Family and friends here is the latest on Luke: The neurologist came by for a visit this morning, his initial professional opinion was Luke's brain was off and slightly twisted about the center cortex (since we knew that already we were prudent and asked for a second opinion). In reality, Luke was likely experiencing migraine headaches caused by either chemo, his lumbar punctures, dilated blood vessels in his head or a combination of all three.
They are now trying different meds for his headaches and are cutting back on his morphine. Reducing the morphine has greatly improved his level of consciousness, Luke was on a pretty high dose Monday and Tuesday and was, when in a subconscious state (i.e. asleep), expressing some rather unique philosophies about any one of a number of topics. In addition his sleep-talking/ranting subsiding, his headache issues are starting to get under control.
Today Luke received his latest IV dose of vincristine. He will go ahead with his
interthecal (LP) dose of methotrexate tomorrow. To reduce the chance of another round of headaches, assuming they are related to the LPs, they will monitor the pressure in his spinal column when they inject and will have some of his blood injected around the site of the LP puncture (called a blood patch) to prevent spinal fluid from leaking out and causing an imbalance of pressure upstairs. He won't get the blood patch until Friday so, it looks like he will be extending his stay at Spa MDA until at least Saturday. This visit to the Spa we got to meet the dimpled, world renowned 9th floor nurse Yvonne! We will miss her!
Luke's appetite is getting better (adjacent picture is some of Wednesdays lunch) and with the morphine
reduced he has greatly extended his waking hours. One curious fact about the chemo Luke is receiving is he now has no reflexes in his knees and ankles. You can take as big of hammer as you want and if you give his knee a rap there is no response. We believe that his response to other stimuli is also being impacted by his chemo as he is having a difficult time responding when there is a request for silence. Father Bravo stopped by Monday but missed Luke as Luke was out getting his CT. Thought he would get back on see Luke today.
Today Luke received his latest IV dose of vincristine. He will go ahead with his
interthecal (LP) dose of methotrexate tomorrow. To reduce the chance of another round of headaches, assuming they are related to the LPs, they will monitor the pressure in his spinal column when they inject and will have some of his blood injected around the site of the LP puncture (called a blood patch) to prevent spinal fluid from leaking out and causing an imbalance of pressure upstairs. He won't get the blood patch until Friday so, it looks like he will be extending his stay at Spa MDA until at least Saturday. This visit to the Spa we got to meet the dimpled, world renowned 9th floor nurse Yvonne! We will miss her!Luke's appetite is getting better (adjacent picture is some of Wednesdays lunch) and with the morphine
reduced he has greatly extended his waking hours. One curious fact about the chemo Luke is receiving is he now has no reflexes in his knees and ankles. You can take as big of hammer as you want and if you give his knee a rap there is no response. We believe that his response to other stimuli is also being impacted by his chemo as he is having a difficult time responding when there is a request for silence. Father Bravo stopped by Monday but missed Luke as Luke was out getting his CT. Thought he would get back on see Luke today. 
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