Still No Progress

Dear Colleen,
At 7:45am, I left for Houston to see Lana at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center . I had gone about fifty miles when I received a call on the cell phone from Maria at Anderson who wanted to talk with me about Lana. I told her I was already on my way there and she said to ask for her when I arrived.

As soon as I arrived I went up to the 7th floor C unit room 723. It is accessible from the F elevators. Not only Maria but virtually everyone on the nursing staff and two of the doctors wanted to see me. I talked at some length with Richard her RN for the last two days. It was obvious they were doing everything to save Lana’s life.

The dialysis machine is about two feet wide one foot deep and nearly five feet tall with large containers of water at the base. It has a monitor also which gives a constant readout of the progress. There were also four IV stands with 22 bags of various sizes and shapes hanging from them. On the left side of her bed is the Oxygen console which also has its own monitor. Besides these two monitors there are three others which give constant readouts of literally all of her vital signs.

Lana’s body is so fragile now because of the constant bleeding that they do not move her for fear of killing her. She is still receiving plasma, platelets and red blood cells. Her white blood cell count is still 0.0, there has been no regeneration of her transplanted bone marrow. Normally it begins within two to three weeks. Tomorrow will be three weeks.

The purpose of my being called was to determine how long life supports should continue in the face of absolutely no improvement in her white blood cell count. Maria thought we should give her another week or to the end of next week. I told them I did not want to be the one to say “pull the plug”. They assured me that the entire staff including me would make that decision. I do have medical power of attorney as well as durable power of attorney. And we both have signed advanced directives as to what to do in this situation. I explained that if she were to recover now it would not be due to any human effort but rather a miracle. They all agreed.

She has not responded to me since a week ago Wednesday the 21st. She reached out to me and pulled me down to her and hugged me. Other than that I have seen no sign of mental activity. She has been asleep or in a coma. Blood is still leaking from her mouth which is still packed with 4 inch gauze squares.

After my talk with the RN, Richard the Chaplin David Stouter stopped by her room to see me. His main purpose was to see that all the legal papers were in order. He has stopped by several times before and was a familiar face which I appreciated. Richard seemed heartbroken to think his extraordinary efforts to save Lana may be in vain.

It is possible to visit her if anyone wanted to, just call me and we can go together. (Note, you most likely have Joe's contact numbers, but if not please make a comment here and Colleen will get it to you).
Dad