Good News!

Today Blake had his follow up appointment with the doctor and his labs look good!!! :O) The doctor said that his levels look good and that he does not need to do anymore Retuxin treatments! He is just going to monitor him for the time being. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

This is such a huge answer to prayer. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Continue to pray that his levels will remain stable and that it will just be fine from here on out.

Today's Doctor Appointment...
Well, there is not too much to report after today's doctor appointment. Blake's creatinine is still around a 2 and his protein has gone down. The doctor has decided that he wants to monitor Blake for 2 weeks and they will go from there. So, now we just wait.

I will keep you posted. Please pray that his protein levels continue to drop, and pray that his creatinine will even out after his body has calmed down from the Retuxin treatment.

Update...
I just got off the phone with my mom and they are heading home from the hospital. Blake had his biopsy and everything went well. The results came back showing that there were not any rejection cells. Praise the Lord!

The reason the doctor wanted to do the biopsy was because his labs showed that his creatinine had gone up to a 2.?something. This is not dangerously high but it is higher than it has been so they just needed to be sure he wasn't rejecting. His protein however has come down!!! YEAH! So the doctor seems to think that the Retuxin is working, and that the reason his creatinine levels were higher was due to the trama of the treatment. Blake goes back to the doctor for more labs on Wednesday and they will go from there.

You could be praying that the insurance will okay more Retuxin treatments. The doctor requested 6 treatments and the insurance only okayed 2!!! SO rediculous! Also, continue to pray that his levels will come down.

Thank you team Blake!!! You are all so awesome!

Please Pray...
I don't have much information at the moment but I wanted to ask all of you to pray. Blake went in today to see the doctor and possibly have one more Retuxin treatment and instead they decided to do a biopsy. So, Blake is actually having a biopsy right now! I am assuming that the reason for this is because his labs were not what they should be. I will hopefully know more soon.

Please pray that the doctors will be able to figure something out through doing the biopsy. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and peace and patience for my brother and my parents. I know that they are very discouraged at the moment.

I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.

Here is the latest...
I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update the blog. I was waiting until I had some good information to post and then I got side tracked.

Blake started his Retuxin treatments. He has done 2 treatments now and will see the doctor again tomorrow. They will decide what the next course of action is depending on his lab results.

So far the treatments have gone relatively smoothly. He had a pretty bad reaction at his first treatment (watery eyes, aches, runny nose) but Tylenol and Benadryl took care of it and his second treatment was much better.

Please pray that his lab results show some change. Pray that these treatments work!!!

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers.

Update...

The insurance has approved Blake's Retuxin treatments. YEAH!!! I am not sure when they are going to start the treatments. I think the doctor is still waiting for some "official" paperwork to come from the insurance company.

Pray that this treatment will work. It is the last thing the doctors can think to try.

UPDATE... PLEASE PRAY...
It has been a while since I have had any real news to report, I figured no news was good news, however that doesn't seem to be the case. Blake had a doctors appointment on Friday and his doctor told him that the plasma pheresis is not working. The doctor is really discouraged because it is not common for the pheresis to not work. In almost all cases it does. He said that in some cases they have to leave the patient on pheresis for 6 months, but it still works. The difference with Blake is that his levels are not changing at all. His proteins continue to stay high, and they would have liked to see some change by now.

At this time they have decided to finish the rest of his treatment for the week and then stop treatment. He meets with the doctor again on Friday to discuss what to do next. Basically the doctor has told my brother that there is one more treatment they can try to put the FSGS into remission. It is a drug actually used for lymphoma patients and is a form of chemo. The drug is called Rituxan. It is used as a last resort because of its harshness and side effects (his side effects would not be exactly the same as a cancer patient; it would not be as bad, however not fun to say the least), but in other patients it has proven to be successful in conquering FSGS. The other catch is that this treatment is really expensive, so the doctor is going to really have to push the insurance company to cover it. So please pray that the this will go through without too much hassle.

That is all the information I have at the moment. Please be praying for the doctors wisdom and direction during this process. Pray for peace and patience for my brother and my family.

I will update you as soon as I know anything on Friday.

Oh, I wanted to add that my parents have also spoken with Blake's old doctors at USC Medical just to see what they thought and if they had any new ideas on treatments. They were basically saying that they would be doing the same treatments, so at least we have confidence that we have exhausted every outlet. Blake is dealing with some of the best doctors in the nation and his primary doctor is considered to be one of the top nephrologists in the world. At least we know he is in good hands.

