Devin's Passing

Devin passed away early Tuesday (July 18th) morning.

You can leave comments here or on his Facebook page for him and his family.

Update on Devin - Last three months

MAY

May started out rough.  Devin had really bad mouth sores that kept bleeding and hurt really bad. The second week the mouth sores got better and finally went away just in time for his next chemotherapy treatment.  The second week he got a bad cold and was running a low grade fever. On Monday the 16th he started his next chemotherapy treatment.  When we met with the doctor first we told him about his cold. His blood count looked good so they started his treatment. As usual Monday was a long day. Then they hooked up his chemotherapy he wears home. Tuesday he wasn't too nauseous but he was coughing up mucus. Wednesday he was much more nauseous.  Thursday he had a doctors appointment and he was going to get IV nausea medicine after.  The doctor listened to his lungs and was concerned and wanted him to get a chest x-ray the next day when he came to get his chemotherapy off.

While were waiting for Devin to get hooked up the doctor came in to talk about something and Devin coughed up some of the mucus he had been coughing up.  The doctor saw it and asked if that is what he had been coughing up. We told him yes and he said it wasn't mucus but pus and that Devin had pneumonia. He had the nurses give him IV antibiotics and then sent Devin to the hospital.

While Devin was in the hospital he got his favorite new thing, a suction machine to suction up all the stuff he would cough up.  He was in the hospital until Tuesday. He then got to come home after five days of powerful antibiotics. The doctor ordered a suction machine for him to use at home and to continue seven more days of  strong  IV antibiotics at home. They also had a physical therapist come to the house to try to help him get some strength back.

He started to feel much better. All three of his sisters came up from California on Memorial weekend to visit him.  That was great for Devin to have them visit.  Monday two of his sisters left and on Tuesday his mom came up from California. Tuesday night was the fundraiser. Devin was not able to go but the show was great. Both performers did an excellent job and were so kind to donate their time. I want to thank everyone who went. I think everyone that went had a good time.

JUNE

Devin is feeling much better from his pneumonia but is still quite nauseous. They set him up on home IV to help keep him hydrated and get some IV nausea medicine to help with that. Thursday his last sister left and Saturday his mom left. Devin really enjoyed having his sisters and mom here and the time they could spend with him. Monday the 6th he started his next chemotherapy treatment. His pain has also increased. The week goes about the same as a regular chemotherapy week. A long day Monday, feel a little better Tuesday, nausea increases a lot on Wednesday, get chemotherapy taken off on Friday and get  IV nausea medicine at the doctors. Saturday he still is not feeling too well and the pain is still worse so we increased his pain medicine.

It didn't do enough and he sees the pain doctor on Thursday the 16th. He increases his medicine some more. Devin is still feeling nauseous and needs his nausea medicine every 4 hours and he is still not getting enough pain relief. At least he hasn't ended up in the hospital this time. On Friday the 24th I increase his pain medicine again.

Monday the 27th he sees the oncologist again before chemotherapy. His red blood count is a little low but his white count is okay so they start his last chemotherapy treatment.  Another long day and we go home with the chemotherapy bag for the week. Devin does okay Tuesday but Wednesday his nausea increases and he is feeling really tired.  He slept most of the day and is not feeling well.  Thursday he still was not felling well and was very tired.  We cancelled an appointment with the pain doctor.

JULY

Friday the first when Devin goes into get his chemotherapy off they do a blood test because he has not been feeling too well and has been excessively tired.  His red count had gone down to 21 and it should be over 30.  They give Devin some IV nausea medicine and IV fluid and then send us over to the hospital for a blood transfusion.  They put him in the hospital as an outpatient.  They get him ready and transfused 3 liters.  By the time he was finished it was almost 5 am.

We went home and got some sleep. later in the day on Saturday Devin's youngest sister gets here from California to spend the weekend.  The transfusion helps him feel a little better and his weekend is okay. He enjoyed his sisters visit. She left early Tuesday morning.  Tuesday his nose started to bleed.  He has had bloody noses before but this one did not stop.  It wasn't gushing out his nose but it was consistent. A lot of it was going down the inside of his nose into his mouth and he kept spitting out and suctioning out blood.  He kept saying it was stopping and not to call. Wednesday it was still bleeding. Early in the afternoon he said it had stopped and fell asleep.  ENT so he could go Thursday if he needed to. Thursday morning Devin's care coordinator called to see if he was still bleeding.  She said the ENT was in the Payson office on Thursdays and asked if Devin wanted to go out there.  He said no so she said they would have home health come get blood for a blood test.

By early afternoon when his home health nurse came to get blood he had stopped bleeding.  She got the blood but we didn't hear anything from the doctor that day.  Friday morning I took two of my kids to the orthodontist and while we were there the doctors office called and said Devin needed to go to the hospital for another transfusion.

After I got home by the time Devin was ready to go it was after 3pm.We got there and they started getting everything ready.  I asked the nurse what his blood counts were and she said his red count had dropped to 19 and his platelets were way down to 26. They are supposed to be above 140 and they help your blood clot so because they were so low that's why his bleeding wouldn't stop.

It took a while for them to get his blood typed and to get everything set up.  They were going to give him 3 pints packed blood which means they put extra platelets in the blood. They didn't get him started until about 8pm.  They said since he would finish so late (or early) in the morning even though he was an outpatient he could stay up to 24 hours so he could stay the night if he wanted. He hadn't stayed the last time but decided to stay this time. I stayed until midnight and then went home.  When I came back the next morning he was done but was still not feeling well.  His left thigh was also hurting really bad and was feeling really weak. He wanted to wait a while to try to feel better.  He was also coughing up more mucus.  They called his doctor and he said to take a blood test and get an MRI of his left leg to make sure there were no problems. The blood test showed his red count had come up to 30 which was good but his platelets had only gone up to 37. His MRI was in the normal range so we went home about 3pm.  He did okay the rest of the day and fell asleep that evening and slept several hours. 

At midnight I got up to give him his nausea medicine and he was still sleeping but was making gurgling noises.  It didn't sound good so I woke him up and had him sit up a little. He suctioned some mucus and seemed to be doing better. I got him set up for the night and went to the bathroom.  When I came out he had his hands to his mouth and they were full of blood.  I ran to grab something for him to spit in and clean him off.  He started coughing and spiting up more blood. It was a lot more than before and knowing his platelets were still low that it would not stop.  He wanted me to wait but I told him no and got my two oldest boys to help me get him to the car.

I took him to the emergency room and they got him out of the car and into a room pretty fast. He was spitting up a lot of blood.  They hooked him to the monitors and they doctor came in to see him. They weren't sure if it was from his nose or not. The doctor put a thing in his left nostril to try to stop it. He still had a lot of blood. Then his blood pressure started going crazy.  It went really high to 244/209 and stayed high in that range for a while so they gave him something to bring it down and it dropped to 76/43 and was low a while then jumped to 165/122 and would go between that range and the really low range.  He also started sounding rattly as he breathed so they had a chest x-ray taken. He was also still bleeding they decided to admit him and sent him to the ICU.  

His blood pressure stabilized finally and the bleeding slowed. They also started him on IV antibiotics. Then they got all this black stuff that was in his feeding tube and suctioned it out. They got about 400 ml of the dark stuff they think is blood out of his stomach.  They are not sure where the blood is coming from, if it is from his nose, his lungs, or from the esophagus from the cancer.  The bleeding finally stopped Sunday night but they are still trying to figure out where the blood was from.  He is feeling better but is still in the ICU.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and well wishes. They help keep Devin's spirit up and he is still positive as usual. We appreciate your friendship and support.

Thanks,

Julie Willis