John spent all day yesterday (Saturday) on the couch snoozing with the kitties and eating; mostly snoozing. At bedtime around 8:00 I gave him a hug and thought he felt "warm." So I took his temp, twice, and both readings said 101.2. So I called the after-hours on-call line and spoke to Dr. Kominsky, Dr. Nestor's colleague, who was on call. He said to take John to emergency. So off we went in the snow and about an hour later arrived at St. Joseph's. Blood tests showed John's white cell count had dropped to "1." Normal is around "8" or "9." His level made him susceptible to any kind of virus, infection, etc. so he has been admitted. Dr. Kominsky came by this a.m. You could have knocked ME over with a feather. This young guy comes sauntering into John's "isolation" room cool as a cucumber. I took one look at him and thought, "Hey, Junior, your dad's in the room down the hall" when he introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Dr. Kominsky." I am so old and so married...but this guy looks like the cover of a Harlequin romance novel! John knows several people who have had the misfortune of being diagnosed with cancer who have had Dr. Kominski as their oncologist. Everyone has had only the highest praise for this young (and I mean young) doctor who, as one person put it, is a genius. Together with John's oncologist, Dr. Nestor, I feel John is in excellent hands indeed.
His rash is getting better and his lips are just about back to normal. Once his white blood cell count improves, they will release him. We're not quite sure what the plan is for replacing the 5FU, which was the continuous infusion. More surprises in store tomorrow, I'm sure.
It looks like John will be a guest at St. Joe's for at least a couple more days. The hospital will transport him to his a.m. radiation treatment(s) located just 3 minutes down the road.
I will keep you posted. Thank you for keeping up with us on this bumpy, every-changing ride. Gratefully yours...Nancy
Oh brother, sounds like John is experiencing the "full meal deal" with the treatment. The fabulous oncologists will hopefully be able to make the correct adjustments to his drug combination.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a good nurse, Nancy!! Perhaps you should have considered a different major while at Wazzu...
We are away in Maui at the moment, we were at Kaanapali and Kevin was remarking about a picture he recalled of John on one of the courses here. John, we plan to see you on the greens soon!
In the meantime, wishing you comfort as you continue with such serious work of beating down the nasty cancer.
Love you both!
Amy & Kevin
Hi Nancy! I see kids routinely for the "rule out sepsis" issue surrounding fevers and chemo. Many times, the blood cultures come back negative, meaning no bacteria is in the blood. But, now you can be the wife and escape the nurse-nancy mode for a bit. :) And you are correct, having cancer allows you into a club you didn't want to join, but there is some comfort in meeting others to help you as you as also helping them.....Hang in there!!!!
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