Silver Lining

Update on Husband: After I finished my last post, I ended up taking Husband to the hospital. His temperature spiked, so I dutifully called the oncologist physician on call (who happened to be the one who did his bone marrow core samples) expecting to be told to give him a couple Tylenol. Instead, she immediately ordered me to take Husband to the Huntsman center in The Big City. Fevers in a compromised immune system can be swiftly deadly. As I was packing a quick overnight bag, she called back and said she'd changed her mind and that I should take him to our town's hospital, where she had instructed the ER physician to administer antibiotics immediately and then ship him to the Huntsman.

Five minutes after getting into the car we arrived at the hospital (ah, the joys of living in a small town!), but the ER physician didn't immediately give Husband the antibiotics. Instead, he ordered a chest X-ray and a blood test. Three hours later, he started the antibiotics when it was clear that Husband no longer had any white blood cells. Ooooh, that made our other doctor so mad.

Husband got a ride into The Big City around 3am in an ambulance. Because I had been up all night and didn't trust myself to drive the hour to the hospital, Husband and I agreed I should go home and sleep before coming to see him.

Husband is still at the Huntsman. He did get his last dose of chemo late last night, so that's done, but he had another fever when it was finished. They want to keep a close eye on him and finish the blood cultures. I slept overnight in his room last night to make sure I was there if he started feeling as awful as he had done on Thursday. Today, although he is ghostly pale and feels pretty poorly, he is doing all right. They might let him out tomorrow.

The silver lining is that the chemo is very effective. The doctor was astounded by Husband's response, which was sooner than anyone else she's treated. Now we just have to wait for his white blood cells to start growing again and his bone marrow to replenish itself. That might take weeks, but now it's healing time.

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First of all, let me welcome the new followers to my blog. Hi! Welcome. Please feel free to comment if you wish.

Secondly, my eyes are closing. I even have ice cream and the kids are all in bed. Dang.