November 9th

Today was not a good day. Tia's infection increased and she spiked a fever in the late morning. This caused her blood pressure to drop. On top of this, the infection in her stomach is extremely painful.

The doctors responded by using both broad spectrum and specific antibiotics for the infection and by starting a morphine drip for the pain. She responded well and while her blood pressure is still low, her fever is down and the morphine is alleviating the pain.

She is resting comfortably and watching Breaking Bad with her sister, Julie. She has seen 3 seasons so far this hospital stay. No doubt she will finish everything before she gets out, so we will need to come up with a new series for the next hospitalization. Suggestions are welcome. Her favorites from the last stays were Deadwood, The Shield and Damages so shows along those lines would be good.

This is day 15 since her chemo round of High Ara-C and her white blood count is still at zero. It should start moving up soon.  If it doesn't move up by day 21 we will need to figure something else out.

While she was not strong enough to have visitors today, she did have her decorator (thanks Kimba) come by to pick out fabric for curtains. You had to picture this. Tia couldn't have the fabrics in her room due to potential infections so Kimba would hold one up to the window and Tia would give a thumbs up or thumbs down. Amazing!


When I got there, I was hoping she was redecorating her hospital room but it turns out I am getting new curtains somewhere at Alma. It is good to know that somethings never change and she is still Tia.

While we have been fighting the infection battle since last Wednesday, we must not lose sight of the cancer war. Tia goes for her MRI on Friday so we are all very anxious for the results.

We will keep you posted.

Jess, Zoe, Rae, Ede and Ava