We made it a whole week this time before having to return to the hospital!
Thursday, Ambrosia had her 4th clinic visit. She got her vincristine chemo medicine and they also checked her numbers. It turned out her platelets had dropped from over 100 on Tuesday all the way down to 27 on Thursday. That meant we were going to have to go check in at the hospital for them to give her a platelet transfusion. It took a couple of hours after we registered and then getting the transfusion before we could go home. Everything else had still been going fine and we were due to come back to the hospital on Saturday for them to check her numbers again and make sure she didn't need another transfusion as the clinic is not open on Saturday.
So at 8 am on Saturday we arrived at the hospital for them to check her numbers again. Unfortunately her platelets were still in the 20s and her hemoglobin had also dropped. That meant she would have to get a platelet and a blood transfusion. They got us settled in a room and once her platelets arrived, started her transfusion. Right after her platelet transfusion they started her blood one. They check her vitals about every 15 minutes after starting a transfusion to make sure she isn't having a reaction. After starting the blood, the nurse took her vitals and she was running a fever. This meant they had to stop the blood transfusion and get blood cultures from both of her lines to make sure she wasn't harboring an infection. It takes several hours before they know if any bacteria starts growing and they were going to call us if some did. She was given Tylenol to help bring her fever down and the doctor was called.
Dr. Cheerva came and looked at her and gave her the all clear to start her blood transfusion back up. We ended up being at the hospital 10.5 hours yesterday. They did let us come home. After being home for about 3.5 hours, I went to pick Ambrosia up and noticed she was burning up with fever. I had to call the hospital and talk to Dr. Cheerva and let her know what was going on. All the while I started to pack as I was anticipating having to come back in. Dr. Cheerva said since they gave her some antibiotics while I was in with her earlier in the day, she would allow for one fever at home. She had me give her Tylenol again and if she spiked another fever we would have to come in.
After giving her Tylenol, Ambrosia began to have issues with vomiting. Doing so twice after talking to Dr. Cheerva. I was able to give her some anti-nausea medicine and she began to settle down and her fever was going away. While watching a show with Wes, my phone rang and it was the hospital. They had gotten a call from the lab saying that there in fact was bacteria growth from the blood cultures they had taken earlier. This meant Ambrosia had an infection and they needed us to come in so they could start antibiotics.
Luckily, I had already started packing a bag earlier and was able to finish getting stuff together pretty quickly. Then Ambrosia and I headed to the hospital. They got us settled in a room and started her on antibiotics. Awhile after starting her antibiotics, she woke up and I went to get her out of the bed. She was shaking and burning up with fever again. She also vomited again. I went and got the nurse who noticed her head was really red and her hands looked gray and were cold. She talked to Dr. Cheerva and she agreed with her that Ambrosia was having a reaction to the antibiotics they were giving her. She gave her Tylenol and Benadryl and everything went back to normal. Now everytime she has to have this antibiotic she will have to have Tylenol and Benadryl a half an hour before hand.
While they were assessing her after giving her the Tylenol and Benadryl, her NJ feeding tube came out. We think it was dislodged because of her vomiting and worked its way out. This morning we are waiting to see if the radiologist who is here can do the kind of x-ray needed to put her NJ tube back in. They take a constant x-ray to make sure the NJ tube is going where they want it to, which is in a part of her intestines.
I don't know how long our stay is going to be this time. She will need to go 24 hours without fever I believe before they let us go. So hopefully it will only be a couple of days and then we can go home. Dr. Cheerva has agreed to allow us to wait until after Christmas to start her 4th round of chemo. This is good news as I was hoping to be able to celebrate Christmas at home.
We've had a busy couple of days but hopefully things will settle down now!
Thursday, Ambrosia had her 4th clinic visit. She got her vincristine chemo medicine and they also checked her numbers. It turned out her platelets had dropped from over 100 on Tuesday all the way down to 27 on Thursday. That meant we were going to have to go check in at the hospital for them to give her a platelet transfusion. It took a couple of hours after we registered and then getting the transfusion before we could go home. Everything else had still been going fine and we were due to come back to the hospital on Saturday for them to check her numbers again and make sure she didn't need another transfusion as the clinic is not open on Saturday.
So at 8 am on Saturday we arrived at the hospital for them to check her numbers again. Unfortunately her platelets were still in the 20s and her hemoglobin had also dropped. That meant she would have to get a platelet and a blood transfusion. They got us settled in a room and once her platelets arrived, started her transfusion. Right after her platelet transfusion they started her blood one. They check her vitals about every 15 minutes after starting a transfusion to make sure she isn't having a reaction. After starting the blood, the nurse took her vitals and she was running a fever. This meant they had to stop the blood transfusion and get blood cultures from both of her lines to make sure she wasn't harboring an infection. It takes several hours before they know if any bacteria starts growing and they were going to call us if some did. She was given Tylenol to help bring her fever down and the doctor was called.
Dr. Cheerva came and looked at her and gave her the all clear to start her blood transfusion back up. We ended up being at the hospital 10.5 hours yesterday. They did let us come home. After being home for about 3.5 hours, I went to pick Ambrosia up and noticed she was burning up with fever. I had to call the hospital and talk to Dr. Cheerva and let her know what was going on. All the while I started to pack as I was anticipating having to come back in. Dr. Cheerva said since they gave her some antibiotics while I was in with her earlier in the day, she would allow for one fever at home. She had me give her Tylenol again and if she spiked another fever we would have to come in.
After giving her Tylenol, Ambrosia began to have issues with vomiting. Doing so twice after talking to Dr. Cheerva. I was able to give her some anti-nausea medicine and she began to settle down and her fever was going away. While watching a show with Wes, my phone rang and it was the hospital. They had gotten a call from the lab saying that there in fact was bacteria growth from the blood cultures they had taken earlier. This meant Ambrosia had an infection and they needed us to come in so they could start antibiotics.
Luckily, I had already started packing a bag earlier and was able to finish getting stuff together pretty quickly. Then Ambrosia and I headed to the hospital. They got us settled in a room and started her on antibiotics. Awhile after starting her antibiotics, she woke up and I went to get her out of the bed. She was shaking and burning up with fever again. She also vomited again. I went and got the nurse who noticed her head was really red and her hands looked gray and were cold. She talked to Dr. Cheerva and she agreed with her that Ambrosia was having a reaction to the antibiotics they were giving her. She gave her Tylenol and Benadryl and everything went back to normal. Now everytime she has to have this antibiotic she will have to have Tylenol and Benadryl a half an hour before hand.
While they were assessing her after giving her the Tylenol and Benadryl, her NJ feeding tube came out. We think it was dislodged because of her vomiting and worked its way out. This morning we are waiting to see if the radiologist who is here can do the kind of x-ray needed to put her NJ tube back in. They take a constant x-ray to make sure the NJ tube is going where they want it to, which is in a part of her intestines.
I don't know how long our stay is going to be this time. She will need to go 24 hours without fever I believe before they let us go. So hopefully it will only be a couple of days and then we can go home. Dr. Cheerva has agreed to allow us to wait until after Christmas to start her 4th round of chemo. This is good news as I was hoping to be able to celebrate Christmas at home.
We've had a busy couple of days but hopefully things will settle down now!
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