by her pain pump. As well as 50mg of phenergan every 4 hrs. She was resting pretty comfortable in the early part of the day but that changed quickly when she had to do some respitory therapy as her oxygen levels were not very good. They made her do that every two hours today and this evening they looked alot better. This afternoon her MAP numbers which has to do with her blood pressure dropped very low and they worked with trying to bring those back up. These numbers are what gauges the amount of blood available to your organs. The first organs to get blood flow are your brain, heart and lungs and with numbers as low as Lorie's were getting, it could start affecting her other organs. Pretty scarey!! They worked with those and this evening those numbers were back where they needed to be. She also is running a fever of about 100.4 and they are watching this close as well. Her blood sugars looked really good today she is on a insulin pump to regulate this. They started her J tube feedings today which goes directly into her gut as the nurse put it. She has a drain tube on her right side and a NG tube down her nose and into her stomach with a pump that brings the excess fluid up out of her stomach. She also has a cathedor in for her urine output. The only thing she had by mouth today was ice chips and not very many of those only two cups in a 24 hour period is allowed at this point, this has to do with keeping her electrolights in balance. I know there is some misspelled words but I am really tired and wanted to get everyone updated I'll fix them tommorrow. Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers and continued support our family really appreciates it. Until tommorrow!
 
August 19,2007 Today when we got to the hospital Lorie seemed to be doing a bit better. Her blood pressure was still a problem so they started backing off on her pain meds a bit and gave her a unit of blood. This afternoon her blood pressure was better. She was able to sit up in bed for a short time today and reposition herself a bit. Her sugars are doing really good so far! Her sugars were in the 120 range all day. They increased her nutrition through her J tube to 20cc. She is so thirsty and she is only allowed 2 cups of ice in a 24 hr period. Lorie drinks water all the time so this has been very challenging for her. This evening was not real good, she was agitated and was rambling on about all kinds of different things. Dr. Levy came in this evening and talked to Lorie or tryed to and decided that she was over medicated and that they need to adjust her medication according. She was unable to follow directions and was not able to do her deep breathing excercises. So we will see how things go tommorrow!
I added more pictures today including a picture of Lorie that was taken shortly after she went to ICU. Well I am really tired so I will close for tonight. Thanks again for all your support.
 
August 20,2007 I got to the hospital at about 9:45 this morning and when I went to see Lorie I was quite disturbed as she didn't recognize me at all and was mumbling and not able to really make words. Eric had been in right before me and he said she seemed fine! We went back and forth for awhile with this problem and this afternoon she seemed to be better. She had a really tough night last night in fact they had to restrain her as she was trying to pull out her tubes and such. We talked to the doctor about her Lexapro (which is her anti depressant) that she had not taken since friday because of surgery and it being an oral medication, they were finally able to start her on it again today. Were hoping that this makes a difference tommorrow. They say that some of the withdraw side affects from the Lexapro are confusion. They removed her NG tube today and all of her vitals were really good. They moved her out of ICU this evening at about 7:00 and she seemed happy to be able to be in a room that she could have all her own stuff in it! She went from 9:00 this morning to 1:00 this afternoon with 5 mg of Dilated and then from 1:00 to when we left at about 8:00 this evening on I think 5 mg of dilated so were thinking that her pain has to be way less, it is hard to tell as she is not real together with her thoughts but seems to be comfortable. They also shut the epidural off last night! They did all this because of her blood pressure being so low, but in doing this they relized that she was not needing the pain medication that she was being given. Her blood sugars were good again today between 87 and 126 so were happy about that. Everyday seems to be better so hopefully tommorrow I will have good news to report. With her being in her own room I will try and get some photo's to share with everyone. Till tommorrow.

