Home Again Home Again

So much for the Southland in the springtime. Instead, we were in the hospital for a week and a half. But fortunately things were less terrible than they could have been. The doctors were able to diagnose Gloria and the nurses were kind and gentle, per usual. It turns out that Gloria has both an infection in her colon from cytomegalovirus (CMV) and a little bit of acute graft vs. host disease (GvHD). They cause the same symptoms but require opposite treatments, which means that treating Mom over the next few months will require a bit of a balancing act. The biggest challenge is that the CMV will cause Mom's white count to fall, so it will be harder for her to get out and about and to have visitors. Plus, it is hard to know if the CMV is returning since it doesn't show up in the blood even though it is in the colon. Go figure....

Gus the dog on Del Monte Beach, Monterey, CA

In the meantime, despite the setback, we are all relieved to at least know what is going on and that it can be more or less controlled for now. Rebecca was happy to be here and help in the hospital, but now that Gloria is stable and at home, Rebecca has to head back to her job and her dog, Gus, in California. She will miss Team Gloria! But, hopefully the Louisiana trip will be rescheduled for July to celebrate Gloria's father, Oren's, 97th birthday, and they will all be reunited soon!

Lots of love and big hugs to all!

Rebecca, Karen, Sidney, and Gloria

A little setback

It is a beautiful sunny day in Columbus. You read that right, we are in Columbus. Mom was doing so well over the last few weeks - going to physical therapy, getting stronger and starting to venture a little farther from home, while tapering off of some of her medication. She was still having some issues with her appetite (go figure), but the doctors were concerned about graft vs host disease (GvHD) so on Wednesday of last week she had an endoscopy done at The James. Everything looked normal,  and she went home thinking, "I told you so". Then, things started getting a little worse. She was experiencing nausea, even more loss of appetite, diarrhea, and some fever. On Saturday, Rebecca arrived in Ohio to spend the week with Team Goldman. That night, around 4am, Gloria spiked a fever of 101.5. Following protocol, Rebecca and Sidney whisked her off to Miami Valley, where she was pricked with needles and hooked up to an IV. Once stabilized (which wasn't that hard because she wasn't really unstable, just a little shaky from fevers and lack of sleep) they shipped her up to The James in an ambulance. Sid and Rebecca followed in the Mambo Volvo post-Starbucks pit stop, and got her settled into her new digs on the 3rd floor. So far there is no indication of infection, but they suspect GvHD in the colon, so poor Gloria had to suffer a colonoscopy on Tuesday morning. She was a trooper and now we are simply waiting for the results from the colon biopsies while she gets inundated with a variety of meds, including steroids. She is trying to keep her 'roid rage under control but has mentioned strangulation of certain nurses by IV tubing, so we don't know if it is working. She is not happy about being back on steroids, and it is frustrating to feel like she is taking a couple of steps backward, but still we march on.

We are still hopeful that we will be able to make it to Louisiana this weekend to celebrate the 90th birthday of Gloria's mother, Grace. But if not, we plan to visit sometime in the near future.

Love to you all and feel free to call or send messages.

xo

Rebecca, Karen, Sidney, and Gloria