I was Chris' wife/caregiver & this is the medical blog I wrote during his treatment. Short history: dx in July 2010, no initial bone marrow involvement, did 5 rounds hyper-cvad protocol. Found out he is in relapse/refractory status with involvement in his chest, spleen, inguinal & throat lymph nodes, bone marrow, spine & brain in January 2011 when we went to MD Anderson for treatment. The two different rounds of chemo Chris got at MDA could not put him in remission; he died of leukemia/lymphoma on March 18th, 2011, an astonishing and horrific 8 months after his diagnosis.
There is a donation page for organizations here: http://chriscranecancer.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Chris in hospital for low counts

This is going to be a bit nitty gritty since it's nearly 5 a.m. and I'm exhausted.

Got home from work last night at 11 p.m. and Chris felt hot, checked his temp and it was 102.
Called his dr who said take him to the ER.
ER took blood, did an x-ray, and checked his urine.
His WBC (white blood cell count) came back very low so they admitted him and gave him two different types of antibiotics.  
Because his count is low he has to be in "reverse isolation" and has to be in his own room.
Oncology is full so he is in CICU.
The nurses there talked with his dr and got orders.  He'll be kept on the higher doses of antibiotics and get daily blood draws. 
He won't be leaving the hospital until his WBC is back up.  
He is at a high risk of infection so anyone that enters his room has to wear gloves and masks.  I can only visit between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. 
There isn't much to do but wait and see if/when his blood count comes back up.
I am going to get some sleep and head back to the hospital in the morning.  If I miss his Dr. when he visits Chris the nurses will page him so I can talk to him.
I'll try and post more details tomorrow.

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