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Donnie was having many hallucinogenic moments today.  The doctors are trying to figure out which medications to discontinue slowly, to decrease Donnie’s very, very busy side effects.  After 1pm today, his hallucinogenic moments seemed to multiply two fold.  He is telling stories (and mumbling a lot), teaching his imaginary patients, giving report to his co-workers by name, teaching his imaginary orientees in the ICU, talking to rapid response, looking for tape, answering his spectralink phone, tidying up his food tray, tidying up his bed blankets, taking multiple walks up and down the hall . . . he has had crazy, busy energy like this all day (like he is a two year old all over again).  Although it is exhausting for all of us caring for him (our wonderful family), at least he seems to be in very little pain, and has had no nausea or vomiting.  That is truly a big praise and huge relief for all of us.

So . . . I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring.  It seems each day is some sort of a roller coaster ride with him.  Please pray for the wisdom of his doctors to get these symptoms under control if at all possible.  Please be with all of us as we make decisions moving forward.  He is eating very little and drinking very little.  Please no visitors at this time.  It is very important for family to be caring for him when he needs us.  We know you understand.

Donnie’s favorite Bible verse of all time:

Dr Z feels Donnie’s zany activity (like jumping jacks in the military, paperwork in the ICU, answering his phone when the IV pump beeps) is all due to his pain medication. His pain meds have been cut way back, to get him out of his “DT’s” as I call it 🙂  Don’t worry…he’s not in pain.

Dr Z says he will keep Donnie in the hospital until he gets his chemo again this week, especially since he needs IV fluids. He is eating and drinking very little.

Thanks be to the Lord of Heaven and Earth for the amazing care Donnie receives. Even in his crazy drug induced stupor, he still says thank you to everyone, including Dr Z. What a nice guy!!!!!!

Will post again tonight with his progress today. Keep praying for him!! We send our love to you all, and appreciate you keeping up with Donnie through his blog!!

Two of the reasons (pics) Donnie has to fight!!! Keep praying. God has a plan, and we are seeking it!! He is the great healer! The alpha and omega.

Dr. Zehngebot, Donnie’s wonderful and experienced oncologist, had Donnie moved to Winter Park Hospital this evening.  We are happy, as we have received excellent care there.  It is where he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and treated wonderfully by the doctors and nursing staff.  Dr. Z is one of the lead oncologists at Florida Hospital South, quite renowned, and is very involved in cancer research.  He sees patients at Florida Hospital South, Florida Hospital Altamonte, and Florida Hospital Winter Park.

Donnie had a pretty difficult day.  He continues to have challenging side effects from his chemo, plus he was a bit over-sedated today.  We are praying tomorrow is a better day for him, when some of the medications are out of his system.  He is definitely not coherent.

Beau and David stayed with him tonight, as he seems to be a “two man tag team”.  He is hallucinating, moving his hands crazy all over the place, and if he wasn’t so sick, it would be hilarious.  Beau, David, Rachael and Jared all witnessed him tonight.  At first you would cry, and then you would laugh at him.  He mumbles and talks alot, and sounds like Sophia (our 2 year old granddaughter)garbling all her words.  Then he sits straight up in the bed, and acts like he is going to get up.  So…he requires lots of supervision.  I am grateful for all 4 of our children that love him enough to help him in this hour of need.  God bless them!!!!

So…please no visitors again tomorrow.  Not sure what kind of day he will have.  Also, he is running a temperature, so I expect that is going to be something they start to treat.  Dr. Z is not sure if Donnie will get his chemo on Friday as scheduled.  The only thing Donnie ate today was 4 teaspoons of jello and 2 small bites of popsicle.  Please pray for him and for his caregivers, and for all of us that love him so dearly.  Thank you!

Yesterday Donnie had some slight improvement, but today is another very rough day for him.  Dr. Zehngebot wants him transferred to Winter Park to evaluate him.  That will probably happen today.  Please no visitors.  He is not able to talk or be very coherent.  Please pray for him. Thank you for your love and caring!  Tina

So…here we are…in Donnie’s ICU at East Orlando.  I must say there is nothing more comforting to know that the entire ICU loves Donnie, and is so protective of him.  Awesome intensivist (ICU doctor), awesome nurses, awesome respiratory therapists, awesome chaplains, and I could go on.  They treat us like gold!!!  It is so comforting to know that they all “have his back”.

