The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Good: Dad had an echocardiogram yesterday to compare to an echo he had when first admitted to the hospital. Chemo can be very toxic to the heart so they compared the pre-chemo echo with the test yesterday. Yesterday's echo showed no damage from the chemo and that his heart is functioning in the same ranges as before.

The Bad: Dad's kidney functions continue to deteriorate. (But, as one nurse said yesterday, "Kidney function comes back" so better to have kidney complications than heart complications.) They are adjusting his medications - stopping some, changing and lowering others - because his body isn't metabolizing the drugs as it should. He's acting quite loopy and confused and one theory is that his body isn't breaking down the pain killers he's so that, in effect, he's super drugged up. Add to that the fact that dad finds the lights in the hospital uncomfortable so he's wearing sunglasses. He looks a bit like Charlie Sheen - wearing sunglasses indoors and acting loopy.

The bone marrow biopsy originally planned for today has been postponed. If the biopsy was revealed leukemia they would recommend additional chemo, but he's not well enough for another course now so there's no point in the biopsy at this point.

The Ugly: The water / fluid retention is so bad that dad's feet and legs are horribly swollen. It looks extremely uncomfortable. We really hope they figure out some way to release the fluids so he can regain some mobility and level of comfort.

And, The Anticipated: We're entering the hat phase as dad is very clearly losing his hair.