David A. Lemmink

Hello,

As I post, David is spending the day at Lack’s receiving blood.  The last couple of weeks have seen slight improvements, but not as many as I had hoped to see.  David is still weak, tired and unsteady.

Last week Monday, David had an appointment with Dr. Brinker at the Lack’s Cancer Center.  His appointment was for 9:30 and was just a check up which we thought would not be lengthy.  We we got in to see the doctor, he did his usual thing.  Listen to heart, lungs, etc.  Also, he checks his legs to see if there is swelling.  He did notice swelling in David’s left leg, so he ordered an ultrasound to see if possibly there was a blood clot.  He also, while listening to David’s lungs, thought he heard some fluid in one lung.  He then ordered a chest X-ray to check that.  The one hour appointment stretched into 6 1/2 hours and when all was said and done, we arrived home around 4:00!  The ultrasound did not show any sign of a clot so that was good news.  Even though Dr. Brinker asked for the results of the X-ray STAT, and we waited around for those results, they did not come in so home we went. The next morning, Dr. Brinker called us at home to tell us that the X-ray showed that there was not fluid in the lungs, but that he could see from that lowly X-ray that the tumors HAVE SHRUNK!  Thank God!  That is such encouraging and fantastic news!  Thank God!

As he has since before our trip to Basel, David has been home recuperating and trying his best to get his strength up.  He is beginning to eat more each day, even ASKING for food, that makes this Greek lady super-happy.

Yesterday, his mom picked David up and took him to Lack’s for a blood draw to determine his hemoglobin levels.  Low levels are a typical side effect for the Y90 treatment, and one of the follow-ups is having blood drawn every 2 weeks.  Following that, they went home and as David headed up the front steps, his foot missed the step and over he went in the (very weedy) flower bed!  YOUCH!  He hit his hip on a rock, but fortunately no serious damage done!  While all this was going on, I was receiving a call from the cancer center telling me that his hemoglobin levels were at just about 7.  The normal range for a man is 13-17, so 7 is considered very low.  That explains why he has had trouble breathing, gets short of breath when he walks and generally has been feeling exhausted!  So, now you see why he is at Lack’s getting blood.  I hope and pray that this will be the thing to start getting him more energy and being able to do a bit more.