Scott is fighting a massive system-wide infection called sepsis (old term is “blood-poisoning”), and has been trying to pull out of septic shock all night. It’s taking 2 IV pressor infusions to keep his blood pressure up, and he’s been really struggling to maintain an appropriate  O2/CO2 balance with his respirations, needing many adjustments all night long to the ventilator settings to keep him from going deeper into shock. They had to give him meds to paralyze him for a few hours so the ventilator alone would do his breathing to try to correct the acid/base imbalances. He’s on 3 big gun antibiotics to combat the infection, but his anti-coagulation therapy (Coumadin) is very tricky to balance, so he is also at high risk for bleeding right now. 

I’ve been here at the hospital since about 12:30am, got about 1 1/2 hours of sleep in a chair in the waiting room, but when I had to leave the Unit at 7am for them to give report, they thought he seemed to be turning the corner. The ICU doc described him as “critically ill,” and his survival will still be uncertain for some time to come.

Amazingly, his mentation is intact when he is awake. In spite of all the infection and chemical imbalances his body is fighting, he still nods appropriately to my questions, and it bugs the heck out of him that he can’t talk since he is back on the ventilator. They can see he is a fighter, and that is much of the reason he is still alive.

Thank you all, SO MUCH, for you prayers. God’s peace has definitely been there through all of this uncertain night. Life is hard, but God is good.

Love from all the Halversons

Hello to all our faithful friends and family who continue to support us spiritually, financially, emotionally, and practically in so many, many ways. Scott is making amazing progress after 2 weeks out of the ICU, and the case worker and medical staff are deep in the process of making all necessary preparations for him to be discharged to home soon – possibly within the next few days to a week if all details come together.

He’s been 2 days now without the feeding tube, and has been able to take in enough oral nutrition (with the help of high calorie and protein drinks) to keep the tube out. PT is working hard at increasing his mobility and endurance, and today he was able to sit up high in the neuro chair for over 2 hours – longest time up since before he went into the ICU. His room is up on the 14th floor of UCSF and at the end of the hall facing towards the Golden Gate Bridge and Park. We rolled him in the chair out to the wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling picture window where he had an incredible view and ate lunch. No fainting or dizzyness – yay! So this is another huge step in getting him mobilized and upright.

There was some discussion of possibly closing up his trach before he went home to let him breathe through normal channels, but the ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) docs feel he is not yet able to handle the respiratory secretions adequately to prevent pneumonia from occuring. Evidently, respiratory sequellae and problems can occur for up to a year after a patient having pulmonary clots of the magnitude and seriousness that Scott had. Hopefully, as secretions do continue to decrease (which they definitely are), he’ll be able to have the trach closed at some time in the not too distant future.

Within a few days we’ll be getting several items of medical equipment delivered to our home, including a hospital bed, oxygen tanks, and much more. We’re hoping Scott will be ready for a reclining wheelchair before he leaves the hospital, because if he’s not, there will be no way to get him out of the bed and bedroom for a change of scenery. Please pray that he’ll be strong enough in time, otherwise it could be weeks at home before there’s enough documentation to justify ordering it (and insurance paying for it!).

Speaking of insurance, there are still a lot of things that need to fall into place in the right order and right timing in the transition between the old and the new insurances. We are trusting that God in His sovereign power will pull all things together at just the right time to provide for our needs, as He already has so many, many times through all of this.

Another prayer request would be for the whole issue of help for me at home with caring for Scott’s many needs – that it will all be figured out in the right timing. There are several possibilities being looked at, but no certainty or definite decisions available yet.

Enough for this blog note, but hopefully, if he has adequate energy and time, the next blog might even be written by Scott himself!

God bless you all, and our deepest gratitude to all of you.

Much love, from Lynne for the Halversons

It’s Thursday morning, April 9, and 17 years ago today, our daughter, Becky, was born at 7:30 in the morning. Happy Birthday, Becky!

Sorry to have taken so long to update the blog, but I’ve been so busy that I just haven’t had the chance. Scott has been out of the ICU now for 1 week as of today, and he is doing really well. Secretions in his lungs continue to be a problem (and will be for some time to come with the pulmonary clots), but the staff are doing an excellent job of giving him regular breathing treatments and suctioning. Thankfully there’s no sign of infection (pneumonia) so far, so hopefully we can keep him free of respiratory illness.

