Carla has had a long week but as usual she is bouncing back. She had her kidney stents replaced on November 5. On Friday, November 7th, she started running a fever. It fluctuated between 101 and 103 most of the day. On Saturday it continued with drops after taking some Tylenol. We called the Oncology group and they phoned in some oral antibiotics that had worked the last time she had experienced similar symptoms. Not only did it not work this time, it made her sick each time she took it. On Sunday morning she wasnt any better so after another call to the physician on call with the oncology group, we were told to go to UAB Womens and Infants Center. Once we were there, they did the usual labs and cultures and discovered that she was a bit low on her blood levels (so a transfusion was ordered) and her white cell counts were low enough to place her on an infection risk. More gowns and gloves for anyone entering her room. The cultures showed that she had another e-coli infection. This time however, they also determined that she was now resistant to most antibiotics. They finally found an IV antibiotic that would help fight the infection and she was put on several bags of it each day. Her oral chemo (Etoposide) was stopped when we got to the hospital so her numbers began to improve after the third day. A disease control doctor was called in for a consult as well as a new urologist. So, the three practices (oncology, urology, and infection control) batted the possible causes and remedies back-and-forth for 2-3 days. Finally the decision was made to place her on a course of strong IV antibiotics which were to be continued at home once she was released and then they would replace the newly placed stents with new ones and continue the IV antibiotics afterwards in the hopes of stopping the continuing e-coli infection that has plagued her for several weeks. They surprised us this morning by telling us we could go home. That was at 10:30 am. We finally made it home around 5:30 pm this afternoon. Home Health has been initiated and beginning tomorrow, they will monitor us doing at-home infusion of a new antibiotic (that is almost unpronounceable). They showed me the procedure for doing the infusion using her existing neck port. I have seen this done dozens of times over the years but never dreamed Id ever be doing it myself. Carla and I have relied on our faith in God and His provision in her care and treatment and our faith remains strong that He will continue to provide His protection in the shadow of His wings until these storms have passed. Just being home and away from the constant checking of vitals is so much better. An hour or two of uninterrupted sleep is the best you can hope for while in the hospital. We have come to love and respect the efforts of wonderful nurses and dedicated doctors over the past almost 11 years and we thanked each and every one of them as they did their jobs at the strangest hours of the days and nights. While I was watching the demonstration for doing the at-home infusion, I kept telling myself, you can do this, as the nurse/pharmacist was showing me the procedure for the home infusion. I was relieved when one of the pages of instructions was illustrated. I laughed and told the nurse that men prefer pictures when doing something instead of reading how to do it. In hindsight I wish I had chosen to go into a health related field (but High School Biology and College Earth Science was daunting to me). A medical field background would have come in handy so many times over this last decade. I ask my praying friends to keep us in your prayers in the weeks ahead so that we can get this infection under control and return to actively fighting Carlas cancer. It is odd to think, after all these years, that the priority of fighting cancer could ever be replaced--but the smallest of Gods creations (bacteria) has forced its way between us and the active treatment of Carlas cancer.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 02:45:58 +0000
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