Richard Venezky

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a tough week but things are looking up. Before I begin I want
to apologize to anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I will forward the
first two updates to you when I get back to California. I also want to
mention that the medical information that I am including may not always
be exact, for instance in the first update I thought the chemo ran for
14 days straight when it was really only 7 and then 7 to rest. In
addition, my father does not proof read these before I send them so
please excuse any spelling/grammar errors. I’m happy to have my
allowance docked for any errors when this is all over.

When I last wrote Dad’s fever had decreased from 104 to about 101 and we
were all hoping it would continue to come down. Well…the fever did
finally come down but in the process other issues became more critical.
Dad refers to the past week as living in a David Lynch hell. As we
begin to piece together what he was going through (the hallucinations
were very real) we all agree and are thrilled to have him back.

Dad was having difficulty breathing and the doctors were having
difficulty figuring out why. Dad was also having difficulty with his
stomach. The doctors have been working very hard to fight what they now
believe to be a heart and a fluid problem. The heart issue involves a
valve that is leaking such that Dad’s lungs are filled with fluid. The
fluid problem, from what I understand, is that Dad’s system was unable
to get rid of all the fluid that was being pumped into his body. So he
is on several different medications to alleviate these issues.

I can’t describe how much better Dad is today than a few days ago. Elie
and I went back to Delaware on Friday after we were told that Dad might
have to go on a respirator. Luckily, the medications he is on have
helped significantly such that he is now only wearing a small oxygen
tube (the cute one everyone uses on television to show that someone is
in the hospital) that is set to a very low level of oxygen. Friday
morning he wore an oxygen mask that pushed 100% oxygen into his lungs -
I forget the pressure. By Friday evening he was down to 50% and
yesterday they started to remove the pressure component for brief
periods of time. Dad still has a tube that runs down his nose and into
his stomach to alleviate pressure, making it hard to talk. Once the
tube comes out we hope that he will be able to start eating again (he is
getting food intravenously but I think even the hospital food is
beginning to look appetizing).

I will be sending more frequent updates so please let me know if you
would like to be taken off the list. The updates are meant to help my
Mom and Dad give out information to the people they care about and to
alleviate the phone calls to the house. (I’m sorry if there is someone
I’ve missed, it doesn’t mean that Mom and Dad don’t care.) Please do
not call the hospital. It is going to be a long road and we need the
nurses to concentrate on Dad.

Dad says thank you to everyone. He really appreciates the cards and
gifts but he wants to make sure that everyone isn’t spending too much
time worrying about him. We all love to read the letters and we bring
new mail to the hospital everyday. Mom has been doing an amazing job. At
this point we are really excited with Dad’s progress and are hoping to
see the growth of white blood cells in the next week or two.

Again, thank you SO much for your best wishes.
Love,
Dina

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Brief summary: Dad has acute myelogenous leukemia and received 7 days of
chemotherapy starting on Oct 11th. His immune system has been basically
wiped out and we are waiting for it to return. As such it is very
important that we don’t bring any illnesses to the hospital. When Dad
starts to eat again, he can not have any fresh fruits, fresh vegetables,
or peppercorns (ground pepper). We all wash our hands every time we
enter Dad’s room or when we touch our faces. Thank you.

—-

I’ve attached a small, recent photo of Ben.