Been Here, Done That

Today we had a plan.  Go to Salt Lake, get platelets, get home.

 We packed up -- just because we do -- every time.

 When we got to the hospital, we put the EMLA cream on his port so it would be good and numb before he was accessed.

 Brendan was pretty tired coming in.

 At clinic, vitals were taken, . .

 and his port accessed.

Brendan never wants to watch them put the needle in.

 Then the platelets were given.  It only took 30 minutes to transfuse. Platelets are a new experience.  Brendan was surprised that they were yellow, and not red.

 In the meantime, Brendan's fever spiked.  It went from 100 degrees to 103.

With a fever that high, and his ANC at 0, Brendan was admitted into the hospital.

 So here we are.  (Glad we packed our bags and brought them -- just in case.)  At 6 p.m. I ran to grab a bite to eat and grab our bags out of the car.  While I was gone, Brendan's blood pressure dropped to 80/45.  Two nurses were here manually pushing in a bolus of fluid as fast as they could when I returned.  That brought his blood pressure up for a while.  They also gave him hydrocortisone.  While his blood pressure is still "soft," his perfusion (blood flow to the tissues- tested by pressing on the skin and seeing how long it takes the blood to come back) is good and it looks like we won't have to go to PICU -- at least for now.  His fever has been hovering between 102 and 103.8.  They won't give him ibuprofen because it interferes with his platelets.  So Tylenol is all we are working with to keep his fever down.

They have drawn blood cultures and have started antibiotics, but we are still waiting for the results of the c-diff test.  That's what I suspect.  This looks just like his last few bouts of c-diff -- high fever, cramping, dropping blood pressure -- and he's been off of the big antibiotics for just over a week now.   (That's when the bad gut bacteria take over before the good bacteria can get re-established.)  I'm anxious for the results so he can be started on the right antibiotic if it is positive.   What he is on right now doesn't treat c-diff.  Brendan has always responded quickly when we know what we are dealing with.

Tonight, we'll be watching him very closely.