Went up to hospital around 3:00pm - they were doing a chest x-ray when I arrived. They had switched antibiotics to a different one earlier in the day and reduced Dad's oxygen (although his levels were still low 90-even 89 and you want in the 90s). The x-ray showed some pneumonia, so they were happy they switched antibiotics because he's probably had this for a couple days (since he's had a fever) and they hope the new antibiotic gets rid of it. They also gave him a diuretic to keep excess fluid from collecting.
The good news was his WBC count was 13,000 from yesterdays draw and earlier today, they were in the 4000s (YES!). Remember normal is 0-10,000. Of course, these white blood cells are not all normal cells, but we need to get rid of them. Numbers dropping right now is what we want (eventually, we'll want them climbing, but not yet).
Another count they are watching determines if he needs any blood transfused. I am not sure of what the measurement stands for, but below a 24, you need a transfusion. He's borderline, running just above 24 and once dipped into the high 23s. The reason for a transfusion is the chemo is killing good and bad cells. The transfusion replaces some of the good that is destroyed.
That's where we're at right now. He did say it "hurts" and that sucked to hear. He said he just feels awful and I said, "if you feel bad now, wait til next week." and he laughed and said, "aren't you the voice of cheer." It was funny, even though it won't be later .
No comments:
Post a Comment