The other issue of the open area at his tailbone is resolving wonderfully. With the new bed, consistent nutrition, and regular bandage changes, it’s healing and closing in beautifully. At this point, he is probably able to take in somewhere around 30-50% of his needed nutrition by eating, and the rest has to be by tube feedings, mostly at night. The main problem is just that it takes so long and requires so much energy to carefully chew and swallow around his trach, that just getting through half of a meal easily can take 1-2 hours.

One of the biggest goals is for Scott to be strong enough so he can come home, and to that end, Physical Therapy is working with him daily. He has been horizontal for so long, that even just sitting upright would cause him to essentially faint and lose consciousness. We’ve been getting him accustomed to being upright by raising the head of his bed up more often for more time. Tuesday, he was actually able to sit up on the edge of the bed (dangling) for 2 1/2 minutes, (without passing out) and then Wednesday, he dangled for a whole 8 minutes! The Physical Therapist, who is pretty non-demonstrative, was practically skipping out of the room because she was so thrilled with what Scott was strong enough to do. She shares a love of bicycling with Scott, and her mental pictures of how this feat is equivalent to Scott climbing a long, steep hill on his bike, were really helpful for him to picture as it takes absolutely every ounce of strength and energy he can muster right now just to sit on the edge of the bed.

Please continue to pray for all the financial/insurance/MediCal issues that we’re attempting to resolve. Unfortunately, it takes up a lot of Scott’s and my time together and much of his available energy trying to get it figured out.

Scott has been part of a four-some group of friends that have known each other since Jr. Hi. school, and have kept in close touch in spite of being spread out all up and down the West Coast – from the Seattle area to down below the Los Angeles area. The other 3 guys all flew or drove in today to be with Scott for a couple of days, so he’s been really excitedly anticipating their visit. Thank you, to Dan, Clint, and Marty for being such great, loyal friends, and to Amy and Shelly for letting your husbands come.

Thank you for all the continued care, love, comfort, prayers, and support from so many who are continuing down this path with us. When Scott is ready to come home, we will need even more helping hands to give him the care he will need.

With much love, Lynne, Scott, Daniel, and Becky

Scott was finally able to be moved out of the ICU this morning about 10:30am. The ICU medical team had started discussing the possibility last Thursday or Friday, so I hoped and expected it to happen one of the days earlier this week while I could be there. But, of course, it happened today when I had to be at home to take care of several things. Still, God provided friends who could be with him during this transition when I couldn’t. Thank you so much to Bill Fernald and Rene Gabriel for being willing to give him some company and comfort today.

The big goal now is for him to gain upper extremity strength and increased torso balance so I can manage him with transfers, and then he can come home! As of dinner yesterday, he was able to eat soft/pureed real food, and he was doing well with his intake, as long as he ate slowly and well so as not to choke. He will still need tube feedings for a while, since he literally just doesn’t have the energy to spend the time it would take to slowly eat all the nutrition he needs. Nausea, as one of the side effects still ligering from the chemo, is still often a problem, too. We don’t know yet how long until he will be ready to come home, but I can pretty much guarantee I will need a lot of help when that time comes.

Becky and I will be heading back up to S.F. tomorrow morning. It will be a little easier for her to handle now that he is out of the ICU. All the machines, monitors, and tubings can be pretty scary and overwhelming for anyone, especially if it’s your dad in the middle of all the above.

I haven’t actually seen the open wound area at his tailbone for a few days now, but the nurses reassure me they feel it is healing in a little better now with his new bed.

Would continue to appreciate prayers for all the headaches, pressures, documentation, and paperwork that go along with all the application/approval processess for the new insurance and for MediCal. Phone calls and searching for necessary documents and information seem to take up the vast majority of my time when I am home. As you can imagine, life over the past almost year and a half has been a little less than organized for us, so it’s often a great victory when I can find something I’m looking for.

Thanks from both Scott and myself, as well as Daniel and Becky for all the continued prayers and practical support. We truly feel that if we had to go through something as difficult as this, God could not have put us in a better place with better help and support than right where we are. All of you have been the hands and feet of Jesus helping us survive in all the necessary practical needs as they have arisen. We could not ask for more of an outpouring of love than we have experienced so continually from all of you through all of this.

God bless you all,

Lynne, for the Halversons

It’s Monday afternoon, March 30th, and Scott and I are hanging out in his ICU room. He’s tired, but reading a BusinessWeek magazine for something to do as another day goes by – at least we get to be together. He’s been listening to his “70′s” songs playlist on iTunes on his laptop, and several of the staff keep coming in to say how much they’re enjoying his various songs and music genres. Not their usual ICU patient!

