Sunday July 29th

Jon continues to have a problem with his abcess. The CT showed that the abcess is smaller, but still there. The drain continues to have some "nasty" output. We met with an infectioous disease doctor on Friday. He had some cultures drawn and prescribed some new antibiotics. We have to hold off on chemotherapy until the abcess is cleared up.

Monday July 23rd

Well great news last week. Jon's CEA (cancer tumor marker) is 0.8!!!! Today he did have a CT, which shows the abcess is getting smaller, but is still there. He will need to keep the JP drain in still and have another CT on Thursday. He has little pain, and no temp's...so that is good.

Thursday July 19th

Jon left the hospital last Saturday. His pain is a lot better and he can breathe a lot better also. He still has a drain, which we flush with water 3 times a day. Jon will hopefully get it out on Monday after a CT and visit with Dr. Sielaff. We met with Dr. Flynn yesterday, and found out that he will start up on chemo again Monday the 30th. Our hope and goal is to put this into remission after another 6 treatments. Hope all is well with everyone.

Thursday Evening

Jon's CT results came back this morning showing that he had an abcess. He was then transferred to Abbott Northwestern,where his liver surgeon is. At Abbott he had a 2 1/2 hour procedure where they found out that he had a large hematoma (blod clot) by his liver. 100cc of blood was drained from it with an "elephant needle", and a drain was placed. They also discoverd that part of his right lung has collapsed. We are now residing at Abbott, until the cultures come back on the fluid that was collected.

Thursday July 12th

Jon is back in the hospital. We were admitted to Fairview Ridges Hospital last night. Jon had been experiencing some high temps. He went to his primary clinic and with an x-ray it was discovered that he had a pleural effusion (fluid on the base of his right lung). 1am last night he had a CT of his abdomen and chest x-ray. There is a pulmonary specialist that is going to stop by this am. This pleural effusion is a common post-op complication. We need to find out if this is just fluid collecting, or if he has an infection. He has been started on IV antibiotics and may have to have some of the fluid in his lung drained today. I will keep everyone updated.

Monday July 9th

We hope that everyone had a great 4th of July! Jon continues to do well. He gets his staples out today or tommorrow, and then has a follow-up appointment with Dr. Sielaff next week.

Sunday Evening Update

We are very happy to have Jon home with us. As each day passes, we hope to gain more and more control over Jon's pain. In addition to controlling the pain, we will continue to watch his incision of 32 staples very closely. Thanks for checking in and have a great evening.