August 22, 2007 
Well sorry I didn't get to update the site yesterday it was a very long day! She was still very confused and Dr. Lamont thinks it is maybe from her being under medicated, so they had Dr. Konan ( her pain management dr.) come in and access the situation. He determined that he felt the same way and changed her pain meds to 4mg. dilated every 3 hrs and 25 mg. of phenergan every 3 hrs. he said that she needed to be weaned off of the pain medication by keeping the time between doses the same and lower the amount of mg. slowly then increase the time between doses. She was also given her Lexapro through her J tube as her digestive system dosen't seem to be awake as yet and with the nausea it would actually get absorbed instead of just throwing it back up.  She seemed more clear headed late last night but had alot of nausea. I stayed with her last night and we were up most of the night as she vomited off and on the whole night. She has been on a liquid diet since moving from ICU. Although she only has a sip here or a sip there of fluids. Her vitals all look really good and her blood sugars are great. Dr. Hollander and Dr. Levy were both by today and are talking about taking her off the insulin pump as early as tommorrow. They will be giving her insulin shots every 4 hrs. and see how that goes. They had the physical therapy gal in today and she didn't want to do her therapy at first but after a little chating she was up and walking the halls. She did really good for her first day up actually the word they used was fantastic. Dr. Lamont also said that the reason for the nausea was that her digestive system isn't working yet and it isn't abnormal for her digestive system to not be working after such a large surgery. They are giving it a couple more days and they  may have to give her something to jump start it. I came back to the hotel at about 11:30am and took a nap as I was worn out. But feel fresh now and plan on going back up in a little bit after I get a bite to eat as I haven't eaten all day. All in all the doctors are pleased with how she is doing. Probally won't update till tommorrow evening.

August 24, 2007  10:45am.  I am getting ready to run up to the hospital. Lorie had a rough day yesterday! Her stomach had cramping all day as they started her on raglan to jump start her digestive system. She was able to get up and walk again and did real well. She is still on oxygen and they had to hook her feeding tube back up as she would try and drink or eat a little bit and throw it right back up which as you can all imagine hurt like crazy. We went to the hospital early yesterday as Dr. Lamont was to be there between 7:30 and 8:30 and we wanted to get the latest report and plan for the next day or so! He said that she is doing well and that it just takes time for her digestive track to start working,  her body is still in a little bit of shock. He started her on Lasic to get rid of the fluid that she is retaining, and said her incision looked real good and that they will remove the drain tube in the next day or so as well as the catheder. Lorie asked for them to wait a little bit on the catheder as the lasic would cause her to be up and down constaintly. Lorie seemed down yesterday but Dr. Lamont also said that is normal. She will have days where she feels she is doing well and then go through days where she feels this is taking forever. But all and all I think she is doing really well. Slowly but surly.  I posted some new pictures of her incision and of her  yesterday.

August 25, 2007 This morning when I got to the hospital Lorie and mom said it was a pretty good night except for having to use the restroom all the time as they gave her lasic pretty late in the day. She ate about 3 bites of pancake, 2 bites of sausage patty and most of her liitle thing of orange juice and kept it down so we were all excited. She also ate  a little bit of lunch but wasn't able to keep it down. She did well with her respitory therapist but still has to have oxygen as her levels are not where they need to be. The infectious disease doctor was in today as they are treated Lorie for an infection they found bacteria on some of the cultures and they started her on antibiotics yesterday and already today they are seeing her fever go down. She has had a low grade fever since day one and it had gotten up to 101.4 but has since went down again to 99.8. They say they are not to worried there just being cautious. She seemed a little down this afternoon. Until tommorrow.

August 26, 2007 When I got to the hospital this morning Lorie, Ashley and Eric were not in her room so I sat and waited for awhile and when they returned they said they had walked all the way to the cafeteria and back which is quite the jont. She did really well but was really tired. We stayed and visited for awhile. Sheri and Scott some of Lorie and Eric's friends came up this morning and really brightened Lorie's day!! New visiters!! Everyone left and let her rest this afternoon as she seemed tired and I plan on going up this evening to stay the night with her!! I'm also sopposed to let everyone know that Eric has fufilled his promise of rubbing sissys feet with lotion daily as per his testimonial! Her respitory therapy has been moved to every 6 hrs. She is still having to wear her oxygen all the time. Kay the dietition came to visit for a little while on friday and will start working more with Lorie this next week! She is doing pretty good pain wise still on 3mg dilated every 3 hours and 25mg of Phenergan every 3 hrs. From time to time she has these sharp pains that catch her off guard but seem to only last a few seconds. Dr. Lamont says they are perfectly normal as muscles are healing and mending themselves. She also takes her digestive ensymes with each meal and heavy snacks as that is what helps digest her food. Dr. Lamont also said that he was going to change her diet to 5 smaller meals per day and to not so heavy foods. Fever still looked good today and they still feel things are going well with the infection! Please feel free to send comments thru the support forum as I can print them out and take them to the hospital for her to see! For some of you that have a hard time on computers you can also send them through my personal e-mail kis2722@aol.com Thats all for today Thanks again for all being there for Lorie!

