Back in the hospital

Hi again friends,

So we made it 9 hours before having to go back to the hospital. If anyone ever questions if they should go to a major cancer center over a community hospital, always go to the big guys! Jeff was originally at a community hospital near our home as it was the closest ER. As you know Jeff was neutropenic and had an infection. The small hospital found nothing in his blood cultures, they gave him a course of antibiotics and sent him home. We had a nice day and Jeff felt good, we started his daily hydration around 8 pm, by 9 he was having chills and his temp was rising. I got on the phone with the home infusion team of the University of Pennsylvania (the major cancer center where he is being treated for EC). They forwarded me to the pharmacist. She spoke with the oncologist and they thought it was the neupogen, but wanted me to call them at 10 with his temp. Well at 10 it spiked to 102!! The pharmacist told me to make the 35-40 min trip to UofP, he needed to be seen by the folks that know his history. Jeff and I piled in the car and off we went. By the time we got to the city he was not doing well. By the time I found the ER I had to help him in. I went psycho caregiver and jumped in front of a bunch of people that didn't really look sick. Told the lady at the desk that he was neutropenic with a high fever. They saw him immediately, his BP was 70/40 and his heart rate was 130, he was in trouble! Things moved fast and furious from there. They took new blood Cultures and started massive amounts of fluids. I started praying hard! The BP slowly came up into the 90s and heart rate came down to low 100s. He was admitted to the ICU, I was out of my mind scared but I kept it together for him, pretty sure I was in shock. The ICU stabilized him, I owe a debt of gratitude to those folks. They did grow up a bug in his blood culture, he has a blood stream infection. I explained how Jeff had been in the other hospital, and when I told them about the episode of violent shakes he had there the ICU doc said "that's rigors, he definitely has a blood stream infection" that was before he saw the cultures! The level of care here is 100x better. They are bewildered as to why the other hospital discharged him. I am just thankful that we are mow at UofP. Jeff is now on an oncology floor. They think he will be ok, but he will be on antibiotics for awhile and the port might have to come out. Not sure if we will proceed with more Chemo we need to speak with his onc. I want them to explain risks vs benefits at this point.

Prayers are still appreciated, I am hoping and praying that we are out of the scary part!

Niki