Day began with Don not feeling well – he was up at 6:00 a.m. with upset stomach and going to the bathroom. We had 10:00 a.m. appointment instead of 2 – he was scheduled to get 2 units of blood so that’s why they changed the appointment. Our norm is for Don and I to walk over to JH since it’s so close but he felt so bad there was no way – I drove over and we decided rather than me park and have to make him wait long we just did the Valet parking which worked out so much better.
Once in IPOP they took his temp, weight, blood pressure – asked the normal questions as to how he was feeling, eating, etc. etc. Blood pressure was low again but rather than hook him up for hydration they said they would just wait and not do that since he was getting red blood today. They have to call and order the units so they did that close to 10ish.
11:05 still waiting for the blood to come – in the meantime Nurse Practitioner Kelly came to visit and checked his breathing – asked her usual questions. She said the red blood should definitely help get some of his energy back – sure hope so. Finally came at 11:25 – while transfusing they do monitor his vitals and temp – blood pressure was still low so they hooked him up to potassium as well as the red blood. His temp also was elevated at this time. After several times of monitoring they could see a pattern of Don’s temp going up. At 1:10 it was high – 100.8. Anytime it is above 100.5 is cause for alarm. Our Nurse for the day was Kathy – she called NP Kelly to let her know about the temp and to see if she should proceed with the 2nd unit of blood or wait. Kelly suggested that Tylenol be given to help with the fever – they also decided to give him an antibiotic called Vancomycin. They believe the fever is due to what is call Mucositis which is the painful inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract, usually as an adverse effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment for cancer. They gave this to him intravenously as well.
1:20 - Tylenol was given and the 2nd unit of blood was ordered. They did draw more blood – he was given potassium and zofran (nausea medication) intravenously.
2:15 p.m. – still waiting for 2nd unit to arrive. He managed to eat some applesauce because he needed to take the medications he takes everyday and at that point in time still had not taken them and it was getting later and later for that.
2:40 – 2nd unit finally – I had told you earlier they took more blood work. When the results of this came they decided to give him calcium also. Okay at this point in time he had all of these going in at one time:
Red blood – calcium – potassium – antibiotic Vancomycin – and hydration (they changed their mind at some point).
Temperature continued to come down throughout the day and when we left at 4:50ish it was down to 98.8. I will continue to monitor this evening.
Also – he needs the antibiotic Vancomycin every 12 hours – so at 1:00 a.m. I get to administer this – something new I learned how to do today. This takes about 30 mins to 1 hour to administer so he’s going to be kept awake late tonight as well as myself – not worried about me – just one more thing to subject him too LL but hopefully if there is any kind of infection going on this will take care of it.
2:00 appointment tomorrow but we have to be there at 1:00 p.m. so he can get the new antibiotic and keep the 12 hour schedule.
Hoping tomorrow he feels better and has more energy. Sure been a rough few days. His Neutrophil count is still at “0” so this means no visitors L. Bri is coming tomorrow but he won’t be able to see his Dad L but I will sure be happy to see him.
Don has been resting since we got back – he tried to eat a piece of toast but didn’t agree w/him. Trying some applesauce – let’s hope.
Keep those prayers coming – we appreciate and need them all!
Until tomorrow………..
Love you all,
Don & Muffin
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