Update April 30th, 9:30 AM

Mother got lots of rest through the night. She woke up this morning and did not want any pain or nausea meds. She is doing better this morning than yesterday, she is up to normal readings on her oxygen levels. They told us that they are going to remove the stitches from her neck from the Tracheostomy on Monday which will make it a little more comfortable for her. We should hear back from the Lab on Monday on the what new antibiotics they are going to move her to. Doyle is getting a little tired, we are going to send him home tonight so he can get a good nights rest. Keep the prayers coming.
We love you Mom!!!!!!!

Update on Mother April 29th, 10:30 AM

Mother had a good night and so far this morning she is doing okay. Still waiting of the Lab results on the fluids taken from her lungs on Wed.  Right now they are treating her with 2 antibiotic drugs, (Vancomycin and Meropenem) whcih treat a broad aray of bacteria, as soon has they can identify the exact strain of bacteria, they can zero in on it with a better antibiotic.
We love you Mom! :) :)
Don

Update on Mother April 28, 2011 6:26 PM

Mother is having a better day today.  Last night at approximately 7:20 pm mother started coughing quite profusely while the Respiratory Specialist was checking in on her, so she tried sucking some of the mucus and fluids out of her lungs and while doing so she was able to dislodge a mucus plug and sucked it out of her lungs and immediately her vitals shot up to normal.  This was a big help as they were able to move her down on the Ventilator to 80% and down from 16 to 14 on the peep. They are also giving her antibiotics for the Pneumonia. We have not heard yet from the Doctors on what is causing the Pleural Effusion (the fluid build up in the layers of tissues that line the lungs and chess cavity, which makes it difficult to take deep breaths of air) but they are working on it.  All in all she is doing better than yesterday. Thanks again for your prayers and support.  We love you Mom and we are all pulling for you.
Don

Glenna
Your a amazing sister. You are a fighter just like Judy. We miss you very much. Judy and I went to the Temple today and put you name for the prayer circle. We pray for you daily. We hope you get well soon.

Love you.

Glenna,

We are praying for you. We want you to know what an inspiration you are to us. You are an amazing sister. It has been nice to be with your family. You have so many good qualities that we love and admire. We hope you get well soon.

With our love,

Julene and Denny

Update: 3:00 pm April 27th

Mother under went some testing today and they found that she has Pneumonia and Pleural Effusion which is a buildup of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity. This makes it very hard for the lungs to expand which is need to take the deep breaths in order to get the proper amount of oxygen into the lungs.  They have sent some samples of the the fluids that they have been able to suck out of her lungs to the lab to see what they are actually dealing with, so they can fight it with antibiotics. She is maxed out on the Ventilator which means the Machine is doing 100% of her breathing right now and the peep level is at 14 which is also at the max setting, which is the pressure that the  Ventilator is forcing the oxygen into her lungs. These levels are very taxing on the organs of the body. Please keep her in your prayers today!!!!

Update on Mother 04/26/11 05:30pm

Mother had a ruff night last night and lost some ground. She has been doing a lttle better this afternoon. The Doctors said that she is going to have some bad days in the mix of things and they don't neccessarily measure progress on a day to day basis, but by the week.  So we will see how she is doing by this coming Monday. They are moving her to another room down the hall to room #235. I told her about the blog we have done for her and even showed it to her on the computer and she rasied her eyebrows and smiled. 

Our Amazing Mother

Our hope and prayers are with our Mother, Wife, Grandma, Sister and Friend. She is a special person who has given so much to all of us and taken so little. She has been and still is an inspiration to anyone who has had the privilege of knowing her. She has been an example to all, in showing us how to stand up and face the adversities and challenges of life. Even with her loss of one of her legs early in life she accomplished more than most with 2 legs. She is truly an amazing person and credit to the human race. Mother was taken to the emergency room at McKay Dee Hospital in Sept of 2010 due to what we thought was pneumonia, flu, severe cold and or stress related problems. Little did we know that she would be diagnosed with “Stage 4 Non-Small Cell Carcinoma Lung Cancer”? They had found cancer in her lungs and in her lymph nodes in her lower abdomen. After a short stay in the Hospital she was released to go home. She immediately started Chemotherapy when she was released from the hospital and has been receiving the treatments faithfully every 3 weeks since then. From Sept to January she continued this rigorous schedule hoping that she was going to show improvement. After 4 months of Chemotherapy she went in for a PET scan in January. After waiting patiently to get the results of the PET scan, to her and everyone’s surprise she was told by her Doctor that she was his prize patient and that her results were what they had hoped for. The cancer in her Lymph Nodes had been cleared up and the Cancer in her Lungs had shrunk in size. This was good news, however because she has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Dr. Grey felt that she needed to continue her treatment for fear that if she stops the treatment, the cancer would return at an accelerated rate. So she continued on with the treatment. Between the Chemo and the White blood cell shots, she has been having a rough time with always being sick and filled with constant pain. On the 7^th of April at 1:30 am Doyle her loving husband was helping her to the bath room where Mother discharged a large amount of blood. Doyle called the Hospital and they admitted her at approximately 2:00 am. After putting 5 pints into her system they had discovered a very severe ulcer in her abdomen, which they later had to cauterize. Because of the huge amount of blood loss they ended up giving her 6 pints of blood. She was admitted to the ICU unit where she battled for almost 3 weeks with what we all thought was an uphill battle. Not knowing where this was headed, the Doctors gave the family some options. And on the 18^th of April they performed a Tracheostomy in hopes to remove the ventilator tube from her throat and give her a fighting chance to recover. She was moved to the Promise Hospital in Salt Lake City on Friday the 22^nd of April. After meeting with the Staff and observing their methods and listening to their approach on rehabilitating her, we have a new profound hope for her recovery.
A special thanks to everyone who is including Mother in their prayers. Also for the love and support you have shown to the family and Mother. Also a special thanks to her Husband Doyle Odell who has been the corner stone of her survival through this ordeal. He has been there every minute of every hour encouraging her and supporting her. He has been waiting on her hand and foot day in and day out since her Cancer was discovered in Sept. Please keep him in your prayers as well.