Friday, October 23, 2009

Week Delay

We went into clinic today to get Ezra’s CBC done. His counts only rose like 20 points from Monday. His ANC was 590 today. He needs to be at 750 in order to start the next phase, I guess they want it higher because it knocks it down so much.

So they said we should come back in a week and get another CBC done. He hopefully by then will be up to 750, and we will be able to resume that Monday.

It is very common to have delays during this phase so I am not stressing it. Although it will be nice to have a break from the clinic, it just delays us getting through delayed intensification, so that is kind of a bummer.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

In the Hospital Again

Sunday night I took Ezra’s temp. and noticed it was low…about 97.2. So I called the on call oncologist, she said as long as it didn’t go below 96 and he was acting normal that he should be fine.

Well Monday his temp. dipped to 96.5 he was terribly cold and clammy, and wanted to sleep all day long. He was waking up sweaty from every nap. So I called again to just ask someone else’s opinion. They basically said the same thing, only that was Monday morning, before he slept the day away.

The nurse called me back at 5 to make sure Ezra was doing well, I told her he was still cold, and had slept all day. She put me on the phone with one of the oncologists and she recommended I bring him in, just to rule out infections like sepsis…which can cause a low body temp. And since he was pretty lethargic all day she thought it was best he be seen in the ER.

So off we went to Shands. We were admitted right away. Blood drawn, antibiotics started. His ANC last light was 680, this morning it was 360. So he is officially neutropenic. His blood otherwise looked good though, so no transfusions at this time. The low ANC is to be expected for where he is at right now in his treatment. His temp did go up to 98.1.

I talked to an actual oncologist this morning (a new one, apparently Dr. Bill is on temporary hiatus in China). She gave the ok to stop the IV fluids since he is hydrating himself.  She said as long as nothing came back on the cultures by tomorrow night, we could go home then. Which you know really means the next day.

So Ezra is doing ok he is tired and crabby, since he is still on the steroids right now. Thursday night is his last dose of them for awhile. Thank God.

So far there is nothing to worry about, they are just super cautious with kids during this phase since the chemo is so intense.

Hopefully nothing grows on the cultures and we are home soon.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Today

whee

Today was not so much fun. I went in this morning (with both boys) to get labs done, even though I apparently didn’t need to, he would have gotten this chemo round regardless of his counts.

I comment to the nurse that I didn’t put the numbing cream on his port because he was shivering this morning. So she asked more about the shivering, I told her he woke up yesterday morning shivering as well. I attributed it to the sudden drop in temp. in FL the last 2 days. She went on to tell me that while Ezra is on steroids he can still get an infection and not run a fever. But exhibit other symptoms of a fever, chills, sweats, etc.

So we get his CBC and they draw blood cultures, they hook him up to a bag and wait for him to pee. They have to test for everything.

So while we are there they just decide to go ahead and order Ez’s chemo up, so there I am with both boys at the clinic, my shirt was on inside out, no make up, and I had forgotten a hair tie. And no coffee. I thought we would just be drawing blood, going home and Ezra and I coming back by ourselves in the afternoon for our scheduled appt. No such luck.

His counts come back great they were 1300, so he was not in need of blood, which was one of the things they were concerned about.

So Ezra got his Vin and Dox and some super duper antibiotic. We should hopefully know something more tomorrow.

One of the things he could possibly have is a urinary tract infection. From talking with them and based on some things he has done lately (like yesterday he grabbed his diapered crotch and said “hot”…which really confused me) I think this is what he has. Which would be treated with antibiotics. I am hoping that is all it is. They were not too concerned since they sent us home.

I will update tomorrow whenever they call me.