Blake's New Baby.... "BEAST"

As we all know Blake has had a little bit of a miserable couple of months (if not longer). So, he finally had it and decided to have a little bit of fun. He got himself a car! It is a 1966 Dodge Charger and it has a 1970, 440 engine. I guess it is quite the BEAST (hence the name). This should keep him busy for a while and his mind off kidney stuff.

Thanks for your continued prayers. There is not anything new really to report besides that he is continuing plasma pheresis. His labs have shown that is creatinine is back down, but they are still having a difficult time with his proteins.

Update....
Here is the latest on Blake.... The doctors have decided not to do a biopsy at this time and have decided to do plasma pheresis 3 times a week for 4 weeks to see how things go. They will most likely take a week off to see if or how his levels change and then go from there.

This is a very frustrating process. It is frustrating not only for Blake and the family, but also for the doctors because they are not completely sure what is going on! Go figure, Blake is at the top rated hospital in the country and has some of the best doctors in the country, if not in the world, and they are stumped!!! Please pray that there will be some clarity in what is going on or that one of the treatments will start to work.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support. I will keep you updated as we go.

Latest...
Blake was released from the hospital this evening. He did some negotiating because he didn't want to take some medicine for his potassium levels because it made him really sick yesterday, so the doctor said he could go home if he took his medicine. Go figure, Blake could work and angle. :O)

So, Blake will have another round of pheresis tomorrow and then again on Monday and Tuesday. The doctors will go from there to determine what to do next.

Pray that this time around the FSGS will be put into remission and he can just move on or that the doctors will better know how to treat what is going on.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

Update...
Today Blake had his first round, of round 2, of plasma pheresis and they decided NOT to do another biopsy. They will be running labs two times a day and are planning on doing at least 5 more rounds of pheresis. The doctors are in disagreement as to if Blake can go home or not, so he might be in the hospital for the entire pheresis process. This has yet to be determined. The doctors are also not completely sure what is going on, so please pray that they will be able to figure it out and that one of these treatments will start working (longer term).

Please continue to pray for Blake as he is still very discouraged. He is just so sick of the hospital. He knows that it is better that the doctors are aware of the situation and trying to do all they can to fix things, however, right now he wishes that it would all just go away. I don't blame him!

I will keep you posted as I hear new information. There should be lab results in the morning.

Please Pray...
Today Blake had a routine doctor's appointment and lab work. When he got his lab results back his creatinine was up to a 1.9 and his proteins still have not come down. So they had to put in another line and are planning on starting plasma pheresis again. He has been admitted into UCLA and they are planning on doing the first treatment in the morning. They are also planning on doing another biopsy tomorrow.

Please pray for answers so the doctors will know how best to treat the problems Blake is having. There are a lot of big question marks right now. The doctors aren't really sure what is going on. Please also pray for Blake mentally and emotionally right now. He is just so discouraged. He wants so badly to have normal life like every other 20 year old. He wants to work and save money for a car etc. etc. All the things young people want to do. So he is feeling incredibly discouraged and I am sure worried and scared.

I will let you know the update after I talk with my mom tomorrow. She is staying up at the hospital with Blake and then my dad is planning on coming up later tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers!

Update...
Blake went to the doctor's on Monday and his creatinine was at a 1.4. This is great! However, his protein levels are still high, so they are just watching things for a while to see if they come down on their own. If they don't they will have to do another biopsy. Please pray that his levels will naturally come down.

As of right now Blake doesn't have to see the doctor again until a week from Friday. He will have to do labs a few times though before then.

Also, Daniel is down in CA right now on business and stopped by the house today and was able to see Blake. (Daniel has not seen Blake since before the surgery. He was at the surgery but with everything that was going on he was unable to see him afterwards.) He said that Blake looks GREAT! He said it is the best he has looked in a long time (no offense, Blake :O) ) Blake says he is also feeling the best he has felt in a long time. He is not as shaky either. They have his meds adjusted pretty well at the moment and so he is feeling and doing well. Praise the Lord!

Blake and Dad (Scott)

NEWS...
Today Blake had his last plasmapheresis treatment! Praise the Lord! The doctor says that his creatinine is great, however, his protein is still a little high. They will continue to monitor this and they hope it will slowly just come down on its own.

