Saturday May 24th - May 30th...Dixie Regional stay

....In the ICU sending love to my loved one's (even though I felt like crap!)....

Before going to the ICU they did a CAT scan of my abdomen. With this they found a small abscess where they had taken out the cancer. Again they were trying to stable my blood pressure. Once they got it stable the ICU doctor and general surgeon talked to us about surgery to remove the abscess and at this point my white blood count was 6,000 (normal is about 4000-10,000) but showed a big "left shift" suggesting significant infection. We opted to give the antibiotics some time to work because the abscess wasn't real big. Then when the white blood count went up to 22,000 the next morning they decided to do surgery. Later I could tell the surgery had helped because I was feeling better. The next day was a waiting game for cultures and blood test results. The infectious disease doctor came in and talked to me about some of the results but had to wait another day to be sure what bacteria we were fighting. At times I felt good but more times I felt yucky. Then I became very nauseous and throwing up with no appetite they gave me nausea medicine that knocked me on my butt, "ask Larry and Nadine about my dreams “hee, hee".  Each day my white blood count got better and they changed my nausea meds and I started feeling much better. I finally got the tube out of my neck!!! I still have a JP drain that drains excess fluid out of my abdomen. Everyone at the hospital, doctors, nurses aids, were Very accommodating, helpful and positive. I also had great family support between Larry's and Kerry's family. So if you ever get stuck down here in the hospital know you will be well taken care of! I didn't really realize how sick I was. I am very grateful to have a brother with the skills and talents to help me make it through this crisis. I'd recommend Dr. Stratford to anyone. Feel free to ask me any questions. Text me whatever and I will answer what I can. I just appreciate your support and prayers in the coming months.

Love you all!

Laurie

...Mark turned to talk to me & he fell off the bed, just then (2) nurses walked in. The one asked if he was ok while the other one started laughing with us. I quickly asked her if she could take a picture. Laughter is one of the best medicine's....