He’s been having feeding tube problems again – not pulling it out, but it got kinked and out of position and had to be replaced. Fortunately, he’s been able to take clear liquids like beef or chicken broth, clear sodas, and juices, so he’s been able to do okay with some nutrition intake.

He’s been off the IV BP med (Dopamine) now for several days, and the oral med they’ve used to replace the IV med has actually been decreased also, so this is very good news. His body his taking back over the function of keeping his BP up adequately.

The open area at his tailbone is responding very well to the decreased pressure of his new bed, and as the pulmonary clots continue to slowly shrink, he’s having less respiratory secretions and generally breathing easier.

Thank you to friends Susan Schaaf and Marty Walker for taking the time to come visit and be with Scott yesterday while I had to spend a day at home catching up. It really helps keep his spirits up to have some occasional companionship and encouragement.

Saturday, one of the hematology/oncology docs came in to see Scott, and Scott raised the question about when the stem cell harvest would be. I realized at that point that even though he was awake and nodding when one of the other docs had announced that there could be no stem cell harvest or transplant a few weeks ago, he had no memory of it now. So I had to break the unpleasant news to him all over again why there couldn’t be any stem cell harvest or transplant. It was hard for him emotionally to process the news – that barring divine healing, there was no longer any long-term survival option medically. We talked about it for a bit, and there were some tears on both our parts. He asked if his family in Seattle and Daniel and Becky knew yet about this decision, and when I told him that yes, we had all had a couple of weeks to process the news, he seemed to feel a little easier. I think it helped him that everyone knew and had been praying already.

He was pretty quiet and thoughtful much of the rest of the day, but before I left, I felt like he had found some strength, and was ready to trust God and deal with whatever happened, and to still fight with all he had to be able to get home for as long as possible.

The ICU medical staff have been talking for a few days, now, that he’s so close to being ready to transfer to a step-down unit, but then something else happens, and it’s delayed another day. Please pray that all would come together so he could be stable enough and ready to get out of the ICU. This coming Wednesday will mark 7 weeks in ICU, and 9 weeks total in the hospital.

I know sometimes I feel like a broken record when I say thank you over and over again as this long pathway continues on and on. But we are so truly grateful for all the prayers, comfort, help, and encouragement so many continue to give untiringly. God bless you all.

With love,

Lynne for the Halversons

It’s late Monday afternoon, and since he didn’t sleep very well last night, Scott’s been sleeping much of the day. Overall, though, it’s been a really good day for him. The PET scan was bumped to tomorrow morning, but I just found out that before today is over, he will be getting CT scans of chest, abdomen, and pelvis, which they can then compare with the PET scan tomorrow.

He got a “swallow” test by a speech therapist today, which he passed with flying colors. They will wait and repeat the test tomorrow, and if he continues to do as well, he’ll be ready to try some soft food. YAY! He’s been telling me for at least 2 weeks now that he’s hungry for real food.

He’s been off the ventilator continuously since Friday morning, and has the speaking “button” in pretty much all the time now. We’re doing a lot of laughing because of his weak voice and my laryngitis voice. I often have to whisper in his ear for him to hear me over the roar of the oxygen blowing at his trach. I’ve been offered a speaking “button” by some of the staff, just in case it would help!

They’ve been able to turn the IV BP med (Dopamine) way down, but it’s still not quite off yet. Many improvements and answers to prayers. Some staff are saying that if he continues as well as he is doing, there’s a very good likelyhood he’ll get to be discharged from ICU to a step-down floor perhaps by the end of the week.

I feel like I both do and don’t want to know the results of the CT and PET scans. He’s been doing so well and progressing so unexpectedly rapidly that it would be hard to hear really negative results. But since they’ll obviously need to know the status of the cancer to plan for his discharge from ICU, as well as hopefully eventually home or to rehab, they will be very important indicators.

Please pray for the results that they would be helpful in his prognosis. I would of course LOVE to see everything come back NEGATIVE and clear, but more than that, just pray for us to keep trusting God’s love and provision for us no matter what the outcome.

Many thanks and many blessings on you all,

Lynne, Scott, Daniel, and Becky

Sorry to take so long to bring an update. I’ve been sick with a head cold which turned into another sinus infection and laryngitis. Fortunately, antibiotics can turn things around quickly, but I still don’t have my voice back yet. Thankfully, our friends Ted and Jane Hutchinson were able to stay and be with Scott for a few more days so I could rest and recuperate longer at home until I was no longer contagious. Thank you to Scott’s cousin, Ann Gunderson, for being willing to entertain and house strangers (T and J) without my being there to introduce them.