They also removed the tubes in Blake's neck today. Blake was very glad to say goodbye to those horrible things. (You can see the tube wrapped up on the side of his neck in the pictures. You will now understand why he wanted to get them out so badly.) The process was quick and painless, however, after the tube was removed and they were holding pressure on his neck he started feeling sick and had a few close calls with fainting. They were able to get everything under control and he seems to be doing fine now.

Blake's next doctors appointment is on Monday.

Sarah & Emily ~ Cute new hair style, Sarah!~

Chad, Chelsea and Chelsea's boyfriend Brian

Brad and Blake

Chad, Blake and Shirley

The family celebrating a successful kidney transplant. THANK YOU LORD!

UPDATE...
Blake saw the doctor and had another round of plasmapheresis today. His levels have stabilized at 1.5, which is great! The doctor is going to have him finish off this week of pheresis and hopefully they will be able to remove the line in his neck and be done with that part of his treatment.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Blake is doing really well, but still has a long road ahead of him with doctor appointments, medicine adjustments and just plain physical recovery. Pray for patience as he goes through this process.

Here is the latest....
Blake had his treatment on Wednesday. Everything went really well. His creatinine was at a 1.5!!!! They will be back at UCLA tomorrow for another treatment and then they will have treatments next week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then the doctors will determine how much more treatments if any are needed.

Also, I know I told you that I was going to get pictures of Blake's incision, but when he went to the doctor yesterday they took out his staples!!! That is really great for him, but a bummer that I couldn't show you just how grusome his incision was. You can just trust me that it is quite the scar!

I will let you know what tomorrows doctors appointment and treatment hold. Until then.....

Guess Who's Home....

After 12 days in the hospital, Blake got to come home this evening!!!! What a huge answer to prayer. He is very happy to be home and we were all so glad to see him and my mom when they pulled up today. We all went out to greet them at the curb. 

Thank you to the Morris family for the wonderful dinner.  It was a feast! We fed our entire family (9 people) on that!!! It was so good and what perfect timing! 

As for what is to come, the craziness isn't over. Blake has to go back to UCLA at 6am Wednesday morning for labs, check-up with the doctors and another plasmapheresis treatment. He will do this every other day for a few days and then taper off from there. He will basically be under close watch for the next 3-4 months.  Blake still has a long haul ahead of him, but we are definitely on the upswing.

We just wanted to thank you so much for all the love and support all of you have given to the family through this entire process. The prayers, cards, visits, meals, comments on the blog etc have been so wonderful. We can't express our gratitude enough. 

Please continue to pray for Blake and my dad as they are still healing. I will continue to post as we are not completely through the woods yet. I also have had some requests for some pictures of Blake's incision. Yikes! So keep checking because there are pictures to come. :O)

Good News!

Blake got his results back and his creatinine is at a 2.2!!! Praise the Lord! He is doing his 5th treatment right now. We are waiting to hear what the doctors have to say and see when they think he might be able to come home. We are crossing our fingers for maybe tomorrow, but we will have to see.

Praise the Lord!!!

Today's Update...

Good news again! Blake's creatinine levels went down again. I was actually a little off on the numbers yesterday. Yesterday his creatinine level went down from a 5 to a 3.9 and today it is down to a 3.3. This is good progress.

Also, they had to give Blake platelets last night because when you do the plasmapheresis it can effect your coagulation (this is normal); everything is going well. They did another treatment this morning and will do another on Monday morning. We will hear more number hopefully tomorrow. 

I also forgot to thank Mike and Kelly Ferril and their daughter Brenda and her husband, Brett, for coming out to visit Blake yesterday. Thanks guys! 

A Day Without Trauma

Today was a good day. We just got home from the hospital a little while ago and Blake was doing really well. His spirits were up and he was laughing and joking with all of us. We are just so glad that we made it through a day without trauma! It feels so good to be moving in a forward direction and not on an emotional roller coaster. Please pray that this continues.

Thank you so much Rose, Wesley, Andrew and Amanda for coming to see Blake this evening. I know he enjoyed seeing all of you. And many thanks to Vance for driving them all up to the hospital to see him. It was really appreciated. (Thanks Gloria for the amazing brownies!!! YUM!)

Some Comic Relief...

Today we received a package and my dad went to the door with Emily to see what it was. As I walked up my dad started to bend down to look at it and Emily pipes up in a stern voice and says, "Pop! You are not supposed to be lifting!"

We just got such a kick out of that. She is a little mother hen and she wants her Papa to get better. Too funny!

Until tomorrow... ~Shirley