Carol is my sister-in-law's cousin, a schoolmate of mine a yr ahead of me. Her husband, Jer, is two yrs ahead of me.
I used to live near them, and often went there for coffee when our children were little. Life got in the way, I moved away, and I lost contact.
I don't think that I had put this on my blog before, as I am too 'close' to where this woman lives, and did not want to interfere in anyway with her family. She teaches at an area High School (won't say 'taught', though she has not been there this semester).
Instead, I opted to go with very good prayer warriors that I know for prayer, and for updates, etc. However, it has come to the point where a miracle is needed, and more prayer required for Carol.
Carol has been fighting Multiple Myeloma, diagnosed April 27, 2007, with rapid height loss, and chemo. She has now had two 'stem cell transplants' done with her own cells.
A MAJOR setback came when she broke her hip, and required surgery. She also developed a blood clot in her lung (dangerous, life-threatening). She spent some time on a ventilator while it cleared, along with blood thinners, and then also developed some internal bleeding, but they were not able to pinpoint the source...
This is the news I have not wanted to hear, but knew was there. Daughter Lisa has been updating on a daily basis, but ... 'cheerful' sorts of updates.... nothing significant about her condition.
Today, Jer has made a very definitive update that HAD to be difficult to write.
Their two daughters are a little older than my own two daughters, because we had to go the adoption route. Carol is near the age of my Dad when he passed away, so they are close to what I was back then in age, with young children of their own. I can imagine the difficulty for them in all of this!
Jer is, also, close to the age of my Mom when Dad became so ill... just retired, had many hopes, I am sure, for the future.
I continue to pray and believe in miracles until there is no hope, for as long as there IS life/breath, there IS hope.
My prayers always include being 'right' with God regardless of the type of miracle He grants.
Please continue to pray.
WI Catholic
Ven Solanus Casey, Pray for Carol. (WI native)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 03, 2008 06:01 PM, CST I know it has been a few days since we posted. Carol has not been doing very well since New Years. On New Years Day, Carol had a VERY difficult time breathing. Her heart rate and blood pressure were way up. She was very weak, tired, unable to do any therapy and had a lot of bone pain. She could not bear to be touched anywhere without having a lot of pain. It was very difficult to watch and I felt helpless. Carol received lots of pain medication and was allowed to sleep most of the day. In the afternoon, I had consulted with the doctor on the Bone Marrow Transplant Floor. He had determined that Carol was unable to fight the physical battle anymore. Her lung capacity was severely diminished from the 7-1/2 inch loss of height and all of her bone and spinal fractures. Everything has collapsed around her lungs, not allowing her lungs to expand with full breaths. Her left lung was partially collapsed and she was only using about the top ¼ of her lungs for breathing. She was being forced to take very short and fast breaths in order for her take in enough oxygen to survive. This was also very hard on the heart. Carol's brother Ray and I had to agree with his diagnosis. If things continued to deteriorate, the BMT doctor thought Carol would only survive for another two to seven days. This was very hard to accept but it was kind of expected because Carol has been failing more and more since her hip broke on December 1st.
The hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was to call our daughters and give them this sad news. They both came back to the hospital that evening and stayed with mom. When the grandchildren came down after school on Wednesday, Amy went back home with her family late Wednesday night. Amy is coming back on Friday night and staying till Sunday. Her husband and two children are going to Houghton-Hancock for a weekend of hockey. Lisa is staying here through Sunday or Monday depending on how things go.
On Wednesday, things vastly improved. Breathing was much easier for Carol and some of the bone and skin pain was gone. Boy, did I become optimistic again! All day long, Carol had lots of visitors…… retired teachers, former students, friends, brothers, nieces, nephews, in-laws, out-laws and telephone calls from close friends. It was great. We never expected all this company. Carol was very happy and pleased, but pretty worn out by the end of the day.
On Wednesday morning, Dr. Hari had a conference with me about Carol's condition. The prognosis is not good at all. As I stated earlier, Carol's body is very weak and worn out. It is very demanding physically to continue fighting a hard fought fight. The will to fight is still there and Carol has not given up! She just can't do it physically any more. Because of the slight improvement overnight, Dr. Hari has decided to push Carol to eat, and do breathing therapy and physical therapy. He said we will push her hard for the next three or four days to see if there is much improvement. Carol will be going to Peabody Manor (The Pea) in Appleton early next week. Depending on how Carol improves, Carol will go to the Pea for physical therapy and rehab or she will going there for hospice care. The latter will hard for the family to accept.
If things go very well, Dr Hari said that Carol could enjoy another year with friends and family. He said that if Carol were to catch a cold or flu virus, she would immediately develop pneumonia and not survive. If she were to get an infection, she would not be able to fight it off physically and not survive. Essentially, her chances of surviving a year were not very good. The whole family is hoping for the best.
On a final note to the teachers, staff and students at Appleton North High School, Wilson Cook and two of his friends have painted the "ROCK" at school. When they found out that Carol was unable to return to teaching, they painted the message: "YOU WILL BE MISSED, SANDIE". They took pictures and gave them to Carol yesterday. The four of them spent hours talking about all the fun they had in class and the effect Carol had on their lives. It was neat to see the sparkle in Carol's eyes, knowing that she had made a difference in their lives. Carol will truly miss doing what she loved most…… teaching and her students! See you at the Pea! …… JER
