Day 5 at "Hotel St. Joe's"

On Tuesday of this week Brad went in for his second Rituxan treatment to help with his graft versus host disease. While he was there he had a fever. They finish the drip and he went home. However, the next day he had another fever and felt terrible. I should note that  he has been fighting a virus for months now and hasn't looked so good.  Bags under his eyes and  extremely fatigued. He would go to work and come home and sleep.  We've been attributing everything to graft versus host disease because he does have it and it's mostly been manifesting itself through a rash that is extremely itchy and burning. Moving on Wednesday morning he woke up and didn't feel right. He had a fever of 102.4. We called CBCI and they instructed us to get Brad to the ER. We went to PSL where they  admitted him to the ER and started doing some tests. Chest x-ray and CAT scan came back showing pan sinusitis (where all eight cavities are infected), water in his ears, and signs of pneumonia coming on in his lungs.  Brad's head was killing him. And he was quiet and sleepy most the time in the ER. Once we got the instructions from his doctor Tara Gregory, he was put in an ambulance and sent across the street to Saint Joe's where  our Kaiser insurance is accepted. So we've been here since Wednesday morning it's now Saturday. He's been given a broad spectrum of antibiotics to cover his sinus infection and the pneumonia. Yesterday he woke up with a fever of 104. Today he woke up with a fever of 103.7. It seems to be a pattern that in the morning he runs a very high fever which is scary. He has seen a ton of doctors on the pulmonary side, infectious disease side, oncology, etc. etc.  right now he is getting prepped for a bronchoscopy.  They will put a tube down his throat,  flush in some saline and then suck it out so they can get a sample that can be sent to the labs to determine what exactly is going on. It can  be a very uncomfortable procedure for Brad afterwards because last time he had this done at University Hospital they sent him to the ICU because he spiked a fever.  The doctors know that he had a reaction last time so they  are going to take it very easy with him. Brad's mom insisted he have another blessing at the hospital last night so Ken Kearns and Aaron came over and gave both Brad and I am blessing. We know that God is mindful of us. We know that he has plans for us. And we were assured that Heavenly Father has plans for us still. Brad has been a warrior once again, and he never ceases to amaze me at the control and patience and quietness that he exudes.  I love this man.
Here's some photos of the journey...
He has been sleeping a lot, which was probably an indication that he was fighting something.

This is the day he went in for his check up to see why he was feeling so crummy.  They suggested a Rituxan drip .  Little did we know his body was developing some major infections.

Day of 1st Rituxan drip. 

Day of 2nd Rituxan drip and this is when the fever was detected. 

ER at PSL.  You can tell he is hurting.

This sweet lady is Georgia and we remembered her from our last stay at PSL.  She transports patients all over the maze we call PSL.  She is taking Brad to get his CAT scan.

Look at the sweat beads on his head.  My poor baby.

Here we go again with the sterile environment...

And off he goes to the ambulance from ER to oncology floor at St. Joseph's.

Settled in and he will be here for 10 more days. Here are some notes from my phone regarding this hospital stay...Fungus typically seen in HIV population.  Bactrim quite effective. 3 week treatment. Rash, can burn easily photo sensitive.  As long as he's in high dose steroids he will be on prophylactic drug to prevent this pnemonia from coming back. Steroids cool off immune system while Bactrim works to fight pnemonia. Go home on anti bacterial antibiotics for sinus and ears. Brad has been hallucinating when he sleep sand told me about a few of the visions... a samari warrior, Nanny and Linda Lovejoy hanging out in doorway, old men sitting in park bench and one gives him a smile.  And the scariest one of all is there were ladies walking towards him with blackened eyes( some are scarey!) 102.7 fever this am.  Hearing better out of ear, pressure in sinus going down slowly. 

Wow, fancy plate presentaion.  

More and more drugs.  Thank goodness Brad has an iron stomach.  

IT WORKED!!!!