August 27,2007 Well I stayed at the hospital last night with sissy, She seemed to get some sleep last night, it is really hard with all the interuptions. She was real nauseated this morning and had bad diarreah and vomiting as well. She also has some amazing burps going on!! She says the stuff that she burps tastes like old sour beer! gross huh!When Dr. Lamont came in this morning he decided to turn off her J tube feeding at night to see if maybe that is the problem. So tonight will be her first night of that. He also sent her down for a chest xray today and said if her lungs are clear she can get rid of the oxygen so we are waiting for the results on that. Her Infectious disease Dr. is working with her on her tongue as it has been real sore almost like thrush from time to time in the past few months. He said that all the cultures for the last few days came back looking good on her bacterial infection, she is still on antibiotics as she has to run the course but her temps have been close to normal as well. Her blood sugars have done really good so far but they will need to really watch them as she starts eating more. She says it's really wierd but nothing tastes the same and she just dosen't have an appetite. Mom and Dad visited today as well as Ashley and they took her on a walk to the cafeteria again, she picked out a strawberry shortcake and was able to eat three bites. Yeh! She seemed real tired again from her big outing so everyone left so she could get some rest. Eric is staying at the hospital with her tonight. She seems to have a more positive feeling about herself and she has started making some small goals for herself. She is more clear headed the past couple of days. We were able to sit and visit a little last night which felt so good!! I have really missed that!! Love You sissy!! I added a few new pictures to the image gallery in the album named islet cell transplant.Till tommorrow!

August 28,2007 Well today was not a very good day for Lorie! Dr. Lamont came in this morning and said that they were going to do an upper GI  because of all the vomiting,and to make sure that everything was working correctly. They took her down at about 9:45 and she didn't get back to the floor till about 12:15 her pain meds were due at 10:30 so she got behind on those and with all the moving from table to table she was really hurting by the time she got back to her room. The results of those didn't take long Dr. Lamont was back in at about 2:30 or 3:00 and said that we had a problem the stomach is not dumping into the small intestine but he's not sure why so they needed a cat scan meanwhile Lorie is still vomiting everything she puts in her stomach. They decided to put back in her NG tube and put her on liquids only. They took her down for the cat scan at about 5:30 and she was brought back at about 6:45 again all the moving and everything got her behind again on her meds so she was in alot of pain. Dr. Lamont ordered a extra booster shot to try and keep up on the pain. They finally got her NG tube in at about 9:00 and and she was put on nothing by mouth as they are doing a EDG tommorrow to look from the inside. she also got the results of her chest xray and there is a fuzzy spot on her left lung that there not sure what it is. They said that it could be a pocket of fluid that they may need to drain. There watching it. Eric tryed to comfort her by giving her a foot massage. Dad took Lorie for a walk around the floor. We were at the hospital from about 10:00 in the morning till about 9:00. They also decided to start her feeding tube again and her IV fluids as she needs hydration. Lories blood sugars were good today they avg. 96 which is great she is getting insulin still but not alot. She has her oxygen still on. Ashley was going to staying the night with her. She had some new visitors this evening Victor and Becky some old friends stopped by and visited for awhile and I think she really enjoyed that. Hopefully she gets a good night sleep because I know she is really worn out today. I'll keep you posted.

August 30,2007 Well they did the edoscopy yesterday at about 2:00 and the results showed that everything is ok just still inflamed and swollen. There is some liquid getting through but very little so that was good news. Lorie was a little short tempered yesterday as they are thinking that they need to cut back on her pain medication so that her digestive track comes back a little faster as the narcotics are slowing things down. This will be a balancing act as far as keeping her pain under control but at the same time let her digestive track have a chance to wake up if you will! She also had some problems with her oxygen levels again with the booster shots they were giving her night before last and her blood pressure was real low again so they took those away as well. Her blood sugars were in the 70's yesterday which is low but with not much by mouth that is to be expected. Sorry I didn't journal but Milt flew in yesterday afternoon and I was spending my time with him!! I't been over two weeks since we have seen each other. We kept Milt coming a secret from Lorie so she was really surprised to see him yesterday! I think that was the highlight of her day!! Well gotta go up to the hospital so I will update todays news later.

