Well, I had the socks scared off of me this last week. We were down to 6 rad treatment days and 1 chemo....very glad to be near the end and the RO congratulating Bill on making it thru 2-a-day hyperfractionated) IMRT without missing any appts. That was last Tuesday AM.
Bill had been puny on Monday and really tired, sleepy, and just generally feeling lousy on Tuesday. He slept the whole day except for our rad trips. That evening, while feeding his last can of supplement to him, I noticed he felt hot. Ut oh! Temp at 101.6. Called the MO who directed us to the ER...he had called ahead and when we arrived were isolated in a room, everyone had to wear masks, etc. His white count was down to 2.2 and his temp up to 102.9. He was admitted early the next morning into a private room (no roomates allowed) and hooked up to all kinds of IV meds and feeding pumps....tubes going everywhere. Wednesday all day, he looked horrible...I was really worried. He could not stay awake, he was confused and not conversing well. I kept thinking, how could he go "south" so fast?? Tests did not reveal where the infection was but docs were certain he had something going on. Proper term for his condition was febrile neutropenia...apparently very dangerous. Everyone entering the room had to wear masks and take precautions. I was the only visitor allowed.

Bill rallied on Thursday night...looked way better and was more alert. He was still tethered to all types of equipment but his fever had gone down and his blood counts came up. He was finally discharged on Saturday. We are crushing antibiotics and putting them thru the peg tube at home. Today he is better than he has been in a while. His pain level is way down and he is swallowing water and Gatorade rather well...go figure. Maybe the antibiotics worked on his mouth and throat sores or maybe that is where the infection was???? We started back with rad treatments today...hopefully finishing now next Monday. MO wants to skip chemo this week but we will see him Thursday for bloodwork.

You better bet I will be checking Bill's temp three times a day now. I had read somewhere on the board that someone can become septic very fast and I now know how fast! Hopefully someone can learn from our experience. I just assumed that Bill's lethargy was due to the stage of his treatments. His body did not feel warm to me earlier in the day but I bet if I had checked, I may have caught this a little earlier. Live and learn...its something new every day.

All I can say is its nice to have him home, alive, and back on track! Deb