For those following my wife's blog, this is Wayne posting an update for you.
May 16th started a whole new phase of our battle. You read about the brain tumor and removing that brain tumor on May 17th. Then the following week, the doctors treated a second smaller brain tumor using radiation. The actual surgery and then radiation were a piece of cake for Maria compared to what has been going on since that time.
A few weeks ago, the pain in her shoulder and right side got much worse and her breathing was getting short. She was hospitalized and fluid was drained from the pleural cavity around her right lung. We have known that her right lung has several active breast cancer tumors. What we did not know and know now, is that more tumors formed on the pleural membrane (think of your lung as a balloon that is actually placed inside another balloon -- the pleural membrane). These new tumors are very active and are causing the builder up fluid in that cavity which presses against her lung very hard and gives that lung no where to go in order to expand.
Her first visit to the hospital regarding this fluid resulted in them draining 800ml from that cavity and there was actually 2 LITERS .. yes 2 LITERS (2000ml) there. So, they can only drain a little at a time.
That did not work well and more fluid gathered quicky and last Sunday we came back to the ER and she was in more serious condition. They got her stabilized and determined that again there was about 2 liters of fluid on her lung. She was now also feeling a lot of anxiety (naturally .. completely) because of the shortness of breath and feeling like she was not breathing.
Monday was a holiday and they could not drain fluid. Tuesday came and things worsened and they admitted her to the ICU floor where she could be watched more closely. They drained about 750ml of fluid off and this helped. The next day, they inserted a pleurex catheter into her side where we can drain the fluid as needed and try to get ahead of this fluid buildup. Her anxiety was certainly still there and this required some medication as well.
The net of this is that the fluid pushing against her lungs is a bad thing and we need to get ahead of that fluid. Her lung took a beating and with the tumors also inside her lung, the balloon quality of that lung is close to being sponge like right now and we need to have some physical therapy with her lungs to try and improve the functionality as we drain that fluid and keep it off. There is a possibility that her lung will not respond and that could present additional risk.
The end game here is to get her stronger, get her lung working much better, and then start chemo again to try and attach these tumors that are causing all of the problems right now.
So, I sit here again looking at my beautiful Maria. She is fighting hard. Right now, our focus is to get her to work on her breathing and give her lung (right lung) a chance to improve in performance. We are also fighting off a little infection in the left lung and treating that with antibiotics. Thank you all for your warm wishes, prayers, positive thoughts ... love.
I will write an update as she makes progress.
Wayne
