Suzie came home late Thursday afternoon and is slowly but surely regaining her strength. Thank God she's a fighter!

Suzie's is recovering nicely and it now looks like she will be coming home tomorrow.

Alleluiah Amen!!!

This crises is over! Nurses are removing all kinds of plastic tubing from Suzie's body and physical therapy is helping to assure that she has enough body strength as all of us prepare for her return home on Thursday or Friday of this week. The major change going forward is that she will now have a machine to help clear the carbon dioxide from her lungs as she sleeps.

Three years ago we thought Suzie was reasonably healthy. In September 2006, we learned that she had a rare cancer that was thought to be untreatable. In March 2007, we learned that she also had COPD but we never thought that this disease was life-threatening. What this experience has taught us is that the COPD, which we were not worried about, is as much a threat to her survival as is the cancer. And that really sucks!!!

Going forward, we plan to continue spending time with friends and family and to living our lives to the fullest extent possible. We must avoid crowds and we must be extremely diligent when it comes to washing our hands and to avoiding those who are ill.

Mike

Another turnaround yesterday as Suzie's CO2 level dropped to 49 and the Doctors concluded that they would not have to attach her to a respirator. (Allelulia!!!)Still no word on the blood cultures so we have no idea what caused this episode in the first place.

She's not out of the woods, yet, but the trees are thinning out and, if all goes well, she may be on her way home this coming Thursday. Then, hopefully, we can have another 8-9 months of remission and the joys that come with it.

God Bless all of you,

Mike

Suzie’s carbon dioxide levels, which were 70 (twice the normal level of 35) when first measured, were lowered to 51 yesterday so Suzie was transferred from the critical care unit to a standard hospital room. Regarding the cancer all of her blood work, with the exception of her white blood count, is within the normal ranges. We celebrated our good fortune over lunch today before learning that the CO2 had jumped back up to 59 and that she is not out of the woods. This means that she will remain in the hospital and continue respiratory treatments over the Memorial Day weekend. Her spirits are good and she continues fighting both the COPD and the Cancer as hard as she can. It’s good thing that living with me for 40 years did much to prepare her for these encounters! (Thanks Craig.)

Next test of her CO2 levels is scheduled for tomorrow morning. We’ll use the blog to keep everyone advised of significant changes. This document can be accessed at the following URL:

http://nanisgreatadventure.blogspot.com/

Just when you thought....

Suzie and I have had a marvelous 8-9 month period where she was in remission and we were really able to get out and enjoy life. Most recently, we traveled to Atlanta to visit with Dave and his family and to participate in Gwinnett County's Relay for life. This is a huge fund raiser for the American Cancer Society with Gwinnett County's being the country's largest. (These fundraisers, Rebecca, Cindy, fellow teachers and all the students are phenomenal!) Suzie walked the 'Survivor's' Lap, a very emotional undertaking, and did herself proud. From there, we journeyed to Savannah, Charleston, Parris Island and Beafort and celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with her sister Diana and her husband Jeff.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, Suzie managed to acquire a new infection which resulted in an acute COPD event. She was inhaling enough oxygen but her lungs were not ventilating properly and she was not exhaling enough carbon dioxide. This resulted in a loss of strength and energy and made it almost impossible for her to breathe in. Long story short, we went to the emergency room this morning and she was admitted to the critical care unit where she will remain until they can remedy the situation. Please keep her in your prayers!

Mike

We have not been aggressive about posting to this site recently because Suzie is more or less in a state of remission and life for the past eight months has approached normalcy. We're taking advantage of the break and are squeezing as much living as we can into this time period. In April, we hosted a reunion of good friends we made during the short time we lived in Plymouth, got together with our son Dave and his family for Easter and traveled to Boston to visit with our daughter Lisa, her friends, and good friends of ours from our days in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Next week we'll travel to Georgia to walk in the Relay for Life sponsored by Dacula Elementary School, then venture off to Savannah, Charleston and Beaufort to celebrate 40 years of marriage with Suzie's sister and her husband.