August 31, 2007  Today was about the same as yesterday, Lorie was still vomiting and had some diarreah she was able to get up and take a couple good walks and her first shower. She even blow dryed her own hair! She was really tired this afternoon so we left her to rest the rest of the day!! Eric was going up this evening to spend some time with her. She was moved back to 3mg of Dilated and 25 mg of phenergan every 3 hrs. it seemed to do well for her today as her pain was under control. We all watched the movie overboard this morning as it is Lories favorite movie of all times. They gave her potassium as she was real low on it, they tryed giving to her by mouth but it just wouldn't stay down so they ended up giving it through her J tube. They also said her blood platlets are real high but thats pretty normal when you remove the spleen and they are going to start her on a baby aspirin a day so she hopefully will not get blood clots. Thats about it for today!!

September 2, 2007 Went up and spent time with Lorie this morning. she is really tired and looks extremley exhausted in fact I couldn't believe how different she looked compared to yesterday! She had dark circle under her eyes and was pale and drawn. She is still not holding much down in the way of even fluids they say we just need to be patient and it's going to be baby steps. They did a sleep study on her last night and found that she has sleep apnea and is only getting about 83% oxygen at night so she is back on her oxygen even during the day for now! We only stayed for maybe an hour and let her rest she just kept saying she wanted to sleep. I want to thank all of you that have sent cards and letters it means so much to her each time we bring them to the hospital!! I also printed out the e-mails that people sent to me as well and she was really excited to get them!! I'm going to try and get some additional pictures on line today or tommorrow so keep checking back!!  

September 3, 2007 We went back up to the hospital last night and visited for awhile she was still really tired so our visit was short. She was vomiting pretty much everything she tried to put in!  Today was pretty much the same. We visited a liitle this evening and she was really wanting to just sleep. Were going to try and be ther early in the morning so we can hopefully catch Dr. Lamont. Till tommorrow!  

September 4, 2007 Well mom and dad both got up early and were at the hospital in time to see Dr. Lamont he has changed Lorie to nothing by mouth except ice chips as she continued to have vomiting and diarreah thru the holiday weekend. He has also decided to do another endoscopy to see if the swelling has went down any and to make sure they didn't miss anything! He also talked about the possibility of having to go back in surgically and look to see if there is a problem this is definitley a last resort. He said she should be able to eat by now! The other possibility is something called gastroparsis which is usually caused from narcotics usage. They would need to try and lower her dosages of dilated and phenergan to see if the swelling goes down any but at this point they are trying the NPO and doing the endoscopy. They have put her on ube feeding 24 hrs a day. We went back up after lunch and she had not vomited since early morning so hopefully that means her stomach and intestinal track are getting some good rest. We left her and Ashley to them selves this afternoon as Ashley has to fly back to Japan tommorrow  it will be a hard day for Lorie. Milt also leaves in the morning I have sure enjoyed him being here with me!! Well will see what happens tommorrow! I also will work on getting the photos that I have taken this week on the site tommorrow!!

September 5, 2007 Well today Ashley left and Milt left as well. I was up at the hospital at about 8:30 and they had scheduled Lorie's endoscopy, they took her at about 11:15 and by about 1:00 we had news that the swelling has went down some. It still has a long way to go, but they didn't find anything else as far as obstructions or strictures so that was really good news. They said that it was just taking longer than normal and that it is probally caused from the amount of narcotics that she is still on. She takes 3 mg. of dilaudid every 3 hrs. and 25 mg of phenagan every 3 hrs. she also takes atavan as well. She is still on lasix and they have had her on IV fluids as well as her feeding tube. The feeding tube runs at 55. She has had to have potassium and they have put bannana flakes in her feeding tube to try and help with the diarrhea. They took her off raglan and put her on eryhoromician to get things moving a bit. The past couple three days she has really just wanted to sleep. We go up and visit in the early part of the day and let her rest the rest of the day. We left today at about 2:15 and I will call to see if she is up to having a visit this evening. I added several more pictures to the image gallery today as dads computer was available. The computer at the hotel dosen't have the program I need to resize the picture to put them on the site. Hope you all enjoy them.

