Sunday Evening Medical Update

Every morning at 2:00 the nurses come to take blood. This comes from the picc line, so it has to be done by a nurse, not a lab tech. I knew my platelets were low because my gums were bleeding and I was getting little dark red spots on top of the rash. Sure enough . My platelet count was 4. They gave me a transfusion of those this morning. The fever is using up the platelets even more quickly than their normal short life span (3-4 days).

Later the CRNP on-call came by to see me. She said my blood cultures show a gram negative bacterial infection in my blood.. Not a good thing. They are keeping me on the same antibiotics for the time being. In the meanwhile, down in the lab, (can't you just picture Dr. Frankenstein here?) they have many petri dishes of this stuff growing. Those are being treated iwth lots of different antibiotics to figure out the exact one I need that will knock out the infection the most quickly and effectively.

The on-call doc came by this afternoon. He believes the rash is an allergic reaction to the Neupogen shots.

When the afternoon shift leaves, the nurse tech comes by and wants to know what I ate all day and exactly how much I drank. Hmmm. I didn't pay that much attention. I ate the grits and bagel with cream cheese at breakfast, don't even remember what I had for lunch and had Real Cajun Étouffée for dinner, courtesy of the most wonderful sister in the world. Now this nurse tech is here all day long. She picks up the trays after we eat. Wouldn't it be more effective to bring the chart around and ask these questions when she is picking up the trays? JMHO, of course.

Now just an interesting aside. You know how wintergreen lifesavers will spark if you bite down on them in the dark? Well I found out in the wee hours this morning that they are also a VERY EFFECTIVE cough soother. Learn something new every day.