Keep Andrea in your thoughts and prayers

Dear family and friends We are so sorry that we have not been able to get the blog started or keep up with any updates. Andrea would love to hear your words of support and comfort and we will read them to her or show any cards or care packages to her. The cards that she has already gotten, decorate her room along with a few pictures, decorations made by Sam & Emily, decorations gathered and placed for Andrea by Kathleen. She enjoyed getting the box of oranges from my cousin Stephanie from her tree in California. She has enjoyed music during some of her terrible times, created by her physical therapist, friends & family. A couple of nights ago she really enjoyed looking at some pictures from Linda, a longtime friend of our family. They were a booklet of some old pictures of her and Joe & I that we had never seen. They were so neat that we all have enjoyed them multiple times. They really make Andrea smile. Though it has been some time that Andrea started on her path to cure she still has a lot of adversity to still overcome so anything you might think is helpful please send. It seemed like from the beginning Andrea’s bone marrow transplant has been a lot of work and has been and continues to be filled with heartbreaking challenges and pain for Andrea. It is also very difficult for those of us at her side trying to support her through it to do much else. It has been heart wrenching watching her suffer and then also be so fearful of losing her so many times. 3/28/2011 Andrea seemed a little better. She smiled and did some arm exercises and wanted to Get out of bed. Unfortunately she lung function is still very impaired. The tests done so far appear to Indicate a condition easily treated with a round of steroids. Unfortunately the tests were inconclusive and Andrea still has those viral illnesses and so there is concern about treating a condition unless they are really sure of what they are treating. So our poor Andrea has to have an chest biopsy and it is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Andrea will have a chest tube for 5-6 days and will be on the ventilator until her lungs start to heal. We pray that they will quickly without Andrea getting another terrible infection. We pray that she will have the strength to deal will more terrible pain and suffering. The pulmonologist said if she has the condition they think she does than they think she will do really well with treatment and it works really fast. With in a couple of days she will feel better except for that chest tube is going to be in her chest will slow her down. 3/25/2011 Andrea struggles with terrible pain in her entire body from possibly a side affect from her immune suppressive medications. At the same time she has multiple infection that started during the use of the immune suppressive drugs. She is suppose to still be on them because this is the time during the first 100days when she is at risk for a life threatening graft vs. host reaction. Because she was being overwhelmed with infections which still could be life threatening they decided that for her to survive we needed to give her new immune system a little chance to help and then try and deal with any future reaction. They discussed with us how this is also putting her more at risk for a fatal graft vs. host reaction but if we didn’t she would probably not be with us today. Currently she is battling a severe infection involving most of her lungs. Last Friday she got so sick that the immune suppressive drugs were stopped and the discussion of Andrea needing to be on a ventilator. It was frightening for Andrea but she said if it will save her life. Everything was prepared and at the last minute Andrea seemed to improve so the ventilator sets outside her room just in case. She held her own this week. The discussion was made to see if she will get better or will she need a bronchscopy and be on a ventilator for ?days to see what is there or she might need a lung biopsy which would require a thoracotomy , a small incision in her chest and she would have a chest tube and also would require being on a ventilator. They have hoped she would just respond to the multitude of medications. However, she has persistent high fevers and they have been very concerning. At the end of the day Andrea has developed more difficulty breathing and is now on a bipap machine. It assists her breathing and hope is that it will help with the expansion of her lungs. In this journey for Andrea’s treatment and hope for a cure there have been moments that made her smile but mostly it has been a nightmare of painful challenges. I can tell you that Andrea has been amazing in her ability to deal with excruciating pain and life threatening complications. Dr. Azar stoped by on Friday to check on her and he sat and talked to her and us. It was really a comfort. Also Andrea has been worried that people might think she wasn’t trying hard enough and that she had expressed thoughts in her worst moments that she wasn’t strong enough and told us she loved us and said goodbye. He as well as us have told her how amazing she has been. He went on to say that she is strongest person he has ever met and at times the staff and he were worried she might not make it but her strong will helped her get through some terrible times. He said the staff and he were very thankful and amazed on how tuff she was and is. He said he was just thankful that she was alive and breathing on her own.. She then comented on how thankful that she had very caring excellent medical care and a lot of love, prayers, energy, thoughts and support that have helped her through this time.
>February 25th After a two weeks of no white cells to help fight infections Andrea has mucositis that involved her mouth and entire colon -


Andrea was admitted to the IU Health Bone Marrow Transplant Unit on Monday February 7th. She is now in room 5276 . She can have healthy visitors, when she physically feels up to. This is an older post that had been sent to family and a few friends I had hoped to 2/11/11 was a pretty good day. She had a new central line put in her chest this AM and she was a little sore, but in good spirits. She completed her 11 radiation treatments on 2-10-11. They had been uncomfortable because of the positions she has had to be in for 2 hours at a time and because it was cold. With the knowledge that they are ending and the addition of hot packs they have become more tolerable. They put this heavy cold blubber product under, around and over her. It helps her hold still so that the radiation is low dose over her entire body. There have also been lengthy monitoring tags that have been added and moved as needed. The second day of the 3 times a day treatment Andrea got a little tearful because of “everything.” So today it is done. The point of total body radiation and the high dose chemo she get tomorrow, is to wipe out her bone marrow, in preparation for her gift of life from some wonderful persons stem cells. She will get them next week on the “14”. Then the hope is they will grow and be healthy and if there is any residual leukemia cells hiding the new healthy cells will destroy them. There is the critical concern of them also destroying Andrea’s liver, kidneys and in the worst case, Andrea. It is called graft vs. host disease. This is the major problem for survival and is part of why Andrea was given a 30% chance of survival. However this transplant is Andreas only chance of survival and hopefully it will also be her cure. They will give her immune suppressive meds for? year or longer and Andrea is going to be in the last part of a study for a medication that has been used for years in other cancer treatment. The difference is that those patients get it for years but Andrea will only get two doses. In the studies it is proving to not only reduce the risk of severe graft vs. host disease but it also has other anticarcinogenic benefits She will be here for 4-6weeks. The time frames for serious concern for her survival is post transplant is 30 days, then 100 days when graft vs. host disease occurs most, they have said she will be admitted during that first several months for infections and then after the first year she should start feeling better but it at least two years before she really starts feeling stronger. The chance for cure is greater after 5 years but they do not say cure even than. We will try and do occasional updates and know that Andrea will treasure your blog notes of encouragement. She also really loves a written note; card, photos, decorations and small care boxes. She cannot have any homemade food while she is in the hospital. She can have silk but no live plants in the hospital and very limited contact with them at home. So I leave you with this update on Andrea and my hopes that you will keep her in your thoughts and prayers. May you find a time to send a note, stop bye or whatever to Andrea. She is a bright, kind, and loving person who has had to deal with such terrible pain and grief in dealing with this terrible disease and all the losses along the way. But everyday tries her very best and is thankful, loving and tuff as a person could be. She has long hard road ahead and any comfort she can get along the way from those who also care about her is so appreciated especially by her but also from those of us at her side during this difficult time. She can have healthy visitors. She is feeling better and actually smiling with the thought radiation is over and her tuff survival self is getting stronger. Her count will be at its lowest the middle of next week. She may or may not be up for visiting after that so just call her or me at 317626 5477 and I can ask her what she is up for. You can add notes to blog, write her to her home address and we will give it to her or you can send it to the hospital or Home; 2727 Westleigh Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46268 Hospital: Andrea Taylor IU Health Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant Unit 550 N. University Boulevard Indianapo lis, IN 46202