Friends For Leigh

Just wanted you to know that leigh had sucssesful surgery to put in a trach. This is a big step in the right direction. She is still in critical but stable condition. She continues to fight. I mentioned in my previous post that the next 24 to 48 hrs would be critical. Her docs felt if she did not improve they would not put in the trach. Thanks for all of your continued support of our family. Keep sending the positive vibes and prayers her way. It helps more than you know.
Dave

Just wanted to let you know that Leigh’s situation has taken a turn for the worse. She has developed pneumonia in her right lung. She is on full vent support. The next 24 to 48 hours are very crucial to her recovery. Please join together and send as many prayers and positive vibes her way. She can feel them coming and needs them more now than ever. She continues to fight and so will we.
Dave

Just wanted to touch base since my last update last week. Leigh is
still in critical but stable condition.
We had a set back on Friday when a rapid response team had to be
brought in to stop a crash. She recovered well. They put her on 100%
vent support for the rest of the day. Once her sedation and pain meds
balanced out she had a very nice and rest full weekend. Today she has
been moved down to 80% vent support, so we are moving in the right
direction. This is not a situation where all will be better by the end
of the week. We are being told weeks to even further for her to be
able to come off the vent. They will monitor her reaction of lowering
of meds and the oxygen level daily. We are expecting a slow but long
recovery. Time will only tell. We are limiting her visitors to keep a
calm and quiet environment in her room. We thank you all for your
ongoing prayers, thoughts and well wishes. I read her all of the
return emails and cards we receive. It really helps. The power of
people are amazing. Please keep putting her name on prayer lists and
pass this along to anyone who likes to send positive energy to a person
in need. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on a weekly basis if not
sooner. The rest of us are hanging in there. Sam is probably the
strongest of us all. He is amazing and his exact words on his moms
condition are “dad, I know mommy will get better and pull through she
is a fighter”.
With that I will be in touch soon and keep sending the positive healing
vibes Leigh’s way.
Dave

Sorry it’s been a while since my last update. Leigh has been very busy
with her recovery from being released to the apartment, readmitted for
severe/uncontrollable pain issues, and then ultimately being released
to home 2 weeks ago. She even made it to a baseball game of Sams last
Friday.
Since then we have had a very unfortunate turn of events. Over
the past 3-4 weeks Leigh was having pain that would shoot throughout
her body when she tried to breath. This past Saturday she was
readmitted for breathing complications. Her blood oxygen levels were
very low at rest and even lower during activity. On Tuesday night
Leigh had to be put on a ventilator to assist in her breathing, give
her a chance to rest. She is heavily sedated but can feel our touch
and hear our voices. She is in critical but stable condition.
They have determined that Leigh had inflammation in her lungs most
likely caused by an infection. This inflammation is causing her lungs
to bleed, not like a cut more like seeping from the lungs. This is
what was causing her the labored breathing.
She has shown positive results to the ventilator thus far.
4 hours after her being put on the ventilator at 100% oxygen they dropped
it to 35%. These are positive signs. She is also on high dose
steroids to help reduce the inflammation. Leigh is battling very hard
to beat this issue and move forward. We all have to stay strong and
positive for Leigh. I know she is fighting as hard as she can.
Please send positive thoughts and prayers and energy her way.
Every bit helps. I will do my best to keep you updated as events occur.
Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers thus far it has really
helped in her progress. Don’t stop now she needs it more than ever.
For those of you in the Tampa area contact me directly about
visitation, right now we want her to be in a calm and restfully state.
Sincerely
Dave

Hello again,
Just wanted to send a quick update on Leigh’s progress. On the
floor, the nurses and staff refer to her as “the rock star”. This is
due to her commitment and drive to beat this disease once and for all.
She has been doing fantastic in her exercising, physical therapy and
diet. She’s done so well, that she is getting released from the
hospital today! This is about 15 days earlier than originally
expected. She will be moving to an apartment right around the corner
from Moffitt. Once I get the address I will send out an update.
This is a transition phase prior to coming back to home. She will
have to visit Moffitt each day for lab work. Lori will stay with her
at the apartment to help her in her recovery. Her help has been huge.
Without it, this would be even harder.
She is extremely excited to get out of the hospital and have a
little more freedom, not much. She will have a ton of restrictions for
the next 6-12 months and some beyond that. Those that are local can
contact me about visiting her, if you’ve been around anyone sick or
been sick yourself you’ll have to wait at least a week. Keeping her
healthy and infection free is huge, her immune system is so new she
can’t fight off illness. For now were gonna let her to continue to
rest and build up her strength. She still has a very long road ahead.
She wanted me to tell everyone thanks for all of the support and
prayers, it truley helps. She loves all of the cards she has received
and enjoys getting them.
We appreciate all of your positive energy flowing our way.

First, A heartful thankyou for all that everone has done this entire year to help out;prayers,thoughts,gifts,etc…the list goes on. You have shed light on a dark,grim situation, and my family appreciates it.

Now that its a much brighter, light filled future…I’m ready to update!

First, there has been a lot of confusion regarding donating blood. IF YOU ARE O POS OR O NEG YOU MAY DONATE BLOOD FOR ME DIRECTLY. IF YOU ARE AB POS OR AB NEG YOU MAY DONATE PLATELETS TO ME ONLY. THAT IS A 2 HOUR PROCEDURE AT FLORIDA BLOOD SERVICES ON FLETHCER AVE. WHEN YOU GO TO THAT LOCATION, THEY WILL HELP YOU THRU THE STEPS AND EVEN DO A TEST IF YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR TYPE. Otherwise, we still encourage everyone to donate blood for people in need. You would be surprised how many lives it saves, including mine!

So, this little update is making me sleepy….you know newborns sleep like 20 hours a day at birth….but i’ll do an update with pics tomorrow! Love you all very much! Hugs & Kisses!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxxoxooxxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxxooxoxxoxoxo

Hello to all…

This update has been on my to-do list all summer..and now with 4 weeks left of summer, I’m doing it!  

And now, because I need to go to Home Depot and switch cars with Dave…this will be a very brief update!

To date, I have completed 5 high doses of chemotherapy, 17 rounds of radiation to my brain and spine, & 2 doses of high dose chemptherapy directly into my spine.  I now get weekly labs to be sure my blood counts are holding steady while I’m not in treatment.  The plan, as many of you know, is another Stem Cell Transplant..also known as a Bone Marrow Transplant.  I had one in 2008 using my own stem cells.  That put me in remission for 3 yrs exactly..so now we are doing a donor transplant.  Which means, Moffitt searches the national bone marrow database for a ‘match’ for me.  We did find 3 potential adult donors, but all 9/10 matches.  So, believe it or not, I also had CORD BLOOD donors match!!  That’s the blood that is collected at the time of a babys birth and banked.  2 cord blood matches=enough for me!!!  And that’s what we have! So now, I will be undergoing a Cord Blood Transplant..which is slightly different than an adult donor.  More on that later. But, talk about being ‘born again’..those cells haven’t been exposed to air for more than 30 secs!

Sam is heading into 6th grade at the end of the month!  Big, bad middle schooler..and has been invited to play on a new baseball team..the New Tampa Predators.  They play and practice much closer to home then Forest Hills..so its been a good move for all.  He’s very excited for that, practices hard, plays hard and is focused.

Dave is still plugging away at the Depot, working long & hard hours to support our family…and pay medical bills!! 

Love to you all…I’ll be writing more later tonite!

Leigh

I have started anew with this website.  Time for a fresh beginning.