Update

Dad's having another surgery tomorrow.

August 4:
Dear family and friends. This has been quite a trial. Twin falls oncologist finally just got mad after the last episode with Huntsman and talked to Glen about getting something done. Glen finally got some results on the culture that he did and it is a less common bacteria that they really don't like to see and all the medicines that he has gotten will not work on, hence the continuous fever. He needs to get this antibiotic by iv and so now the surgeon at Huntsman wants us back there in the hospital to get it cleared up. Chuck is not sure he even wants her to do anything because she has not done anything yet to fix him. His fever went to 103 last night without Tylenol. He, of course, went to work today but just is still not feeling well. So we are waiting to hear from Glen and Twin Falls Dr and Huntsman. We want to know what the plan of action is from Huntsman before we make another trip there. Glen is advocating that we do the treatments here if they are going to just do antibiotics and that is certainly what we would prefer but I guess we will see. We will let you know what is happening as soon as we know for sure. Maybe now we can get him well. Keep us in your prayers. Love, Jolene

August 7:
Dear family and friends. I read my last e-mail and then I think how does all this happen so fast. Huntsman called and he was admitted on Thurs and they started iv antibiotics. They did a CT scan yesterday to compare to the last one 10 days ago. The surgeon came in last night and feels the only way to get this cleared up is to undo when she did the first time. She will remove the abscess and give him a colostomy but she feels it will not have to be permanent. His muscles and everything are still good. It has been three months since he had his surgery and she thinks this is the fastest way to get the chemo started. We were really upset of course because the surgery last time was just awful. He is still pretty down about it but we both feel it is the only option. She has been in twice to talk to us about it and is trying to reassure us that it will go well. Of course there are no guarantees. She said she has had complications many times from this surgery but none like this. I don't know if that is good or bad. He just has to get better. He has been in pain for too long. He is pretty discouraged today but is trying hard to be positive. He is still very weak and is still anemic so he is sleeping a lot. His surgery is on Tuesday and we thought maybe we could go home for a couple of days but she wants him here on the IV anitbiotics. Neither one of us thought we would be gone that long but I guess we will have to make arrangements. Thanks to all of you for your concern and prayers and to those who are helping out at our house with lawn water etc. Continue on with the prayers. We sure do need them. We love you all. Jolene