Saturday, August 4 - by Bea

Hi folks,

Sorry I took so long to get this going but I’m not the computer guru - Bill is. It seems like every time I get a few sentences down a doctor would come in or Bill would need sometime. So my daughter offered to do the typing and sending if I wrote something for her.

It has been a long couple of months. The time line goes something like this: Bill had been feeling increasing tired over the past couple of months and had developed a cough that wouldn’t give up. The onset of problem was slow so he figured it was a mixture of allergies and old age (he had had a birthday in April). I finally convinced him to see Dr Thomas. On July 3 he was prescribed an antibiotic for walking pneumonia. A week later Bill was feeling no better. Dr Thomas wasn’t surprised since the x-ray had looked suspicious to him. Bill went to work at Godwin yet on the 5th, 6th & 7th of July. That Thursday and Friday evening he could hardly stay awake to finish supper. That Saturday we went to see our kids who were staying at a cottage and he could hardly wait to get home.

During this time the cookie jar was staying much fuller than normal so I knew something was wrong. The doctor told him to stay home from work. Of course I asked the doctor if he could do dishes for me – the doctor responded ‘only if you bring it to him at his recliner’. It was funnier at the time.

I don’t remember dates of all the testing, but he has had numerous EKG, X-rays’, blood work, ect. All we knew for sure was that the blood showed some type of conective tissue disease and the lungs showed some type of inflammatory lung disease. On the 18th of July he went in for a pulmonary function test. Bill did manage to get the lawn mowed that week (on the rider with several rest breaks in between). It was about this time his left foot started acting different.

On July 24 he had a Broncos-copy. The doctor hoped that would give us some answers. On Wednesday evening, the 25th, he fell twice. We had a very hard time getting him off the floor and into a chair. A call was made to the doctor who insisted we get him to St. Mary’s Hospital.

Since being at St. Mary’s there has been a lot of testing, MRIs, Spinal Tap and lots of blood draws. Bill has continued to grow weaker and now he has no reflexes in his legs and his sensory reception is ‘goofed up’. Sometimes his legs and feet feel numb or tingly or sometimes when moving him it feels like sandpaper. He can lift his legs less than an inch off the bed and they are no longer able to support him. He is restricted to his bed. His arms are now beginning to feel the affects. At this time Bill is afraid of becoming completely paralyzed. It is scary and very frustrating for Bill, myself and our girls. Yesterday, the 3rd, in an attempt to find some answers and to develop a plan, the thoracic surgeon did a biopsy to get some tissue from enlarged lymph nodes from the chest and some muscle tissue. He also took tissue from both the upper and lower areas of his left lung. The surgery was a little longer that we expected but went well. Bill remained on the respiratory through the night and (praise God) was able to be weaned off it this noon. He is now breathing on his own but it has become hard. He is afraid he will just stop breathing. He still has a chest tube from the surgery and is very uncomfortable. They are giving him some pain meds but he doesn’t seem to be able to get comfortable more than 5 to 10 minutes at a time. It is frustrating because he is unable to reposition himself with assistance. He is still in intensive care tonight. Tomorrow they hope to move him to intermediate care.

There is still talk of transferring him to the U of M Hospital but that is on the long list of unknowns. His doctors have been in close contact with the U of M Doctors as they continue to proceed. He has started receiving some IV steroids and some type of plasma concoction. We expect to get the results of yesterday’s biopsy in 5 working days.

We are praying that they will find answers soon and begin to treat the condition. We both appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray, especially for Bill’s peace of mind and patience with the system. We will try to continue to track his progress and keep you updated via the blog. Feel free to share the blog address with people you know that will keep Bill in their prayers.

Love,
Bea and Bill