September 7,2007 Well yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day for Lorie she had a smoothy that mom brought up and she kept about 3/4 of it down and a little bit of dinner. She spent alot of the day sleeping. Today when we got up there at about 8:00 am she was awake and in a really good mood. We all visited with her and she walked the halls a couple times! Dr. Lamont came in at about 11:30 and talked to her about the endoscopy that was done a couple days ago, he said it looked pretty good but there was still alot of swelling, but less than last week he also said that he felt her stomach was still pretty much asleep and that she needed to eat sitting up in a chair and try walking a bit after eating to try and help the stomach dump easier. He also said that he felt that the stomach would start working faster if she cut back on the amount of narcotics that she is taking and talked to her about ways to cut back on her meds. He had several suggestions. He also said that he was going to contact her pain mangement Dr. that she had before. Dr. Shaw which worked with Lorie for years and they have a very good relationship so will see if he has any new suggestions. He also said that she could try a soft diet and see if that helped. After Dr. Lamont left Cheri a friend of Lories showed up for a visit and joined us as we all walked down to the Truit cafeteria which is a big walk for Lorie, she tryed to eat some mac and cheese, rice and a roll. She took a couple bites of the roll and a bite of each of the other things and that was about it. She did drink some of her gatorade and than we walked back to her room. Almost as soon as she got to her room she vomited her lunch. I guess the only thing good about the trip was the excerise. She was really tired so we left and let her rest. We will probally go back up this evening for a bit.

9:30 pm We went back up to visit Lorie this evening and took her another orange and vanilla smoothy, she drank about 16oz. and when we left at about 9:00 she was still holding it down!! Dr. Lamont called her this evening and they decided that they would try having her on oral medication starting in the morning. He is putting her back on Oxycontin 80mg every 12 hrs so 160mg per day and fentanol suckers or actic not sure on the spelling but that would be for break through pain. They will keep the IV meds still on the chart at this point just in case this new program dosen't work. They are trying to get her on oral medication so she can work toward going home!! All in all I think today was a good day for her!! Till tommorrow!

September 8,2007 We didn't get up to the hospital till about 11:00 this morning! Lorie was visiting with Eric's mom Maureen, She seemed to be more drugged today as they were starting her on her oral medication and were still giving her IV meds as well! Not sure how this is all going to work out! But I'm sure they have a plan!! Lorie walked a bit with us and slept a little here and there. She seemed more nauseated today and just not feeling good! A little down I think!! She looks like she has lost more weight everytime we see her!! I took a few new pictures today so I will try and work on them tommorrow! It just seems like the days fly by! Mom, dad and I have to go home day after tommorrow and she keeps asking about that so maybe thats bugging her!! I'ts going to be hard to leave!! I thought she would be home and more settled in. That I think would have been easier for me to say goodbye under those circumstances. But I will keep close tabs on her and keep the journal up the best I can from afar and who knows I may be back before you know it!!

September 9,2007 Went to the hospital first thing this morning, Lorie didn't seem to be in a very good mood but after visiting for a little while she seemed better! We took a walk around the halls and chatted. Mom and Dad showed up a little later. She got good news from the Dr. this morning they say that her C pep tide which is what measures her islet cell activity looked good and her islet cells are starting to take hold. She is still vomiting back up almost everything she eats. She said she had alot of pain in her stomach today and it just feels like there is alot of pressure. She is still on both oral medication and her IV medication. We are going up early tommorrow morning so we can hopefully see the Dr. before we fly out tommorrow afternoon. Lorie wrote a not to everyone and asked if I would post it.

Hi to everyone,
I wanted to write a quick note to say hi to everyone. I figured I would write it up and have my sister enter it into the website for me.
Each day I seem to be gaining a little more strength. It most certainly has been a pretty rough road. The sugery was 23 days ago. I have most all of my tubes out of me. I still have my feeding tube that comes out of my tummy and still have my central line IV that comes out of my chest.
Eating is not one of my strong points right now, we are working on that.
I wanted to thank all of you that have been so very supportive. I want to thank the friends and family that have been by my side daily! I could never have done this on my own. Eric has been here daily and so very loving. My family came all the way from  Oregon and have been here daily, they have taken time away from there jobs in Oregon and the rest of there family. My parents have been by my side as well. The love I have felt by so many is hard to describe. Ashley came all the way from Japan. I know it was hard for her to be away from Robert all that time. I am so excited that my 1st grand baby is on it's way.
Derrick has been a real strong supporter at the office, he has stepped right up and taken care of so very much. Jessica and Derrick have both been very loving and supportive. 
I am tired so I am going to close for now. I hope I have not forgotten anyone. If I have I apologize I am still on a considerable amount of medicine.
Love To All Lorie