A quick update about Friday when Daniel and Becky came up with me: unfortunately, Scott was too sleepy to really be able to hold any kind of a conversation without him dozing off after a few words. Hopefully, with how much progress he’s making, they’ll be able to come up again soon and we’ll try again.

Scott was off the ventilator and just on humidified oxygen for all day Thursday and Friday, just going back on at night. Right now he’s been off for 2 days and nights, and even though it’s wearing, he’s been able to hold his own. He still has a fair amount of fluid in his lungs because of the clots, but his cough is stronger, and he’s pretty much having the speaking “button” in all day. It is SO nice to be able to talk with him. Unfortunately, my laryngitis isn’t helping anything – we’re quite the pair trying to talk with each other.

He is still on the IV med (Dopamine) to keep his BP up, but they’re trying to taper that off as they slowly increase an oral med for his BP. He’ll need to be off the IV med to leave the ICU. Speaking of leaving the ICU, maybe this week, if all balances out and remains stable. Tomorrow, Monday, he’s scheduled for a PET scan to check the status of the cancer, as well as another trip down to radiology to advance the feeding tube again since he pulled the other one out accidentally the day after his first trip to radiology.

Scott is having some confusion, especially in the early morning hours, but after being in an ICU for 5 1/2 weeks, a little ICU psychosis is hardly surprising. He’s doing the hard work of breathing on his own, as well as using a squeeze ball to exercise his hands to regain strength and coordination. He is weak, but he just keeps coming back. The docs feel he is doing better right now than they thought he would, so that’s encouraging. Right now (Sunday afternoon), he’s off and on dozing, but in between he’s watching a little March Madness on tv.

Thanks to SO many of you for your visits, notes of encouragement, and many prayers.

God bless you all, Lynne for the Halversons

Not a whole lot to report for today. Scott has been tired and sleepy much of the day, but when he was awake, he was alert, and very fully aware and cognizant. It’s so nice to see his bright blue eyes open and a little smile often as we attempted to converse – sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

The main goal for today was to slowly decrease his ventilator parameters, and decrease the IV drip (dopamine) keeping his blood pressure high enough. Both were accomplished within acceptable ranges though not ended entirely, so little by little, his own systems are taking back over. Possibly tomorrow, they may try him off the vent for a little while with just humidified oxygen. He still has a fair amount of fluid in his lungs (not infected, so not pneumonia) because of the 2 large clots in his pulmonary arteries, so that will remain a challenge for a while still.

Health insurance issues are in process, but nothing definite known so far.

Scott sends his love, and we both send our thanks to all of you for so much help and encouragement during this time. God bless you all.

Lynne, for the Halversons

Late afternoon, Monday the 16th. Had gone home Saturday evening as Scott was generally pretty stable. My 2 sisters, Irene Nelson, and Kerry Geist, had come down from Grass Valley and Sacramento, respectively, and kidnapped me to go to lunch at the Cliff House on Saturday. Thank you to brother-in-law, Steve, for treating us! Also our friends from near Seattle, Ted and Jane Hutchinson (who were planning on coming down next Saturday) packed up and drove down unexpectedly to arrive last Saturday, so they’ve been at home with me and the kids all day yesterday.

I got back up here this morning, and we waited all day to hear from the OR that they were ready for him so his permanent pacemaker could be inserted. They called about 3pm and his nurse had all tubes, wires, and cables disconnected from the bedside equipment, and reconnected to all the portable machines by 3:30. Then OR called and said he was canceled, so she reversed the whole process, had just finished, when OR called again a little before 4pm and said he was on again and wanted him now. I felt so bad for her repeated work load, but she handled it all with patience and aplomb, and I was very grateful for her wonderful attitude. So he left right after 4pm, and the anesthesiologist said it would be a good 2 1/2 – 3 hours before he’d be back in his room.

Scott has been sleepy off and on today, but when he is awake, he’s definitely all there, alert and oriented. I am now some of the time able to tell what he’s trying to communicate, but he still gets frustrated when I can’t catch it, and he wears out from trying. One of the things I’m concerned about is that even once the permanent pacemaker is in, working, and fine, another symptom of the vagal nerve being affected is that he wouldn’t be able to keep his blood pressure up (because the vagal nerve also controls vascular tone and constriction). Over the weekend, he’s had to be on gradually more and more IV medication (Dopamine) to keep his BP in acceptable ranges. There’s a hopeful likelyhood of the BP stabilizing out once the permanent pacer is in, but that remains to be seen.

