Today is 1/23/07 and for some of you who do not know the background of how this all transpired, I will try to catch you up.
Terry had been feeling badly for about a month and for the last 2 weeks had not worked but 1 or 2 days. (if you know Terry, this is NOT like him) He had no energy and thought he might be coming down with the flu. He had lifted something and thought he had pulled something in his back because the pain in his back had become so severe that he could not get comfortable even to sleep. At Alyce's urging, he went to the doctor and they did some bloodwork. Meantime, he also went to an orthopedic doctor for his back. When the blood tests came back, the doctor called and wanted him to see a Hematologist. The appointment at the Hematologist/Oncologist was on Wednesday, 1/17/07. The doctor wanted to do more blood tests and have him return the next day but did tell him they thought it was Leukemia. On Thursday, 1/18/07, Terry and Alyce got the devastating news. It was Acute Leukemia. For those of you who are clueless about this disease, there is Chronic and Acute Leukemia. Acute is the more agressive. It is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood. Terry's white count was 98,000 and normal is between 4,000 and 10,000.
Terry's doctor is Dr. Allen Yeilding. He wanted to begin agressive chemotherapy treatment immediately. He practices at UAB and Carraway and they chose Carraway. He is in Room 653.
After entering the hospital that Thursday afternoon, there were 38 friends, co-workers and family who came by to express their love and support for Terry and his family. He had numerous phone calls from people wanting to let him know that they were concerned and praying for him. I can say without a doubt that the highlight of the night was when our longtime friend, Dr. Frank Sutton, sat on Terry's bed and asked us all to hold the hand of the person next to us and he prayed for him and his healing. Even when the phone began ringing, he was not distracted from his plea for God's intervention. There was not a dry eye in the room but there was also a calming effect that came upon us all.
On Friday, 1/19/07, Terry's white count had peaked at 163,000. They took him to surgery at 7am to insert a Hickman Port into his neck to begin the chemo treatment. They had already started him on an IV and breathing treatments. They began "Big Red" right after lunch. It is in a large syringe that the nurse administers. He is also on a constant drip of another chemo drug which he gets 24/7. The "Big Red" is given 3 days then off for 7 days and then back for 3 more days.
He had a bad night Friday night and Saturday. His temperature was elevated and he was coughing up blood. They put him on oxygen for awhile. They gave him 3 bags of antibiotic and he was feeling much better Saturday evening and Sunday. His white count had come back down to 98,000 and then to 27,000. Monday morning, 1/22/07, he had to have a pint of blood. His white count had come down to 2.8. That catches us up to today. The doctor came by and said he has a spot of pneumonia on his lungs and they will watch it closely. We were hoping that he would not get any infections since his immune system is so low. Needless to say, he cannot have any visitors. His current white count is 1.04.
I am Terry's sister, Karen Bradshaw, and my husband Rick and I wanted to do something to help and decided that this update for all his MANY friends to read would be the best thing we could do for now. We know how much everyone loves and misses Terry but PLEASE NO VISITORS. Please shower him with cards. He will be in the hospital for 6 weeks on the chemo and then will have a recovery period after that.
We urge you to pray fervently and have him put on all church prayer lists that you can. Terry, Alyce, John and Kristina send their love and appreciation to all of you. Please check into this Blog to get daily updates.
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