September 12, 2007 Sorry I haven't written in a couple of days!! I was traveling home on monday and yesterday was extremley busy for me!! Lorie had a new cat scan with die contrast yesterday and after many different positions they now know that the stomach is not dumping into her small intestine and will have to go back in and do surgery to correct this problem so as you can imagine it was not a good day for Lorie!!
 They are trying to decide when to do the surgery, it will probally be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. They are saying that the surgery will take approx. 2 hours and she should be able to go back to her room and not have to spend any time in ICU. Thats about all I know at this point! I did post some more photo's the other day so you might want to check the image gallery!! I will keep everyone posted as I know more!!

September 15, 2007 Eric bought Lorie a new laptop and she is able to use it in the hospital! She is back to posting in the link called Lorie's  journal. She is able to respond to any comments that you may have. Under her latest posting there is an area directly under it that says comments double click on it and a comment box will appear, type what you would like and then click on the button to update to post it! She would love to hear from everyone!! I got my plane tickets to go back on Monday as her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday at 1:45. At this time I will be staying till Friday as long as everything goes well! She will be journaling until Tuesday where I will again take over till she is able. Please keep Lorie in your prayers!
 
September 18,2007 Today I got to the hospital at about 10:00 this morning she was sleeping really good and continued to sleep until 10:45. She woke up and took a shower and got her pretty little hospital gown on you know the rear air conditioned version. They came and got her to go down to the pre op area at around 2:00. We were able to go down with her. They took her in at about 2:45 where they will get her ready for surgery, they need to put an additional line in as her line that she already has dosen't push enough volume. We went down and got a bite to eat and got back to the waiting room where we just checked the montior and she is now in surgery it's about 4:10. There is 4 hours marked out on the monitor board for her, they said they will update us from time to time. Ill' let everyone know as I know!

8:45 We just talked with Dr. Lamont and Lorie is doing fine! I am having a problem with the internet connection and will update in length when I get back to the house.

11:35 I am finally back to the house! Lets see when Dr. Lamont came out to talk to us he said that there was alot of scaring that had already taken place and that the small intestine was scared down and then kinked so nothing was able to get through. He worked on freeing things up and created an opening but was not real happy with it so he decided to re due it a different way which freed things up and gave her a bigger opening which he was much happier with. He said it also looked like there was a small abstruction in the small intestine a little lower and this also took care of it! He fixed her feeding tube as it came out this morning after a dressing change. He also said there was alot of swelling and inflamation and when trying to close it made things more difficult so he decided to put in a mesh like substance in her tummy to give it more strength so she would be less apt to get a hernia later on. The surgery ended up taking 4 hrs altogether. We went back to see her in recovery and she was still very out of it,  they are going to keep her that way for several hours and then wake her up really slow.  From what I could tell she has a new IV line as well as a pain pump, drains from her tummy along with the small topical numbing device that she had after her big surgery. She also has a NG tube as well as oxygen and they are keeping her with a bedside nurse tonight in recovery and will try moving her back to her room in the morning. I plan on being up to the hospital around 9:00 will see how things go with traffic. Well it's late but wanted to get everyone updated! Till tommorrow!

September 19, 2007 Eric and I got to the hospital at about 8:45 Lorie was still in the recovery room. Eric went back first and then I went back, she was really alert and talking they were still waiting for her blood pressure to come up as it had been down as low as 60 over 30 something. She was finally able to come to her room at about 11:30am. and we met her up there. They got her comfortable and she seemed to be alert most of the day she had a little trouble this afternoon as her meds ran out and it took them over an hour and a half to get them going again. Dr. Lamont came up this evening and was pleased with her progress. He said that we may try a little bit of liquids tommorrow. She is still on 1 mg. of dilaudid every 6 min's in her pain pump and Tordel every 6 hrs. Atciq 1600 mcg. every 6 hrs. as needed for break through pain. And she still gets phenergen 25 mg. every 3 hrs. for nausea. But she didn't seem to complain as much about nausea today. All an all I think she did well today. 

