Day 7 Update

[Bill]

My wife's breathing is " normal " this morning with no apparent signs of respiratory distress. She's breathing room air only. No supplemental oxygen. Her hip pain appears to have lessened but it's difficult to quantify this improvement right now as her current narcotic pain med regimen is excessive and is being kept largely unchanged in order to stave off withdrawal. She will be seeing her med onc this afternoon and hopefully she can start gradually reducing the pain med regimen so that it more closely approximates her actual pain relief needs. She is ambulatory without assistance. She has a mild skin rash as reported yesterday. She has diarrhea which is probably largely due to the Tarceva. It looks like the plan is to maintain the Corgard and pepcid, ween off the prednisone 40mg. and prn the lomotil, Xanax and Restoril. She is still weak and needs nutrition and some weight gain.Thanks again for the kind words and helpful input.

[Ry]

Glad to hear the good report Bill. I hope she continues to gain strength daily. Hang in there.

[shineladysue]

Bill ,

Thanks for sharing your wife's progress and know that my prayers are with you both. Take care of yourself .

Sue

[Remembering Dave]

Bill - good plan, good improvement.

Can't say more, I'm swamped at work, but wanted to chime in with my support. Just glad to hear she's progressing in the right direction.

Karen

[TAnn]

Bill,

So glad to hear your wife is doing better. Sounds like Tarceva is working!

Thanks for the update.

TAnn

[Addie]

Wow!! This is so encouraging....and I hope the weaning of pain meds goes equally well.

Continued good wishes for your wife to keep on this positive track!!

[elnodel]

That's good news -- keep it coming! Thank heavens for tarceva -- seems to do wonders when it works!!

Ellen

[Bill]

Bill,

So glad to hear your wife is doing better. Sounds like Tarceva is working!Thanks for the update.

TAnn

TAnn and others :

You nailed it. It's my nature to be cautious and even skeptical about improvement. I'm in a " show-me " mindset with Tarceva right now. I'm appreciative of any improvement in my wife's condition BUT I anxiously wait for continued improvement that can be more clearly attributed to Tarceva. I honestly can't determine how much of this early improvement is hospital heroics ( e.g. pleural effusion drained, resp. tx, emergency meds. etc. ) vs. Tarceva. I'm open to opinions on this. This is why I've tried to provide an accurate description of her condition with a timeframe for reference.

Thanks again to all.

[Eileen]

Sorry---I know zilch about Tarceva, I just wanted to say I am glad she continues to improve ---and the Tarceva is doing the trick

regards,

[Ann]

Wow, sounds like things are much improved. We'll keep remembering you in our prayers.

[Don Wood]

Sounds good, Bill. Thanks for the update. Don

[Lisa O]

It sounds fantastic Bill.... I am still pulling for you both!

[MelanieLR]

Hi Bill,

Great up-date. Love to hear any good news. You're both in my prayers,

Melanie

[sharyn]

Bill, Sounds like things are on a "upswing"..... good vibes and positive thoughts heading your way....