We are happy to report that after meeting with Brad's doctor today, we received wonderful news.  After almost a year to the date Brad is 100% donor.   March 20th was when he had his bone marrow transplant and this date will now be his "new" birthday (which he also shares with our daughter, Emily.)  He is in complete remission (actually called molecular remission) with NO SIGN of cancer.  They could not detect any of his DNA and the nasty mutations that he had are gone!   Dr. Gregory told us that this is the best that it gets!!  Crazy to think that all his DNA is now his donors, which is his baby brother, Aaron.  We feel so blessed.  We are grinning from ear to ear and we started the celebration already tonight with pizza at Big Bill's with Aaron and his boys!  There are a few things that will need to take place in the next months in order to get Brad's immune system retrained.  It has to be rebooted for lack of a better word because the donor cells and Brad's cells have been battling it out with his liver.  His liver counts have been up and down all year long.  He's been on and off steroids and other drugs to try to help the cause.  Dr. Gregory has suggested another round of Rituxan, which is administered intravenously, once a week for 4 weeks and 6 hour shifts.  This is not chemotherapy but a treatment that attacks the bad cells.  Some of you might remember that it is extracted from rat DNA.  Brad was a bit reluctant and Dr. Gregory gave him a few weeks to think about it, but I am pretty confident he will do it and then she said he will be good as new.  He is suffering from GVH, Graph vs. Host,  and has a little rash and is terribly itchy, but these are small problems that will be fixed with Lidex and as time goes on will hopefully fade.  He has been quite dizzy for many weeks now and he thought it was either the cancer or the drugs.  We were happy to learn that it was simply fluid in his ears!  He just has a regular common head cold.  Netti-pot treatments at home should take care of that. He also has to get all new immunizations, which I think is cute.  Just like a little baby boy.  :)    
Brad is elated (as much as Brad can get elated, he's a pretty mellow guy).  We are all excited for the future.  We cannot go without mentioning our faith in our Heavenly Father.  He has heard our prayers and countless others and He has blessed Brad at this time.  Our son, Joe (Elder Acker) is serving a full-time church mission in Australia and we feel that his service to his Father in Heaven has blessed our family!!!  I emailed his Mission President today with the good news and they delivered the news promptly to him.  He was thrilled.  Thank you to all our friends, family and acquaintances that have extended their hands to help us and have gone to their knees in prayer on behalf of Brad and our family.  WE FELT YOUR PRAYERS!!!    
Now we move forward with strength, faith, courage, hope, love and all those things that encompass the trials of cancer.  We extend a prayer for others that we know and love right now that are battling cancer.  Heavenly Father is mindful of you.  This we know without a doubt.  
We love you- Ackers

email update with WONDERFUL News

Hi everyone!  For the last year I have sent out many updates on Brad and his difficult cancer battle and reports on his bone marrow transplant.  Those updates have slowed down quite a bit because there wasn't much to report other than he was improving slowly but surely.  I am happy to report the following news to you all today...month 7 after transplant...

His doctor is dropping down on several of his meds, which is always a good sign that his body is working on it's own.  

His bone marrow biopsy last week had this to report:  He is still at less than 5% of cellularity (cells and marrow) showing cancer.  This has not moved since the last biopsy, which is good!  We want it to stay where it is at or better yet, go down.  But what is really amazing is that Brad had a gene in his cancer cells that was nasty and it was called TP53.  That gene was detected many years ago when he was first diagnosed and doctors have said that Brad had the worst form of CLL because of this gene.  That gene, in this last report, was not detected!!!!  Aaron's marrow is working with Brad's and we are seeing some real miracles.  

Brad's doctor did say that this is a lifetime battle for Brad.  (We realized this the moment he was diagnosed.)  However, we will "roll with it" and make adjustments where needed, be as healthy as we can be as a family and support Brad in all that he does to STAY HEALTHY!!   I believe he will be with us for a very long time thanks to modern medicine, Aaron Acker, and most importantly the POWER OF PRAYER AND THE AMAZING MISSIONARIES WE HAVE IN OUR FAMILY SERVING THE LORD.  THEY ARE BLESSING US,  I HAVE NO DOUBT.   

We love you all and appreciate your prayers and love and support.  We could not of made it this far without you!!!!!!!!!

We continue to pray for blessings to pour out on our family and yours.

Chest catheter OUT!!!

