Patience Tested

 I'm currently sitting by Ruth as she's waiting for her next bone marrow biopsy.  She'd rather me write this, because her days are busy enough being a patient.

Sorry it's been a while since the last update.  It took a while to get some answers.

First, the good news - her last bone marrow biopsy showed she is still in complete remission.  This means we have time to make sure all T's are crossed and I's dotted before she undergoes transplant.

Then, the rest.  As you've probably come to realize, nothing goes completely smoothly for cancer patients. 

I last mentioned Ruth had a chronic pneumonia.  She did indeed grow mold from her sputum, but after several weeks, the lab could not identify what it is exactly.  OHSU did start her on antifungal pills, and her repeat CT of the chest did show some improvement.  She's been on antifungal meds for a month now, but her cough has stalled and just doesn't want to go away.  So OHSU is now planning a bronchoscopy.  That's when they put a camera into her wind pipe and sample the lung airways for infection.  

The other thing OHSU is doing to help her combat this infection is beef up her immunoglobulin levels.  These were extremely low and depleted due to her immunotherapy.   Levels are better with 2 infusions, but still in the low range.  I'm hoping they'll squeeze in 2 more before transplant.

Now some not so good news - Ruth's kidney (her transplant kidney) took a couple toxic hits related to med interactions and is not doing as well now.  It's down to 25% function where as previously it was at about 40% (which was pretty good for an almost 25 yr old kidney).  The nephrologist is not sure if it will recover back to it's prior baseline.  That just makes complications from chemotherapy going into stem cell transplant more difficult to contend with.  

Speaking of stem cell transplant, it's now tentatively scheduled for August 15th.  Personally, I think it's 50/50 that they'll have to push it back further to make sure this pneumonia is gone before transplant. 

In the meantime, we've been just trying to enjoy a relatively normal summer.  We've gone berry picking, done some short short hikes, gone to the movies, been to a concert, amongst other things between her multiple clinic appointments and infusions.  Naomi has been really happy and enjoying her summer camps.  Me? I've been sucked into the nationwide pickleball phenomena!  

For those of you looking how to pray for us?

- pray for patience in knocking out this fungal infection

- pray for kidney recovery

- pray today's bone marrow biopsy still shows she's in remission

We're just so thankful that Ruth has come this far.  Many people with relapse don't.  Thanks for continuing to walk this journey with us.