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| Red Man Syndrome |
Davis has made some marked improvements over that last 24 hours. He has been without fever for nearly 12 hours, and his counts are beginning to trend upwards. His ANC was 12 yesterday and is 32 today. It will need to be in the triple digits before we can head home.
The antibiotic used to treat staff infections caused the allergic reaction called Red Man Syndrome. Since he needs the antibiotic, he is pretreated with a counter medication before the antibiotic is administered. The antibiotic is then given over two times the normal time span to slow the reaction down. It seems to be working for the most part. He still has some redness and itching, but it does not appear to be as severe.
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| Scary, huh? |
Davis did manage to eat yesterday. Actually, he ate more yesterday than he has in one entire week. We have had no luck today. He has slept a great deal of the day away. He still sleeps 15 or more hours a day. This slows down normal daily functions: eating, drinking, taking medication, walking. However, sleep still trumps those activities because it works as a coping mechanism while the body is fighting the infection.
Speaking of infection . . . we still don't have a confirmed diagnosis of what type of infection it is. All the docs seem to know is that it is responding to the high powered antibiotics, so it is probably a bacterial infection of some type. They can't identify where it is in the body either.
The doctors won't give us a timeline for being discharged. It depends on his counts. We are set for chemo on Thursday and Friday, and one doctor thought that we would be able to go home and make it back for Thursday chemo. She quickly followed with, "No promises, though." I am still optimistic.
Other than that, nothing else going on here. We just sit around. Davis does play on the computer some, but he won't watch TV. He just sleeps.
Thanks for all of your kind thoughts and much-needed prayers. Although we know we are never alone, it does get lonely here from time to time. Davis misses his home and his routine. But we know that we are where we need to be. We are truly blessed to have such good family and friends who care for us so deeply.
We will keep you posted.
Mandy, Kyle, Annakate, and Davis
ReplyDeleteI think of you often throughout the day. You are all in our prayers and we are all praying for your continued strength and for Davis's recovery. Mandy, what a beautiful testimony of your faith in God and Jesus Christ that you share with us in your posts. Your entire family is so proud of you and I am sure that Heavenly Father is more than pleased with the beautiful wife and mother you have become.
God bless all of you.
Ginny