Brad had his chest catheter removed last week and now he is only left with a hole.  They did it with minimal numbing and no sedation.  Brad said it was alot of tugging to get it out.  When Brad asked if he could keep the tube to show his kids, the doctor said they can't because it's a biohazard and has to be disposed of properly!  He had to sit up for 4 hours afterwards to avoid any clotting or bleeding complications.

BACK TO WORK on DAY 144!!

Brad started work on July 11th only going back on a part time schedule (doctor's orders).  What a accomplishment this was.  He made it in 144 days!  Amazing.  I was proud of him so I had to get a photo of him on his "first day back". 

  Later that week he had his 7th bone marrow biopsy and the results looked good!  LESS THAN 5% CLL!!!!  I believe Brad is on the road to a full recovery and we have so many to thank for all the prayers and outpouring of love.  

Flip over!!

 The numbing and the gigantic needle...

 Disclaimers and all that mumbo/jumbo...Sign HERE...

Lots of sedation administered today,  he was very talkative (as usual) then it was sleepy time. 

Lab results leads to ultrasound, ultrasound leads to liver biopsy then a hospital stay

Brad reading over his labs at CBCI.  His liver is in trouble as the liver counts are double what they should be.  So an ultrasound was ordered so the radiologist could get a better look at his liver and what's going on.

 As we walk to ultrasound lab I am always amazed how Brad looks so normal amidst all the crap that is going on in his body. 

 This took about 45 minutes to get all the photos they needed. 

Next thing you know they are admitting Brad because his liver is inflamed and extremely irritated.  Nothing to mess with.  They also ordered a liver biopsy so Brad had to endure yet another procedure.  This time they went through his neck through a vein to the liver and scooped up a sample.  While in the hospital they hooked him up to saline which always makes him feel better and then they began administering a high dose of steroids which will hopefully calm down everything.

 Prepping for liver biopsy...

 This time I stayed at the hospital with Brad.  We had a sleepover together. 

 Here is a email that Brad sent out to everyone the day he was released:

The doctor just left and said that I have some CLL in my Liver which most likely caused Aaron's cells to attack the CLL there but also attacked my Liver while it was at it. So I'll be on a pretty strong dose of steroid for about a month to keep it all calm. I'll also have to increase my immuno suppresants for a while as well. My liver counts have come way down and in about a week should be back to normal. I just hope I can stay out of the hospital for a while. Not fun at all!!

I love you all!!! thanks for the prayers.

Once we got home it was time for Brad to reorganize his meds which can be very frustrating and tedious.

 Meeting with an in home nurse who teaches us how to administer his anti-fungal meds through a gravity pole drip.

This drip is once a day and should only be for another week or so. 

ultrasounds, biopsies and another hospital stay

    BRAD:
I am back in the hospital for hopefully only 24 hrs. Yesterday I came in for my normal appointment and all my numbers looked good but my liver counts were about 1100 points higher than they should have been. 5 days earlier they were in the normal range yesterday they jumped 1100 points. BIG concern. It's one of three things. CLL attacking my liver, which we don't think because my counts are good. infection which they are testing for and will get the results back tomorrow morning or what they are pretty confident it is is GVHD. Aaron's cells are recognizing my liver as being foreign and are attacking it. GVHD is a good thing to a certain point and they can treat it as long as it isn't too severe.  I am getting ready to go in for a liver biopsy around 1:30 where they will stick a camera and wire down a vein in my neck to my liver to cut out a chunk. They will sedate me. The docs will see me first thing in the morning to give me all the results and then I go home unless the results are bad. Which they won't be. They have me on some high powered steroids as well which can wreak havoc on my diabetes. So they really want to keep a close eye on that. Blood sugar gets too high and I am high risk for infection. But don't worry it will all work out. 

LISA: 
It has been a roller coaster ride as each day brings something new.  Last we checked his double bone marrow biopsy came back as showing only 5% CLL!   Wonderful news, yet Brad was still extremely fatigued.  Which is where we are at today with the news of his liver.  Docs say that it is functioning, but irritated and working really hard.  It's important for me to add that I love this man with all my heart.  The strength and courage he has shown through this journey has been amazing and I feel privileged to be a part of his life.