Still here...still....

Well here we are, it's Saturday, Joe and Jessie are here to keep me company as I look to spend my weekend here at HUP. The doctors said I could be discharged if I remained fever free for 24 hours but I have yet to make that criteria. In fact, my temp soared today to a whopping 103 - the highest temp since Tuesday.

My ANC is up to 600 and my WBC is 2.5, which is up from yesterday's counts of 400 and 2.1 respectively. My platelets have been steadily dropping, but are still at 20k which is too high to warrant a transfusion. My HGB is 8.9, so it is likely I'll need both blood and platelets before they discharge me otherwise I'll be right back down to clinic.

At this point they have a whole cocktail of antibiotics going via IV. My blood pressure is dangerously low so they added continuous IV fluids to keep that in check. My most recent set of blood cultures are negative and they just poked their head in and let me known that my lactic acid came back a '1'. The nurse tells me this is a good thing and indicates there is no big bacterial infection going on in my body. They always worry about pneumonia and sepsis when these fevers spike like that and I believe this means I've managed to avoid both for now.

They had to start reglan so that I could attempt to eat - I have not been able to keep anything down since I got here. I had a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese today so that's a step in the right direction. I've been having trouble with my feet, a bit of gout they think so I'm forcing myself to walk a little but can't go too far. Since I'm up most of the night I'm sleeping during the day as much as I'm able to.

I'm anxious to get home to my own bed, my nice bath tub, and recover from there. Things always seem to spiral out of control when I get admitted, this time is no different. We're holding on to a possible Monday discharge, of course that depends on a lot of things that are out of my hands. I know once I'm home I will feel much better and will be able to manage those darned fevers.

Congratulations to Emily and Colin for serving on the homecoming court recently and to Jimmy, the North Penn homecoming king announced last evening. That's awesome for you guys and one day you'll have great memories. Bridget, how lovely to hear from you, I'm glad that all is well at Lankeau. Thanks for the well wishes from your mom. Donna, it's hard to imagine that Mackenzie weighs nearly 24 lbs at nine months. That has to be off the growth charts! Thanks to everyone for your phone calls, cards, blog messages, prayers and thoughts. They all mean so much to me and my family.

Love,

Debbie