Monday Update

Last night was another rough night but hopefully one that ends today with Alli regaining more of her responsiveness.  I went to sleep just after posting the blog and was hoping for a peaceful sleep for both of us.  We didn't get that wish as the doctors woke me up at 3am and said that the most recent labs had shown Alli's sodium levels to have dropped a lot from the previous day and that they were having to move her to the ICU where they can provide the drugs and monitoring for patients that have that low of sodium.  Not the wake up call we were wanting.    

After moving her to ICU they started her on some meds to slowly raise her sodium levels back up.  As her sodium levels have increase so has her responsiveness to everyone.  I heard her say her first word in over 2 days at about 6am when she responded to a question from the ICU nurse.  It was just a single word and was slurred but it was so nice to hear her voice again.  As the day has progressed she has gotten more responsive to answering questions for the nurses and being able to have short interactions with people.  Her speech is very slurred and she is searching for her words a lot but so much improved from the previous 2 days.  Her team of doctors is now also every growing as she now has the ICU oncology team, the general oncology team, the radiation oncology team, the neurology team, and the nephrology team all consulting on her care.  

Today also ends with more questions but not a lot of more answers.  I think it is apparent that the sodium levels were contributing to her responsiveness.  The reasons why her sodium level dropped so fast and how much her responsiveness will continue to improve remain a wait and see.  With the focus today being on improving her sodium levels they also cancelled her radiation treatments for the foreseeable future.  If and when we restart the radiation gets added to the list of unanswered questions at this time.  As I said yesterday it seems like for every answer we get, a new question or two appears.  

But for this day I am going to focus on one answer we got today... that she is being more responsive and can have a short conversation.  That is one of the best Christmas presents I could have ever wished for.  I don't know what answers tomorrow and the next day and the day after that may bring but we will cross those bridges when we get to them.  

On this Christmas Eve night Alli, Malena, and I would like to wish everyone a wonderful holidays filled with love, laughter, and joy.