25/10/2022
Christie Update 10/24
As a dedicated member of Team Christie, an update is very much needed.
It has been about two weeks since our last post, which included a significant change in Christie's chemo regimen because the original regimen did not work.
Right off the bat, the new chemo treatment is working. The tumor in her brain is shrinking, and the edema is going down. This was something we were all hoping for after her body rejected the methotrexate. Now, the hard part about this is the chemos are no joke. They are doing exactly what we knew they would which was lower all her blood counts.
Christie's White Blood Cells, the front liners to fighting infections, are almost non-existent... because of this, she has developed an infection in her lungs creating it difficult to breathe, her heart rate was high, and her respiratory rate was high as well. Her family, the nurses, and the doctors on the Oncology floor recognized the seriousness of this and pulled in the Pulmonologists who quickly decided to transfer her to the Medical ICU floor at St. Luke's.
Immediately she was put on a ventilator, they made this decision because her body could not keep up the rate it was running. As scary as a ventilator sounds, this allowed the ICU heroes to slow her heart rate and respiratory. To allow Christie's body to take a much-needed break from the high-intensity rate it was running from the infection. Not only that, but the tube allowed for a procedure called a bronchoscopy. This easily allowed doctors to put a camera into Christie's lungs to get a sample of the infection. We are waiting to hear the results on that to better understand the correct route to treat this.
The absolute goal is to extubate her, they will slowly be taking the amount of oxygen the tube is giving her until she is completely off of the ventilator. Before that can happen, our current battle is with her lungs. The doctors can only do so much, we need her to continue to fight to overcome this next obstacle. She is on strong antibiotics to help take care of the infection in her lungs and hopefully we will have more answers for the next steps.
These updates are hard to write and rethink about but it is also so humbling to know you all, her family and friends, care so deeply about the progress she is making. Difficult post but please don't dwell on the sadness but celebrate the progress that has been made. She is in such amazing hands and watching eyes as she slowly recovers in the ICU.
My mom is a special, special person. We all know this. You wouldn't be here reading this if you didn't agree. I need her to pull through this. We all have too many things to say to her, too many hugs to give her. My family's lives are deeply affected by her and I will fight for many more days with her.
Long post but every time we put our guard down and an update something gets turned on its head and we are reevaluating the plan. So thank you for being patient with us as we try our hardest to get information out while at the same time juggling our day-to-day battles.
Wondering what you can do???
First of all, as we always say... pray, think about her, talk about her, and send all the good energy you can to her. Also, give blood! Even if you are not giving blood that will directly affect Christie, she has been through many blood transfusions in the last few days and someone took time out of their day to donate blood. There are people just like her who are in need of this recourse we have an abundance of. I hate that it took an event like this to feel the gravity of how important this can be to someone. Steve LeVota was the one who saw an opportunity and we took full advantage of it. He continues to amaze my brother, Jack and me with his strength and I could not do this every day without him by my side.
Love you all so much and thank you for your continued support.
