April 10, 2024
I know many of you are hanging onto the edges of your seats and praying without ceasing for Tammy and I really try to be prompt, but the last 4 days have been high intensity. I really didn’t know what to say or how, or when to find time to figure that out. I will try again to pick up the pace!
The 7th was grim, Tammy’s sodium levels continued to lower, which is bad, and that’s apparently extremely important. She started taking massive pills of sodium every 4 hours, which she did until yesterday. These made her nauseous and she delayed taking them as long as possible. She also had to get her blood work taken every 4 hours until yesterday, and all this means she wouldn’t be able to sleep through the night. Her sodium levels need to rise significantly in order to continue chemo and begin other treatments. For this reason, the doctor also has decided to put her on a special IV to help aid her sodium levels to get her ready for a second chemo session on Friday.
There were also increasing signs of her liver not keeping up with the toxins in her body, making her very sleepy. We were told that if these levels don’t balance soon, her time awake and alert would begin to decrease, and so the following days would be the most important yet. (Hence, why we’ve been less responsive as we’ve given all our attention to her.) Despite the heaviness of the day, we were given a wonderful evening with her on the 7th. By what seemed like a miracle, she woke up and socialized with us for an hour and a half. What a treat.
The 8th was increasingly difficult. We could tell Tammy was exhausted not only physically but mentally. She lost her voice. You could see and feel in the room that her spirits were low. We were, and are, tired of watching her suffer, too. This day had the same focuses, but with heightened anxiety as she progressively got sleepier and her body continued to reject adequate amounts of sustenance. We didn’t know if she’d be able to continue fighting.
Tammy felt “bombarded” on the 9th, in her own words, and reached a new level of exhaustion. I think she saw about 10 doctors and specialists, such as kidney doctors, dieticians, and more. She kept getting woken up to have exams, try to answer questions. We answer most often for her because she’s too fatigued to speak, receive medications and treatments and more. These are all very important things that we are so grateful for, but it was hard for her because she felt far too tired for this much action, even though these appointments are crucial and necessary to be done with haste. The doctors offered a feeding tube because Tammy simply was not getting enough calories to be ready for chemo on Friday. They also decided to put her on a higher-sodium IV. After putting up a fight, Tammy consented to the tube.
As a warm end to the day, the elders of Northview Church, where Tammy has attended most of her life, came to pray for her and our family. This was encouraging to us, and helped to recharge our batteries.
Today, at 6AM, Tammy received the feeding tube. Then, she was sent for X-Rays to ensure the tube went into her stomach properly. A few hours later, her IV popped out and luckily, Keaton noticed and called the nurses in to help put it back in. Tammy’s one available arm for any insertions has been pierced so many times in the last month that even the most experienced nurses struggled to find a vein. This was incredibly painful for Tammy, and hurt our hearts to watch. At every step of the way, the nurses have been so patient and caring and gentle, and have gone above and beyond to provide the best care for Tammy. I don’t know how they do this in the midst of the pressure and heaviness they must experience every day on the job.
The kidney doctors visited once again to try to tackle Tammy’s low sodium. We were told just now that any liquids she consumes on top of her feeding tube administration must be paired with nutrition, rather than simple liquids. We also are now sure, after speaking with a few doctors, that it was the absolute correct decision to accept the feeding tube, as she likely would have continued withering quickly without it. This is giving us our best shot at more time with our beloved Tammy. Funny enough, once she received the tube, she developed a new surprising appetite and started making requests for food. We hadn’t seen her be excited to eat in at least a month! Some friends very quickly ran out to get everything she wanted and she did eat some of all of it.
Tonight, Tammy is once again fully tuckered out. Our family is eating soup made by a dear friend. We continue to count our blessings every day. Thank you all for following along and continuing to lift us up in prayer.