He is in ICU because that is where the docs and nurses wanted him…to take wonderful care of him and be supportive of him.  He is getting IV fluids, and they have been “tweaking” his medications to help with all of his chemo side effects.  He has had better nausea and pain relief today than he has had in the last 2-3 weeks.  PRAISE BE TO THE LORD!!!!  So thankful to caregivers that are looking for alternatives to help him!!!  Especially Dr. Siddiqui 🙂

The last 2 days have been very, very difficult for Donnie.  Today is a “HAIR” better.  He actually sat up and ate 4 bites of a chicken wrap, and 4 spoonfuls of chicken and wild rice soup that Rachael (daughter) brought to him.  Jeff (son) stayed with him last night, so he is taking credit for his Daddy’s turn around!!  He is staying with him again tonight, so I am expecting another improvement tomorrow!!!!!!  It takes a village . . .

As you know, Donnie was able to be photographed with our family for about 30 minutes at the beginning of our family Christmas celebration (on December 27th), then he went to bed for the rest of the day.  We are all so grateful for the wonderful pictures that Keeley Leippert with Sugar Coated Photography took of our family “on location”.  She was so wonderful to accomodate our special needs with Donnie.

After Donnie spent the rest of the day in the bed (literally), he got up after everyone left.  He ate a very small meal, took a shower, and then became deathly ill.  We ended up going to the hospital and being admitted to his ICU at Florida Hospital East.  He was very relieved to get better pain management, better nausea management, and an IV for hydration.  He is very, very weak.  He talks minimally, as he does not have much strength to do that.

All of our family stays with him around the clock.  He is too weak to advocate for himself.  Please pray for his comfort.

Much love,  Tina

So we had our family Christmas today.  Everyone was present!!  Donnie was able to take pictures for about 30 minutes, then that was the end of his day.  He was in the bed, exhausted, feeling nauseated, weak, etc.  Tonight he is being readmitted to the hospital for hydration due to vomiting and diarrhea.  He is really weak.  Pray for him.  Thank you!

Donnie went for his clinic visit today (Friday), and praise the Lord, it wasn’t a catastrophe like it was on Wednesday.  We did a lot of “preventative” steps so he would not get so deathly ill.  Even though the round trip takes us 3 hours, and it does exhaust him, it was much better today.  He agreed.

He finished his last Neupogen shot today (the medication that boosts his immune system).  A praise is that his while blood cell count never dropped below normal.  Unfortunately, one of the side effects of this medication is that it gives him flu-like symptoms.  So…on top of his first round of chemo, he sort of gets the flu.  No wonder he doesn’t want to hold his eyes open.  He will see Dr. Z on Tuesday, and we will keep you posted on the plan of care.

Tomorrow is our family Christmas.  We are very excited to have all our grown babies and our grandbabies together!  It is always very special.  We are having professional pictures taken at our home this year, so we are all looking forward to that.  So hard to get all of us together.  It will certainly be special!!!  Pray that Donnie can have some energy to enjoy his babies (he’s pretty weak).  Thank you for all your love and prayers!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, Dec 26, I take Donnie back to the oncology clinic at Florida Hospital South to receive his Neupogen injection.  This was a very difficult thing for him to do on Wednesday this week, so pray it will not be as difficult this time.  He has been in the bed all day today, except for eating a little breakfast, and a little dinner.  His face looks flushed, so I am worried he is dehydrated.  He isn’t drinking much, because it makes him feel full and feel bad.  He has chills, but he is not running a fever.  They will draw labs on him at the clinic tomorrow, and we will go from there.

He is really exhausted, and talking minimally.  It’s pretty hard to see him this way.  Please pray for him.

Merry Christmas from us to you!!!  Christmas has always been such a special holiday for us.  We were both raised by Godly mother’s, who put great importance on the birth of Christ, and on the love of family.  Our holidays are pretty huge!!!!  There are so many wonderful memories … an awesome problem to have 🙂

This is the last wonderful Christmas we spent with my sweet Momma when she was feeling good.  We are in Mom and Dad’s front yard.  Mom always made Christmas magical.  All us girls got that gene from her!!

This is part of the McFarland clan.  We are spread out all over the U.S., and all the way to Finland.  All of us are not in this pic, as everyone could not make it home.  Its tough getting all of us together, but we sure do like being together!!!!!!!  Donnie’s Mom has always made EVERYONE in the family feel so loved.  We are a hodge podge of blood relatives, step relatives, and adopted relatives, but you would never know it by the way she loves all of us.  What a blessing she is to Donnie, and to all of us!!!!!!!

Our personal family Christmas will be this coming Saturday, December 27.  I am thankful we planned it that way, because Donnie has not felt well at all.  He had a pretty horrible day yesterday.  He is weak.  He is eating a little.  He is drinking a little.  He is always kind and in good spirits, like always, just exhausted.  He is resting up for Saturday, as we will be taking family pics that day.  If they turn out well, I’ll post them.  I’m expecting the best 🙂

Merry Christmas!!!  Keep praying for my Donnie … he is uplifted by you all!