So no sooner had I eaten my lunch that I started to feel cool and shiverrey. I went to put on a second shirt even though it is 95 degrees outside, and the house is 76-77 degrees. So I took my temp. 101.1F Dang! That is a real fever. I called the clinic and they told me to come in immediately. No sooner had my butt hit the chair than they were coming at me with needles for blood cultures and blood pressure checks and urine cultures. A retake of my temp showed 102.0 F. That is a real fever for sure.
I am getting what we call in medicine a "febrile neutropenic" work-up. Febrile just means fever. Neutropenic means the infection fighting cells count is low. In medicine, we treat this as an urgency with blood culture tests for infection, urine culture tests for infection, a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia and then 3 days of antibiotics until the tests come back to indicate what, if any, the bug or bacteria is. Right now I am taking Ceftriaxone, Tobramycin, and Vancomycin, all through my catheter. Those are big gun antibiotics that can fight many, many different infections. If nothing grows out of the urine or blood, they will stop the antibiotics and let me go back to my other oral meds. You non-medical people are wondering why this is such a big deal. Well the issue is something we call sepsis. Sepsis is when the infection in your body gets widespread and bad things happen. The blood pressure drops, the kidneys fail, the heart can fail, blood clots can form and fill the small vessels everywhere. It is bad news bears. We are very conservative with infection & fever in people with neutropenia because they just can't fight anything off.
We'll be here at the clinic for a while this afternoon but I bet we'll be home by 5pm. That is the beauty of living so close. Thank Goodness for that. They have been so efficient getting me in and getting me treated. The nursing staff here really is top notch.
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3 comments:
Tree,
I'm sending all the positive energy I can to help out the killer antibiotics. Hope this thing gets nipped in the bud. Glad you had such a heads up on the fever. My mother and I are having a good day just resting up from the ride down from Virginia. I'm about to put a chicken in the crock pot to make something to bring over to you and Holly and your Mom--maybe on Saturday or Sunday; I'll call first. Have a good afternoon. I'll be in touch soon.
Love, Julia
Tree,
I hope those killer antibiotics are kicking in and that you're feeling a little better already. Keep drinking those frosties and energy drinks. I'm glad the woodpeckers are hanging out by your window.
The stomach flu is moving through our house 1 person at a time, so I am staying away for now. Please know you're in our thoughts and that we are sending good energy.
Love,
Angela
Teresa~
We are enjoying you blog everyday - you are so eloquent - you should be a professional writer! But then they might steal away one of our best doctors ever to go on a book tour, so nevermind! :o)
Hope those antibiotics kick in very soon and have you feeling much better. Know that our prayers are with you and Holly, and we will keep reading your amazing and TRIUMPHANT story every day. You are an inspiration - the way you manage to worry about others and see the beauty in the world with all you are going thru - we should all be so gracious of the wonderful, yet simple things around us everyday.
Get plenty of rest and feel better soon. We send you hugs and prayers. Kelly
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