Day + 11 -Exam by Dr van Rhee-No belly shot today

Deb had a pretty good night last night until 3 am when I changed her infuser and found her suffering with a fever. Deb fell this morning in the bedroom but was not hurt. Because her platelets are so low, she has bruises all over including under her geeks where I lifted her this early am. Her belly is bright red from one side to the other due to the Interlukin-2 shots. Those things are nasty! 

Her breathing is rapid and shallow as she is 'blowing off carbon dioxide' as the doc calls it. Due to all the infusers yesterday Deb's basic chemistry is much better today. However, they were still serious enough Dr van Rhee came down to examine Deb himself. As he raised the back of her shirt to place his stethoscope, he was startled to see a heavy red rash across her back. He and our APN Peggy had a technical conversation which resulted in a change of antibiotics, more bloodwork, and a skin biopsies scheduled tomorrow am. A special steroid creme was prescribed for the rash.

For the third day in a row, Dr van Rhee cancelled the Interlukin-2 shot. We were distressed but the good doc said it should have no impact on the overall results.

I brought Deb home and she napped for a long time. I went to the medical supply store to get her a wedge pillow to elevate her head and chest while sleeping. It is ten inches thick on one end and tapers to a half inch on the other. We have some at our Georgia home but they do us no good here. With seven fractured vertabrae caused by this terrible disease, Deb's collection of small pillows and several wedges have helped her with pain. Although six vertabrae were repaired by means of Kyroplasty, Deb still has a continuous nagging back pain.

Tomorrow should be similar to today. 

This afternoon we got word that Dr van Rhee's mother died in Holland and he left for the funeral. APN Kristen will be examining Deb in his absence. There is a backup doc if needed also.

Blessings!

White Count-below 2 is neutrapenic and indicates Deb's vulnerability for infection.
Platelets -a whitish colored component of blood. Low platelets=higher Woozy factor!
CRP -An indicator of relative health. Lower is better. When the number creeps up, Deb could be getting sick.
Day  White Count  Platelets  CRP

0         0.04               29              12.8
1         0.07               15              77.0
2         0.03               42            140.3
3         0.07               27            144.1
4         0.23               52            206.0
5         1.21               33            168.2
6         2.32               26            214.0
7         2.29               11            209.3
8         2.84               25            230.2
9         2.32               12            234.1
10       2.66               24            220.1 
11       2.50               15            196.0