Well it happened. I developed a fever Thursday night. So I headed to the emergency room at the General with John. Thank goodness my wonderful sister was free and was able to come and watch the kids because it wasn't a quick visit as it never is in a hospital in Canada. So thank you, thank you so much Cathy!!
We left around 8pm and didn't get home until 3am. My fever started to come down after a couple of hours of being there but when my blood work came back my white blood cell count was pretty low at 2.2 (a normal person not on chemo would be between 4.0 and 11.0). My neutrophils were especially low at 0.2 (a normal range is 2.0 to 7.0) which signaled there was something bad going on but I didn't have any other symptoms besides a sinus headache and the fever. I was able to convince the medical oncologist resident around 1:30 am that I was feeling better. She finally relented and sent me home with some antibiotics but not before she finally ordered a chest x-ray and the blood cultures that should have been started as soon as I got there. Unfortunately it wasn't a pleasant visit. I thought it would be fairly straight forward since I can't be the first chemo patient that has come into emergency room right? I was not happy that I didn't get any antibiotics until almost 5 hours of being there too. I couldn't believe that my history was taken 4 times during the night and that I had to see 3 different doctors by the end of it. It's a bad enough when you have to wait for 1 doctor never mind 3. I saw a resident on call, the emergency doctor and then the medical oncologist resident. I've definitely learned my lesson, and now that I'm more informed I'll be ready to deal with the emergency staff the next time so that we don't end up wasting so much time. Let's hope it doesn't happen again though.
I'm feeling better today. My fever is gone and I took it pretty easy today not doing very much but lying on the couch.
Overall I think I may have overdone it this week. I should of took it a bit easier the last few days knowing my counts would be at their lowest at this time. I'll know for the next cycle.
I hope everyone has a great long weekend! I know I will. My girlfriends Melanie, Tammy and LeeAnn have come to town to keep me company. There will be lots of great food, wine and movies. I'm so lucky to have such great friends to take care of me. Thank you so much ladies!
We left around 8pm and didn't get home until 3am. My fever started to come down after a couple of hours of being there but when my blood work came back my white blood cell count was pretty low at 2.2 (a normal person not on chemo would be between 4.0 and 11.0). My neutrophils were especially low at 0.2 (a normal range is 2.0 to 7.0) which signaled there was something bad going on but I didn't have any other symptoms besides a sinus headache and the fever. I was able to convince the medical oncologist resident around 1:30 am that I was feeling better. She finally relented and sent me home with some antibiotics but not before she finally ordered a chest x-ray and the blood cultures that should have been started as soon as I got there. Unfortunately it wasn't a pleasant visit. I thought it would be fairly straight forward since I can't be the first chemo patient that has come into emergency room right? I was not happy that I didn't get any antibiotics until almost 5 hours of being there too. I couldn't believe that my history was taken 4 times during the night and that I had to see 3 different doctors by the end of it. It's a bad enough when you have to wait for 1 doctor never mind 3. I saw a resident on call, the emergency doctor and then the medical oncologist resident. I've definitely learned my lesson, and now that I'm more informed I'll be ready to deal with the emergency staff the next time so that we don't end up wasting so much time. Let's hope it doesn't happen again though.
I'm feeling better today. My fever is gone and I took it pretty easy today not doing very much but lying on the couch.
Overall I think I may have overdone it this week. I should of took it a bit easier the last few days knowing my counts would be at their lowest at this time. I'll know for the next cycle.
I hope everyone has a great long weekend! I know I will. My girlfriends Melanie, Tammy and LeeAnn have come to town to keep me company. There will be lots of great food, wine and movies. I'm so lucky to have such great friends to take care of me. Thank you so much ladies!
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