Wanted to quickly update the blog since I didn't get to it yesterday. Wednesday night ended up being a little rough - Ed's fever kept spiking over 103 and it was an ongoing battle to find a window of time to get the blood & platelet transfusions done and also to get him moved to the oncology floor. Ed started feeling really lousy with nausea, chills, etc. around 8 PM and had a couple of really rough bouts of rigors. I finally went home around 1 AM Thursday and the nurse called me at 5:30 AM to tell me they were moving him to oncology. I went to the office early and then got back to the hospital late morning with some lunch for him and to wait for the doctors. I noticed that Ed had some significant weakness in his left arm as he had trouble holding a cup of water and getting it back onto the rolling tray, and also that the swelling in his right arm had become much more noticeable. When Dr. Menco came in, he re- assessed Ed and ordered some additional tests. An ultrasound of his right arm revealed a blood clot near the site of the PICC line. Dr. Menco also saw the weakness in his left arm and ordered a CT brain scan to rule out a possible bleed related to his platelets being so low (they were at 5). His fevers have been spiking but the CT scan showed no evidence of a stroke or bleed, so that was reassuring. He continues to have pain in his bones and especially left shoulder but his arm seems less shaky this morning. It was a long night of fevers, rigors, headaches, nausea, ice packs and blood tests every few hours, but finally this morning around 6:30 they were able to get another bag of platelets into him, which meant they could take out the PICC line (to let the blood clot dissolve) which they didn't want to do until the platelets were in because of the bleeding risk. Now today he will get more blood and hopefully get off of the oxygen, which he's needed because his hemoglobin was so low. His whites went back down to zero today after going up a little yesterday, but he's on 3 IV antibiotics now, so hopefully no new infections will take hold. Ed's feeling pretty distressed about being so sick this time around, but he did get a bigger dose of chemo this last time. Hopefully he's on the upswing now and will gain some good ground today.
I'm signing off to get some sleep for a couple of hours. He was sleeping pretty soundly when I came home a little bit ago and he has one of our favorite nurses today, so I'm grabbing the chance to collapse for a bit. I'll update later tonight. The plan is for him to be there at least through the weekend to get back on track. We're looking forward to rising counts and less nausea so his appetite will come back as well.
Thanks for the update, Liz, was waiting patiently for it :). Ed, get better soon bud, so you can get this all behind you. Love you man, TC
ReplyDeleteThoughts and prayers going up.
ReplyDeleteThank God for no cerebral hemorrhage or stroke! Scared me as I read that! (Like I got scared when Liz wrote you were admitted to the Surgical Floor - glad to know that was only because of lack of beds!) I'm sorry this session is going so roughly - I know you had anticipated a better round this time. At least you're in a great place where they know what to do and how to care for you. My prayers are with you
ReplyDeleteThank you Liz for all the updates and info. Ed I am so sorry you are having to go through all of this... You'r one tough cookie and if anyone can kick this I know it is YOU. Hang in there...Thoughts and prayers are with you.
ReplyDeleteLove & best wishes to both of you! I would love to come see you so let me know when is a good time. I know it is day to day situation but I will find a way to be there when it works for you!
Deb