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

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Chris in hospital for neutropenia

Chris developed a fever late yesterday afternoon while I was at work.  We got to the ER at 6:45 and they took blood, urine, and did a chest x-ray.  His blood counts are low enough that he is neutropenic and is on IV antibiotics.
They haven't found an infection and probably won't, his body just acting like this because his counts are so low.
They finally found a private room for him on the 8th floor at nearly midnight.  8SW typically deals with diabetes and heart stuff and they have their own procedures they have to follow.  One of which was the ludicrous policy that they refused to let him drink water until his nurse was finished getting the info on her other patients since it was a shift change, then she had to get medical history from Chris, and then she had to call his dr and ask him for orders.  It was after midnight so I went ahead and got him some water myself rather than waiting any longer.
Thankfully there is a room opening up in a few hours on 7SW, the oncology wing.  It's extra difficult when we have to deal with staff who have no idea how to treat him so we will be glad to get him back to the wing he belongs on.
I'm going to try and figure out how to post the spreadsheet of his counts that I created.  It would be much easier to update that and have it visible than type it out in a note every time.  
I'll post the room he's in when we know so anyone that wants to send the online cards can.  I'm thinking that he'll be here until he's over the neutropenia and then maybe go right into round 4 chemo.  His last stay for neutropenia was 7 days and the rounds are about 5 days so he could be here for awhile.  
A not-so-great screenshot of my spreadsheet:

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