the past week and today 5/26

Don's condition has gotten progressively worse over the past week -- chills, high fever on/off, sweats, loss of appetite, extreme fatigue, weakness. His leukemia has kicked in and the MCC is no longer of concern [though the bumps on his head and face have been drastically reduced in size].

Today, he experienced a shortness of breath, chills and shivering for most of the morning, and suddenly in the afternoon being so hot he could not stand it, having a fever of 103*F. He also seemed dehydrated. The shortness of breath and loss of appetite disconcerted him, so he asked Rachel to take him to the hospital.

After running a series of tests, it was discovered that his WBC [white blood cell count] was high, the fever is due to his body fighting some sort of infection, and the possibility of a blood clot somewhere either in his lungs or legs. A CTScan cannot be done because it would need to be in contrast and his kidney [he only has one] would not be able to handle such a thing after chemo last week. It may cause renal failure.

So here we are -- Don was admitted to the hospital; his doctor will see him tomorrow; they will wait for blood test and other scan results and we shall see what happens from here. We ask that you pray for him. We, in our humanness, may not know what to pray but God certainly knows what Don needs. We must only be faithful.