john has been having fevers between 103 and 104

Hi.  Just a quick update.  John is at the local hospital.  It's not as good as his cancer/ bone marrow transplant center (Hershey Medical Center), but the quality of care seems to be pretty adequate at this local hospital.  We came into the Emergency Room there this morning when John had a fever of over 103.  The oncologists at both hospitals conferred and had a difficult time deciding which hospital to admit him into.  Finally it was decided that he was not stable enough to travel the two and a half hour ride to the better hospital, and that they would keep him local, and transfer him to Hershey if he took a sudden downhill dive.

I was pleased when John was admitted finally, and we found his nurse was somebody who had been following his case for years at another office, the office of his local oncologist.  Sara will be his nurse for over eight hours a day.  She knows a lot about bone marrow transplants and cancer so I feel so much better.  She also knows about John's kidney damage, that he was on dialysis, about neutropenia precautions, about when he should get blood, how he used to get seven bags of blood a day (red blood cell packs) and how to tell when he needs more, etc...  She is very up on his case and on hematology/oncology in general. 

So, how is John doing?  He hung between 103 and 104 degrees all day.  This was while they were filling him full of Tylenol.  They were very worried about him.  Finally later on tonight his fever came down some.  I can't remember how much, but some.

What's going on is this.  His ANC (absolute neutrophil count) is 0.06.  Like nothing.  So he finally caught a bacterial infection.  They are trying to find out which one.  Meanwhile, they are filling him full of fluids by way of IV pump and also giving him an IV antibiotic.  It is a broad spectrum one and should work on a lot of different bacterial infections.  Cultures were taken, and they take one to three days to grow.  After the results come back, then a different IV antibiotic will be given, one that is spefic to his particular bacterial infection.  He will either have the antibiotics switched, or be on two IV antibiotics. 

The last time this happened, if everything goes smoothly, he will be out of the hospital in a week.  That is usually the best case scenario. 

The reason I am home is because the hospital asked me to come home and get his eye drops and his Living Will.  I also had to get myself a diabetes shot, and one for Michael.  My parents then took Michael, bless their hearts, so I could spend more time with John.  If anything ever happened to John, I don't want not to have gotten the chance to say goodbye because I was home feeding the cat or giving him a shot.

So I am going back first thing in the morning.  Actually in a few hours.  I have not slept a lot tonight.  Yes, I do trust in the Lord, but I am a little scared.  I used to be pretty used to this, but when you haven't been through it in awhile, it's hard.  But I do feel relieved that he was doing a little bit better.  Earlier in the day he was so sick he couldn't talk, respond, or open his eyes. 

Okay, please pray for him.  And pray for me that I relax and try to sleep when I can.  And eat correctly.  I can't let myself get sick.

Alright, love you all.  If you don't hear from me in awhile, it means I can't get away from the hospital.  Then I'll give my password to my sister Val and let her update in this journal.

Love,

Krissy 

Tags: neutropenia, bacterial infectional, antibiotics, IV antibiotics, bone marrow transplant, stem cell transplant, cancer, John, blogplugs