September 20,2007 Well today is a different story than yesterday! When I got to the hospital at about 9:15 this morning she was really drugged and sleeping my first thought was she is just really tired from yesterday, but after she woke up she said her night last night was awful! She kept having these muscle spasms all over her body! Leslie came up to visit but most of the time Lorie slept. When she did wake up she said that the spasms or cramping was starting again and she wasn't kidding! she started shaking uncontrolably and crying she said it felt like 1000+ charlie horses all over her body! The nurse was called and brought a tech with her we all got her up as thats what she wanted and she sat for a bit in the chair, very uncomfortable I might add!  She was probally like that for a good 10 minutes or so before they started calming down. The nurse gave her some additional dilaudid to try and relax her. They think this is happening because her body is so depleated of minerals. They are giving her Calcium and magnesium by IV to try and build things back up!! Eric and I left to let her sleep after all that as she asked me to shop for Ashleys birthday next week for her. I will be going back up in a little while and will try and journal later. Says prayers that she is more comfortable.

September 21, 2007 We went back up to visit Lorie yesterday evening and she had another one of those cramping episodes, we talked to Dr. Lamont and he seemed puzzled and said her labs looked fine and that he would keep an eye on her. He started her back on her feeding tube and they also changed her pain meds so that they ran continuous  through her pump and then she could also get more by pushing her button he thought that might help as she would fall alseep for a couple hours and not push her button so when she woke up she was behind all the time on her pain control. We stayed till about 9:00 last night, she slept most of the evening as she was very medicated. We are getting ready to go up this morning. She called Eric at about 6:45 and said that her central line blew out so they called IV therapy to see what could be done hopefully she dosen't have to go to surgery to fix this! It just seems like she catches a break anywhere! I packed my stuff up this morning as I am sopposed to fly home tonight I will try and update everyone before I leave as long as the internet at the hospital will let me. I hope her day gets better it makes it harder to leave when things are not going right.

September 24,2007 Well sorry everyone I flew home on friday and have been super busy! Here is the update for today!! I talked to Lorie twice today, once this morning right after they took her to radiology and did a contrasting die study! She said they had her drink the stuff and then retested her every 20 minutes, Lorie said it was really hard to do and very painful as they make you change in several positions! She didn't have any results at that time. I called her a few hours ago and Dr. Lamont had been in and said that the test showed that it is barely draining anything and that he wasn't really happy with the outcome of the test and would be talking to Dr. Mallot to see if there was maybe a way to stint it?? She also told him about her incision and it being red and really sore, when he took a look at it he couldn't believe how red it was and she explained to him that she had told each one of the nurses as they did there evaluation at each shift change. They had called in a infectious disease Dr. over the weekend as she had a 102 fever. She is on two different  IV antibiotics. Dr. Lamont took out 4 of the staples and open it up at bedside and pressed on it and stuck his fingers down in side with gauze there was a bloody drainage that came out and he packed it with gauze and left it open to drain! Lorie was in tears this evening when I talked to her! It is so hard not being there with her. She said that she was going to call Dr. Mallot herself tommorrow and ask for a consultation. She said she would keep me updated so I will try and let everyone know as I know of any changes. Keep her in your prayers !!

September 25, 2007 I talked to Lorie this morning and Dr. Mallots partner came in and saw Lorie this morning, he said they are wanting to dialate her stomach where it dumps into her small intestine to see if that helps with the dumping process! They said they would be doing that either today or tommorrow! Sometimes I think this is a big experiment with her!! I guess I'm getting a little worried about there ability back there! It just seems like they don't really have a plan. Kinda scarey!! Thats about it for today if I talk to her later I will try and post more!!

September 26, 2007 I just got through talking to Eric, they got through with the endoscopy at about 6:30 Texas time and they have good news!! finally!! Lories stomach was more open today and draining a bit better so they didn't have to put the balloon in it. They are starting her on clear liquids and are going to start her on oxycontin orally along with the dilauted tommorrow. They will need to leave her on both for a couple of days while the oxycontin builds up in her system. She is already saying that she will start weaning herself off the dilauted starting tommorrow as she really wants her digestive system to wake up quickly. Today was a way more promising day!! I'll be talking to Lorie again tommorrow so I will update everyone then!!

