A Long Night. . . And some answers. . .

Brendan's fever continued throughout the night, even reaching 104 degrees around 4 a.m.  I had slept a few hours by then, but when the doctor came in to check Brendan I knew something was up.  

Near constant monitoring of his blood pressure and vital signs throughout the night.

 The concerned look on the doctor's face certainly concerned me.  I was told they were checking for sepsis -- and making sure the infection had not spread throughout his body.

 His heart rate had been high, up in the 170's, but his blood pressure had been dropping.  His oxygen had also dropped to low 90's so they were watching everything very carefully.  They started giving him a bolus (extra fluids to bring his blood pressure up.)  After each bolus, Brendan began shivering uncontrollably.

 A few minutes later, the X-ray technician showed up to take a chest X-ray.

 Brendan did not appreciate being rolled onto a hard, cold board in the middle of the night.  But he did it.  The whole x-ray procedure took less than 10 minutes.  They brought the x-ray machine right into the room, got the image, showed the image to the doctor, then got back out the door.  The image showed his lungs are clear.


 The night slowly turned to day, and Brendan began feeling a tiny bit better.  During the night, he had finally been given Motrin to bring down his fever.  (Ibuprofen can interfere with platelet formation in the blood, so they don't like to give it to them during chemo treatments.)

After a long night, Brendan and I were both glad to see the sun rise!  It seems like everything is better during the day.

More blood draws this morning, a nasal swab (they let Brendan put the swab up his nose himself), urine samples and fecal samples (after he started with diarrhea).

 Brendan was plagued with nausea all morning, but it has begun to subside somewhat.  He still won't eat, but has taken a few sips of water with his medication.  He also wanted his teeth brushed.

 This morning Brendan peeked out to see what Bingo prizes came from the Forever Young Zone.  (The Kidz Crew have a Bingo game in the playroom that is televised to the kids rooms so they can play along. Then they bring prizes afterwards, whether or not you played.  Today Brendan received a poster, an art kit, and a small football.)

Radiation has been cancelled for Brendan today.

They just brought us news that Brendan tested positive for "c diff"-- Clostridium difficile colitis.  It happens when antibiotics kill off the good bacteria in the gut and this spore-forming bacterium takes over causing bloating, diarrhea, and pain.  Often flu-like symptoms accompany it.  So now we know what we are fighting.  He will get a specific antibiotic orally (so it doesn't go all over the body) to help his digestive tract.  Apparently, this is a pretty common problem for cancer kids who are constantly on high doses of antibiotics.  Soap and old-fashioned hand-washing have to be done as the alcohol based hand cleaners don't kill the spores.  Radiation and chemo can continue if he is feeling better tomorrow and cultures don't show any other problems.