Hello all,

I've been using the search here for fever information and came up with most having them after treatments and some low grades during treatment. Penny had been running a low grade tem, and then they wouldn't do her chemo this week because her blood counts were way off. Today she was admitted into the hospital with a fever of +101 - as of tonight they are meeting with an infectious disease Dr. to determine what antibiotics to administer thru an IV. They are skipping her RAD tomorrow #24 out of 40 and hope to conitnue on Monday I guess. This seems to be not so great news-any thoughts?

I was told early on to remember that I would be susceptible to catch anything from anyboby so try to avoid people during Tx. My chemo never did affect my blood work and thankfully I did not catch anything...that is until 3 weeks after my Tx ended, I caught a cold from my wife and those systoms mirrored the side effects from my Tx so it set me back a few weeks.

Let us know what the docs say and what happens.

Hi Sarah,

That happens more often than you'd think and did with Jack as well. He spiked a temp and was hosptialized for 5 days. They delayed a cycle of chemo for a week and cancelled 2 radiation treatments - weekend intervened - that were just added to the end of his therapy.

The important thing is that she is in the hospital where they can monitor her and find the right IV antibiotics to give. It will be okay, and they will resume her treatments. I was concerned that a delay would be detrimental and it wasn't. Back then, absolutely everything concerned me and I remember well how upsetting that hospitalization was. In most cases they are precautions - very necessary precautions - but done for issues that respond well to monitoring and IV treatments. It would be irresponsible if they didn't hospitalize her for this.

The chemo and radiation do a real number on the immune system and infections can develop despite the best of care and precautions. It's one of the many things we learn to roll with. Hang in there, and I hope that next week goes better for Penny. How is she doing overall and how are all of you holding up?

I'm happy to tell you that Jack is doing well, his last PET scan showed no distant metastasis, and the endoscopy Monday showed NO tumors, just persistent swelling that will take longer to heal. His PEG tube is out, he's swallowing well enough to eat sufficient calories, and back to work. The day when he felt better arrived for him and will for Penny as well.

Regards JoAnne

Regards JoAnne

Sarah,
Don't worry, I had similar experience during my chemo-radiation treatment 5 years ago. I was admitted to hospital for high fever and low white bood cell count. On my first night of the hospital stay, my temperature was high as 104 degrees and I was treated with antibiotics through an IV to lower it. The nurse had to place an ice pack on my forehead to lower my fever. I was only half conscious that night and in the next morning, the fever went down to 100 and I could receive my radiation as usual. This lasted for a few days with high fever at night and low in the morning and according to my oncologist, radiation need not discontinue as long as my temperature was not higher than 100. So I didn't have any interruption to my treatment. It is a wise choice for your sister to be admitted to hospital as she can be closely monitored by her doctors and they should know if the treatment can go on or not. Anyway, they should be giving her the best possible medical help now.

Karen