Another concern and prayer request involves Scott’s health insurance. I got a call late Friday afternoon from a hospital financial advisor explaining that Scott’s $2,000,000 life-time limit was almost gone (especially at $20,000/day in the ICU!). She suggested a few things, one being to apply for MediCal health insurance, if we qualified. I would need to do so in our home county of Santa Cruz, but it was too late to do anything about it on Friday. So this morning, before I left, I spent a frustrating 1/2 hour working my way through their phone tree and on hold 3 times since the call got dropped twice. The best they could do was send a packet in the mail, but I would still need to apply in person in Santa Cruz with all necessary legal and financial documents and information.

Since there would likely be a lengthy gap between the end of Scott’s insurance limit and the onset of MediCal, I called Mount Hermon’s wonderful insurance broker, David Angel, to see if he had any suggestions or counsel. He has been able to set us up with an interim (though expensive) health insurance option to begin right at the end of Scott’s limit of coverage. Much of today has been a little hectic with e-mailed application forms, which the financial office here at UCSF printed off for me to fill out, then faxed back so all could be expedited as soon as possible. Thank you so much, David and Alden for all your help and expertise!

Sorry for the lengthy blog note this afternoon. I didn’t think there was enough to give an update over the weekend, but I guess it sort of all happened today. Well, it’s just shy of 6pm, and just got a call from one of the cardiologists that Scott’s almost done, all went well, and he’ll be back in his room in an hour or so after a stop in the recovery room.

Would appreciate prayers for good stabilization of his heart rate and BP with the pacer, and also that all the insurance issues will be resolved quickly.

Scott sends his love and thanks for all the visits and encouragement from so many people. Bless you, Paul and Laura Sampson, for going back up yesterday to sing and play guitar for Scott, after already having come up once the day before. Thank you to all who are being the hands and feet of Jesus to us and our kids right now. We are SO grateful.

Lynne, for Scott, Daniel, and Becky

Friday evening, March 13, and Scott’s really had a pretty good day. He was the most awake and comfortable that I’ve seen him for at least over a week, maybe more. Amazing how when your heart is working correctly, you can feel so much better! I’d say he was “talkative”, but it would be more accurate to say he mouthed a lot of words and I talked a lot. I’m really only so-so at lip reading, but I think little by little I’m getting better with practice.

We, the ICU docs, and the cardiac docs all waited all morning and much of the aftenoon for the hematology/oncology docs to arrive so we could all hear what their plans were for any scans, etc., to check the status of the cancer. Finally heard about mid-afternoon.

The plan is to go ahead and put in a permanent cardiac pacemaker, probably on Monday, or Tuesday at the latest to secure Scott’s cardiac safety and health. The next goal is to continue improving his respiratory status to get him off the ventilator, breathing on his own with oxygen, and then be able to get him discharged from the ICU. With the permanent pacemaker, he will never again be able to get an MRI of any kind, but they feel that they can learn from CT scans and a PET scan what they’ll want to know re: the status of the cancer. They don’t feel any urgency in getting these scans done. They can wait until he is out of the ICU and then check.

The long-term survival option of the stem cell transplant is no longer an option what with the cardiac and respiratory complications he’s had. The attending doc stated that they’ve had patients live 3, 6, and sometimes 9 months after the chemo regimen Scott has had. I pushed him and asked if that was valid even with the Burkitt’s Lymphoma which is so aggressive, and he answered affirmatively. His goal is to hopefully get Scott home to be able to spend as much time as possible with his loved ones.

I guess this pretty much confirms what we’ve been fearing and expecting to hear – that they are not really concerned about getting the scans to check the status of the cancer since it will take whatever course it will take in whatever time frame it chooses, and they have no additional treatments to stop its advance. The doctor actually did acknowledge that there could be a miracle and it would not recur, but besides that happening, the message was clear that it will be a matter of time before Scott does go Home to be with his Lord.

I’m afraid I have very little of anything deep or profound to say this evening, other than just reporting the events of the day, as we are trying to mentally and emotionally just process the reality of this final decision that there’s no additonal possible treatment.

My prayer is just that somehow through all of this, that God would glorify His Name, even if we may never understand how that’s happening. Thank you so much to Susan Schaaf (Anastasia) for spending some time with us today, and to Paul and Laura Sampson for a surprise, encouraging visit. Thank you, also, Alden and Lorna for time, encouragement, and a visit yesterday.

God bless you all for all your many prayers for God’s peace, presence and encouragement. As long as there is life, there is hope, so we will continue walking this path in faith and trust for as long as we must. 

Lynne, for Scott, Daniel and Becky