One Good Turn Deserves. . . A Bad One?

Jordan's seizures seem to be on the decline. Her doctors have agreed that the Robinul, while doing a fantastic job of decreasing her secretions, is a likely culprit for increasing her seizures over the past two weeks. So, now she only gets Robinul if absolutely necessary. Yesterday she only had one dose in 24 hours, and her seizures were notably milder and fewer. Since she was having seizures before she went to the hospital, though, it's too much to expect that they'll stop completely by simply removing the Robinul. However, I am so grateful for the reduction I can't believe it. I hope yesterday wasn't a fluke. That was the "good turn."

The "bad turn" is that my dad, who has myelodysplasic syndrome (MDS; a bone marrow/blood cancer), had a stroke yesterday. Now they think he's been having mini-strokes for awhile. In fact, Jill & Kay took him to the ER in June convinced he'd had a stroke, but after a CT scan the doctors said no and sent him home. He probably did. Yesterday they found a small bleed in the left side of his brain, that they think they stopped pretty quickly before there was serious damage. Today they're starting him on PT to get the use of the right side of his body back on track. He'll be in the hospital for a couple of days.

I'm not sure how the cancer & the stroke are related, if at all. He's on an experimental treatment for the cancer, and is supposed to go back to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center* in a couple of weeks to see if the treatment worked. If not, he will need a stem cell transplant (i.e. 4 months in the hospital in Seattle).

So here's our battle cry for the next few weeks: No More Hospitals! Not for cancer, not for strokes, not even for colds, allergies, or seizures.

*It's a fluke that the top MDS center in the US happens to be in Seattle, so he is able to be treated right here in Washington. It's too bad, though, that it is 6+ hours away from home, though.