September 29, 2007 Well I just got off the phone with Lorie this is day 45 for her! She is still having a hard time keeping anything down she said she does think that her nausea is a tad bit better today! These are the changes they have made to her medication She is on 2 mg. diladid and 25 mg of phenergan every 3 hrs so that is some improvement and Lorie asked herself to be moved down to 2 mg. to try and see if it made any difference. She also was switched to Vivonex in her feeding tube as my dad talked to a Dr. Traverso in Seattle which is a friend of his and he suggested it instead of what she was on. She also takes 4 mg. of Zofran for nausea. Reglan which is a motility drug to try and get her digestive sytem moving. Two seperate antibiotics, and they will be trying to change her to oral meds which they say will be 40 mg of Oxycontin 2X in  the Am and then 40 mg at 2:00 pm and at 8:00 pm. Then they will give her 1200mcg of Actiq for break through pain. She is still getting her Lexapro and enzymes through her feeding tube. They crush those and then flush them through. She is also getting her Ativan which is a anxiety medicine. She has to have wound care on her incision and they are talking perhaps letting her go home next week. I am sure there will be alot of home health care set up. Her blood sugars are up in the 200's, so she wasn't sure what was causing that. Maybe the new stuff in her feeding tube. They have increased her insulin to take care of this. When I was talking to her this morning they had just taken her blood sugars and it was 160 so that was better. Eric e-mailed the surgical pictures that Dr. Lamont took during the surgery and I have posted them in a seperate album in the image gallery it is called surgical pictures. I will warn you they are very graffic and that is why they are in a seperate album.

October 3,2007 Just a quick note to let everyone know that Lorie is home!! She got to go home today and talk about excited!! She will be journaling in the next day or two!! Eric took pictures and I will try and get them posted tommorrow!! Mom and I had bought welcome home stuff before we left Texas and with the help of everyone back there they were hung up and put together for her home coming!! Welcome home sissy!!!


December 31, 2007 Just  a quick note to let everyone know that Lorie is back home from Oregon and is now in Baylor Medical Center as she is down to 99 lbs. and very weak. They have put her in the hospital to put her on TPN again in hopes that she will put on some weight and get some nutrition in her body!! She has her lap top with her so please feel free to write to her and she will be updateing the site as she is able. We had a very nice Christmas it was really a blessing that we were able to all be together it has really been a tough year for all of us. I have updated the image gallery under Lorie's recovery with a few new pictures and will continue to add more as I get them from family members. Thank You all for your continued support and we hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!


January 25, 2008 Just wanted everyone to know that Lorie went into surgery this morning for a abstructed bowel. They say her surgery will take about 4 to 5 hours! I am not in Texas I'm in Oregon but Eric will be keeping me updated. We are leaving for our trip to Diamond Lake this morning but will be available by cell phone for Eric. I will ask my dad to please update the website with info as we know!! Please keep Lorie in your thoughts and prayers!

January 25, 2007 Lorie came out of surgery after about 4 hrs and is doing well she will be kept in ICU until this morning and is expected to be back in her room around mid afternoon. The surgery went well and the obstruction was removed. They also found a rather large palup which had cristalized and that was removed. Her j tube had to be relocated also. All in all she is doing remarkably well.

Jan 26, 2008  Lorie is out of ICU and in a room now. She is doing well and should be able to go home in 7 to 10 days.
 
January 29, 2007 Thank You dad for keeping everyone updated on Lorie over the weekend!! I talked to Lorie this morning and she seemed to be doing well. She was going to do physical therapy which was walking down the hall this morning for the first time since surgery! She has TPN going as well as her tube feed and she ate her first bit of jello this morning. She is on amoxicillian and has saline going through her IV. Her pain is being controlled pretty well now over the weekend it was pretty rough! Eric said he didn't think she had lost any more weight which is a plus!! I will keep everyone updated as I have info available! Thank You for all your thoughts and prayers!! Kathy
 
February 3, 2008 Just got off the phone with sissy and she sounded tired but had went on a pretty long walk this morning! She is on a full soft diet now and doing pretty well she did vomit a couple of times yesterday but all and all she is doing alot better. Lorie says she is feeling stronger. Her big wish is to just get a good night sleep!! She is still on TPN as well as tube feed and as she posted in her journal has kept on the weight she had gained before surgery so thats good!! She sounds alot better and is anxious to go home this next week somtime!! Thank You again for all your concern, thoughts and prayers!! I am going to try and download some new pictures that Eric sent to me so check the image gallery for a new album!! 

February 7, 2007 Just wanted everyone to know that Lorie was able to go home from the hospital on Tuesday!! Talk about excited! She will be updating her journal soon! She is enjoying being home with the boys!! As all of you probally already know the boys are her dogs! So pray she continues to recover at a good pace!!